By Ime Bassey
Following the decision of  coach of the U’23 team, Dream Team V, Austin Eguavoen that none of the player will be release from camp to honour their various clubs’ league matches, club administrators have reacted in different ways.

Expressing his feelings, Chairman of Sunshine Stars FC, Chief Segun Abagunodo believes it is unfair to the clubs as the clubs pay the bills of the players and it would be nonstandard for the game in the country.

“It is unfair to the club sides because the clubs pay the players. It will be an abnormality. We pay them, we do everything for them. If he does that, it is not going to work. If he says he will take  players from their clubs for one mouth and they will not be engaged in their respective clubs, it’s not possible and not good enough.

I have not received an official report on it, so I do not think it is true but the player’s primary assignments are their clubs,” Abagunodo said.

On his part, Team Manager of Warri Wolves, Timi Ebikagboro opined that Eguavoen should stick to his word as the National team comes first before the club but they as club owners will still complain.

“The truth of the matter is that both Eguaveon and the clubs have a point. The only grouse one might want to have is, if he releases some to their clubs and not all. He should stick to his word. The interest of the Nation supersedes every club. We as club sides realize this and want to believe he is doing it for the best interest of the country, so we have to pay some prices; but that does not mean we will not complain, we will.

“We are excited that our players are playing for the country but they should not say things that they cannot justify. If they select two or three players from a team, there is no how the team will not miss those players, so they should not tell us that we can manage with the rest of the players,” Ebikagboro stated.

Reacting to the opinions made by club owners and mangers, Assistant Coach of the team and Dolphins FC of Port Harcourt tactician, Stanley Eguma,  said that the decision was necessitated by the importance of the game ahead and that clubs can play their matches without the players invited.

“Well, it is a good one, it’s not bad because we all know that the team is billed to play Equatorial Guinea in the All African Games qualifier which is less than three weeks away. Any coach that is ambitious will not want to let go of his players most especially when it has to do with national assignment and Nigeria has to take part in the competition, so we do not want to be taken unawares by our visitors.

We want them to remain in camp for us to concentrate on their technical ability so we can build a formidable team in them. The Equatorial Guineans are not a push over looking at the exploit of their female team.

“I think the decision of Eguavoen is good, he is not doing this to undo the clubs’ strengths, not even to deny them of their players but to make the national team solid and allow for a good performance against our visitors.

“The clubs registered 30 players, so they should not say that when two or three players are not available they cannot honor their matches. There is no club that has more than three players in the team. When it comes to assignments, the country comes first before the club,” Eguma stressed.