Former Super Eagles Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde has expressed sadness over the recent relegation of Shooting Stars Football Club (3SC) of Ibadan from the Nigeria Professional Football League.
The former champions finished in the 16th position in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL), a scorecard that pushed them down to the lower Nigerian National League alongside Gombe United, ABS of Ilorin and Remo Stars. But Onigbinde feels the club would have been saved the ignominy of such demotions if the owners of the club had listened to him long ago.
National Daily learnt that Onigbinde lamented that the club, which should be lending money to the Oyo State government because of its massive followership, have now been relegated to the lower division.
Ex Super Eagles coach said that “3SC have virtually become my baby. It is shocking to hear that the club that I have been in and out of seven times has now been relegated.
“What made it sad is the enormous potential the club has as a brand. When you appreciate the potentiality of the greatness of a club and compare it with what is happening to it right now, then you feel so sad,” he said.
The seventh time coach of the club, who revealed that he made several efforts to make 3SC self-sustaining, said he was rebuffed by some people, who wanted to continue to feed fat on government’s subvention.
“In 2003 when the late Governor Lam Adesina forced me to come back to the club, 3SC was in the relegation for three years. The very first year I got there, the club bounced back to the elite division,” the Modakeke high chief said. He added, “I later came up with a programme, which would have made it possible for the club to lend money to the government today. I met some supporters of the club and I told them to stop deceiving themselves by claiming they are members of the club. I suggested that every one of them should obtain membership card for N1000 if they were interested in becoming members of the club.
“It was possible to earn N1 billion from the venture from one million members. And if that happened, why would I need money from the government to run the club? For that year, the government was only able to give me N40 million. And then some people came up to me and said no to the idea that is why we are where we are today and the best one can hope for is for them to get back to the elite division. If the idea had materialised, by now the government would have been able to borrow money from the club. Now I hear the club is organising a lottery to source for fund,” he stated.