By Clement Nwankpa Jnr

A lot has been written about the schemes to undermine the efforts of the current Heartland Management. These acts of sabotage are at the head of the team’s poor showing earlier this season.

The fortunes of the club appear to have changed as it has now won four of its last five matches. More notable is the fact that the team won those matches emphatically. Hitherto, they struggled on the days they won, but these days, they win with at least two goals margins. There are obvious signs that the team have hit a rich vein of form even as the players have vowed to win the Federation Cup in a bid to make up for their failure to win the League.

One expected that the saboteurs will sheathe their sword at this point and allow the team focus on the task ahead but the reverse is the case. It even seems the schemes have been intensified.

The battle for the soul of Heartland has taken a new dimension with more gladiators coming into the fray. Initially, the schemes were limited to a particular set of people but it is now apparent that there are others interested in wrestling control of Imo State’s darling club. There are about five sets of detractors threatening the management of Heartland FC.

The first set are the previous managers of the club who we have always known as the major detractors of the current Management. In fact, they were the only ever known saboteurs of the club’s efforts. Since being shoved aside to usher in the current management, they have never been deterred in their bid to bounce back to relevance. They had been believed to, among other means, incite the players against the management as well as sponsor some home fans to support visiting teams at the Dan Anyiam Stadium. They were resolute on ensuring that the team recorded poor results as that would be the only way to push forward their cases.

The next are officials of the sports ministry  who are bent on returning the club under their control. The major reasons for removing the club from the strangle hold of the Ministry and making it a Parastatal in the Government House was to remove bureaucratic bottlenecks that naturally stall progress in a professional league club.

The next is the sports management committee set up by the state governor, Owelle Rochas Okorocha with a term of reference to source for funds to build stadiums across the state but it  is also interested in the management of Heartland. They opine that the governor detailed them to take over the administration of sports in the state including Heartland FC.

The next set are the politicians, men who had, in one way or the other, aided Owelle Okorocha to win the last elections and feel the governor is under compulsion to ‘settle’ them. They don’t give a damn if they have what it takes to run a football club but see the club as an avenue to remain relevant. The danger in this set of men is that they are so ill-informed and, consequently, paint the wrong impression in the Government House.

The last group is the current Heartland management led by veteran sports journalist and former NFA board member, Fan Ndubuoke. They are battling to keep their place because they had a brief on assumption of office which was to make the club a financially viable entity.

They have gone ahead to rake in over N120m into the club’s coffers and putting in place a state-of-the-art Club House, the best in the land. They believe, and correctly too, that they have fared well so far within the context of that brief and should be given ample time to take the club to Eldorado.

On assumption of office, Owelle Okorocha said he was on a ‘rescue mission’ to Imo State. He should live up to his word and not watch idly as these lobbyists tear the state’s darling Heartland apart. He has to properly brief the Sports Management Committee.

Has Rochas visited the Township Stadium and Dan Anyiam Stadium. Has he stepped into the Grasshoppers Handball Stadium that cannot host any handball event at the moment due to the level of decay? If yes, he would understand the enormity of the task he should put before the Committee. Setting up that Committee seemed well intentioned, as it was in line with his rescue agenda, but their focus on Heartland is destructive.

He needs to debrief that Committee so that they understand the real tasks in their hands. The sooner they are made to realize that they are members of the Sports Management Committee and not Heartland Management Committee, the better. Preparations for the next Sports Festival should start in earnest.

But why all the hullabaloo about Heartland? The sports ministry officials should also be made to know that Heartland FC is the least of the problems bedeviling Imo Sports. They should de-emphasize on Heartland and accord more attention to the overall sports development in the state.

They are unnecessary because things are not as bad as they paint them. The League has five weeks left and Heartland have two home and three away fixtures while sitting comfortably on tenth position. I learnt they told the governor that the club is languishing in the relegation zone. Owelle should log onto the internet and check out the league table.

In fact, he should turn up for the team’s matches and see things for himself, instead of relying on charlatans who mislead him with sordid tales. How often has he met with the club management? He should meet them one on one because those he would be relying on to provide information on the club will not tell him the truth since they want the current management led by Ndubuoke out.

There is a new air in Heartland as the players have resolved to win the Federation Cup to compensate the management for taking their welfare more seriously. These schemes are  distractions. Whoever means well for Heartland should, at least, allow this management to run out its programme for the year.

 •Nwankpa is an Abuja-based sports journalist.