A peep into the belly of the League Management Company – Segun Odegbami

I found out a long time ago that some stakeholders in Nigerian football are very sensitive, emotional and protective of the body called the League Management Company, LMC.

They do not like the organization to be a subject of discussion or scrutiny of any kind. They love to hear or sing its praises but hate any form of criticism with a passion.

I have often wondered why that should be so, but never taken the trouble to interrogate the subject beyond the surface.

I am not about to even do that now, but with the LMC holding the key to the growth of domestic football and the football industry in Nigeria, it makes sense to examine why the company could not function properly in the recent past. Its activities have been in a lull for almost two seasons.

It was said that because the leadership of the Nigeria Football Federation were being hounded by crime agents, the distractions were affecting the productivity of the entirety of Nigerian football, including the LMC.

That’s the theory and the story.

But things should not be so considering that they are not so in the country where Nigeria borrowed the concept of the LMC to run the professional league, England, from.

So, it ought to be a subject, not just of useful discourse and interrogation, but of close scrutiny and audit. In due course, it will be, but for now, just a cursory look, a peep, at the organisation.

In the last few days, the LMC has rebounded into the consciousness of Nigerians after a long lull.

I went and read about the EPL and the English FA, and things became clearer to me, and now understand better what is wrong with the present structure and operations of the LMC that has not made it achieve the objectives for which it was set up.