Executive Chairman of the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), Gbolagade Busari, has blamed players of the club for their relegation from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL).
Mr. Busari hinted that major decisions at improving the fortunes of the club will be made in a matter of weeks, emphasising that the club’s poor performance was not due to the lack of funding.
He said that both the players and the technical crew of the relegated club are going to be evaluated by the management with proper restructuring in the pipelines.
The chairman, therefore, appealed to the teeming fans of the team to remain calm, assuring that necessary measures will be put in place to marshal the team back to the premiership in due course.
This was after Wikki Tourists defeated Gombe United 2-0 in a rescheduled match in Maiduguri, confirming 3SC relegation from the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) for the second time in four years.
Busari disclosed that the current situation of the team was not as a result of lack of adequate support from the government, stressing that 3SC is the only agency that still gets its monthly subvention regularly from the government despite the cash crunch in the country.
The chairman on Sunday in Ibadan, explained that the Club, 3SC, gets monthly subvention of N12m for players’ salaries, technical crew and administrative staff while gate takings (at an average of N1m per match with the money realised from sponsorship deals) are all utilised for match prosecution, allowances as well as bonuses of the players.
He went further that no one should put the blame of the team’s poor performance at the doorsteps of the government but rather the commitment of the players.
Busari said, “We tried everything we could, not to be in this situation but it’s obvious our best is not enough. We got the necessary support from the government but we have not been able to justify the investments on the club.
“We collect our monthly subvention and our gate-takings are being used for the players. We also used the proceeds realized from our sponsorship deals for allowances and bonuses of the players without interference from the government,” he said.
“We had identified the problems even before the end of the season and necessary actions were put in place to ensure that these challenges did not lead us to relegation. We will do everything within our capacity to ensure that the team bounces back in due course,” Busari assured.
