Lobi Stars head coach Gbenga Ogunbote has vented his thoughts to www.aclsports.com on the current Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) season which will be the first in a decade without a Christmas break.
The league started in November, two months later than it was initially scheduled to kick off, a development which has made it mandatory that there would not be breaks for coaches and players to see their families during the yuletide.
Ogunbote whose side, Lobi Stars are currently second on the league table after ten matches told www.aclsports.com Chief Football Writer, Fisayo Dairo that the teams must be ready to make this sacrifice for the good of the league.
“As long as it (not going for break) will make the league rich, then that is the sacrifice we need to make,” says the former Rangers International coach.
“There is a proverb in our place when they say you have taken your right in the stomach when your mother kept you there.
“We have taken enough break (at the start of the season), though we need break but then if it will make the league rich, to be able to catch up with the rest of the world, I think it’s a sacrifice that is worth it,” Ogunbote adds.
Nasarawa United and former champions Kano Pillars will face in a rescheduled fixture at the Lafia Township Stadium on Thursday in the first Boxing Day fixture in the league in almost twenty years.
Ogunbote and his Lobi side who are unbeaten in their last eight league games will join the other teams on Sunday, December 29 when a full programme of Match Day 11 is scheduled to hold.
Lobi Stars face a daunting trip to resurgent Akwa United in Uyo on Sunday.