Enyimba player Philip Auta has said that the Nigerian champions’ winning streak was bound to come to an end because the players have been playing on empty stomachs due to the non-payment of some of their entitlements.

Orji

The ‘people’s elephant’, as the Aba team are called by their fans, are set for a league and cup double, but crashed out of the CAF Confederation Cup Sunday after they failed to overturn a four-goal deficit suffered at Zanaco of Zambia a fortnight ago.

Enyimba chairman, Felix Anyansi-Agwu has blamed injuries and indiscipline on the part of the players for the club’s Confederation Cup ouster by Zanaco on a 4-2 aggregate.

However, winger Auta has insisted that the players should be proud of what they have achieved thus far this season because they did not allow the non-payment of some of their entitlements to detract them.

“It was out of nothing that we gave everything to emerge league champions and we’re now in the final of the Federation Cup,” said the former Wikki Tourist star.

“We played the league without a kobo and the little money we received towards the end of the season came around the time of our Confederation Cup match in Zambia.
“Overall therefore I am proud of what we the players have achieved this season.”
Enyimba embarked on a strike on the eve of their league championship decider at home to closest rivals Kano Pillars, forcing the club management to pay out a percentage of their sign-on fees for the season.

Players told MTNFootball.com that they were not paid 50% of their sign-on fees as was reported in the local media.

“What most of us were paid was more like 10% of our sign-on fees. For instance, a player who was due to be paid 5.8 million naira and who was then paid 800,000 naira, does that amount to 50%?,” grumbled one of the disgruntled players.

It is believed the players are also owed bonuses for several local and international matches.
As a result of the disaffection in the team, Enyimba travelled with a second-string team to Lusaka for the fourth round, first leg match against Zanaco and slumped to a 4-0 defeat.