How the mighty Rangers fell News - Daily Sports Nigeria

Navigation: Home / News / News / How the mighty Rangers fell

How the mighty Rangers fell

By Andrew Randa on April 15, 2017

It all seemed to be smooth sailing for Rangers International as they led Zesco United of Zambia 2-0 in a first leg CAF Confederation Cup game last weekend in Enugu.

The dark clouds that surrounded Rangers and Coach Imama Amapakabo coming into the looked to be fading away and normal service had resumed at the ‘Cathedral’.

Then it all went up in flames.

Zesco clawed their way back into the game. Two away goals in six minutes meant the first leg tie ended 2-2 and with Rangers off to Ndola for the second leg, the ghosts seemed back to haunt Imama.

The Rangers Management wasted no time in doing away with the services of the coach who won them their first title in 32 years, only to have it downgraded to an indefinite suspension by the Enugu Sports Comission.

It’s been a roller-coaster of sorts for Rangers in the past eight months. From winning the Nigerian title to languishing at the bottom of the log, nothing seems to be going right for the Rangers side.

Top scorer and influential member of the team Chisom Egbuchulam left for Sweden at the end of the season and with players complaining of unfulfilled promises, it didn’t look good for Rangers from the onset.

Gone were the Rangers of last season who played with zest and confidence, the team has been a shadow of itself this current campaign and even though the 1-1 draw away at JS Saoura masked initial issues, the pasting the team got at the hands of Zamalek sent warning signs of things to come.

Sunday’s draw with Zesco was the final straw, Imama was ‘let go’ 48 hours later and his assistant Chukwuma Agbo was asked to handle the team pending when Sylvanus Okpala will take over at the ‘Flying Antelopes’.

Antelopes in disarray

In a new twist, the Enugu State Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Charles Ndukwe, released a statement denying Amapakabo had been sacked and subsequently issued a query for former club great and Team Manager Christian Chukwu.

Ndukwe revealed that the coach was only placed on suspension because of the incident that happened after the game with Zesco.

“The truth is that after the match we played against Zesco United of Zambia on Sunday, we noticed that a lot of fans were going after Coach Imama Amapakabo”, Ndukwe said.

“I do not know how that happened, but I know that security men were there and they took care of the situation.”

“On our own, the best thing we could do was to ask him to step aside on suspension. But I was surprised in the morning to hear over the radio and television that the coach was sacked. So, I immediately issued a query to the GM, Christian Chukwu, to ascertain the true position of what made him do that,” he added.

The confusion in the Rangers camp stepped up two notches as travelling arrangements for the second leg in Ndola went up in smoke when the players refused to board the plane to Zambia.

They insisted on being paid their travelling allowances which totalled $770 dollars (N293,000) before boarding the Ethiopian Airlines flight to Ndola for the game against Zesco scheduled for Sunday.

A few players revealed that they had to press home for their monies before leaving the shores of Nigeria because of previous experiences they’ve had when their allowances were delayed.

The players insisted on being paid in cash which was duly obliged on Thursday afternoon but it meant that Rangers didn’t leave that day as initially planned.

Rangers now left for Zambia via Lagos on Friday for Saturday’s second leg against Zesco for a place in the group stage of the 2017 CAF Confederations Cup.

With all the drama leading to the game, it will be a miracle if Rangers can pull off a win and get over the line.

Money issues, which has been the bane of many Nigerian sides has reared its ugly head again.

The player’s revolt means they’ve lost a day’s training and recovery which is very important playing away on the continent Coupled with the coaching situation at Rangers, there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel for the Nigerian champions.

Ndola is a fortress for Zesco United who went all the way to the semi-finals of the 2016 CAF Champions League and Rangers will be welcomed by 45,000 vociferous fans at the Levy Nwanawasa.

The troubles of the past week don’t bode well for Ranger’s aspirations – if they have any at all. They will need to dig deep and hope a miracle happens.

They can do well to draw inspiration from the Super Eagles who defeated Zambia 2-1 at the same stadium last year in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier.

For Rangers it looks like this is the end of the road, yet, in football, stranger things have happened.

The game has now had the kick-off shifted for two hours due to the Zambians kind gesture to allow the Flying Antelopes extra time to arrive from Addis Ababa. (supersport.com)

•Photo shows Rangers International GM Christian Chukwu.

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 15, 2017