Head coach of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) side MFM FC, Fidelis Ilechukwu has warned the club’s management that he will leave his position if efforts are not made to make his work easier.
Ilechukwu’s side were surprisingly eliminated from the Cup competition, AITEO Cup on Monday after a penalty shootout loss to lower division side Sokoto United, a result which infuriated the young coach, insisting he will go on a break to ponder on his future.
“That’s football. That’s why they call it Challenge Cup and it’s a game where small teams beat big teams,” began Ilechukwu to www.aclsports.com
“It is very painful that we created a lot of chances but did not convert them. Very painful.
“For now, I think I need to go on a little break and start looking at my future and my career which is very important. This is my twelfth year at MFM Football Club so whatever is going to happen maybe in few days I’m going to make my decision.”
The season started on a high for MFM – the team owned by a Church in Lagos, Nigeria – as they represented Nigeria in this season’s CAF Champions League before their early elimination. Ilechukwu says everything went downhill for his team shortly after their exit from the Confederation Cup.
“Honestly speaking, it is very possible that this is my last game with MFM because I am not happy with what happened after our continental games.
“We lost almost eleven players, six starters inclusive. Nobody tries this without going to relegation so I’m not happy about it. I cannot continue that way because I know what it takes to build a profile. It’s not good when you promote a team from the second division and you still relegate with them,” added the coach who has spent the last decade at the club.
I am not surprised MFM FC is in disarray. That is a "professional" football club set up to "take boys off the streets." That type of objective is an open invitation to dissonance. Nobody REALLY sets up a club to take anyone off the streets. Footballers are not beggars.
— Babanla (@biolakazeem) September 11, 2018
MFM FC hovered above the relegation zone for a while this term but were five points clear of the red zone before the abrupt termination of the league. Ilechukwu is unequivocal in his attribution of the team’s plight to the management team.
“Part of what happened in MFM this season is because of the way the management handled things. You can’t lose your key players and stand the chance to stay in the NPFL.
“We are human beings, I have feelings. Every time we will be hiding that you don’t have to talk, you don’t have to talk so I’ve been keeping quiet but I am very very sad with what happened here today,” he lamented.
He further stressed that he would not be turning in his resignation letter yet but if he must stay with the team, things must change.
“I have not said I have resigned but most important thing is to take my leave but if I will still remain in MFM FC, they must do things right. I must work with conditions and they must do things right.”
In a related development, the club – MFM FC – on Monday night announced in a press release that the club’s Director, Emmanuel Adeyemi is no longer with the club. Adeyemi has been replaced by a certain Davidson Adejuwon.
“The newly appointed Director of MFM FC with the Club’s mandate to represent the Club and relate with you on all issues about MFM FC is Barrister Davidson Adejuwon,” read a club statement.
