By Daily Sports on April 17, 2017

Last week, we did a write up on the crumbling walls of Rangers International FC.

To be honest with you, the Coal City team, like the NFF, makes good copy and attracts attention. It attracted an unprecedented readership in the one year plus existence of Sports Pulse (column) as over 30, 000 plus readers followed the story. No doubt, Rangers is a mass movement, any story on it remains a hit. I presume it will still go up.

That piece, since it was published has made tremendous impact and right now Rangers FC is boiling. At the end there will be thorough clear up, and there will be Rangers reborn! That is the prayer and hope of its numerous fans.  What is happening today in Rangers is unheard of and those involved won’t go scot free if…

Its Head Coach, Imama has been consumed. Christian Chukwu one of the dramatis personae in the current decline in the fortune of the team is in desperate tango with the Commissioner for Sports in Enugu State, Charles Ndukwe, who was said to have queried him.

Chukwu is fighting the Commissioner on all fronts. He had boasted that he is only answerable to the Governor. The former Super Eagles Captain added that an edict that established the team vested such power. He has dared the Commissioner. Truth is that Chukwu has no administrative acumen. Rangers drift is deeply rooted in that. He was a good and lucky player.

He is like a desperate man. He also talks like one. A fight of two elephants, let the grass that would suffer not be Rangers onward journey to the Nigeria National League (NNL) because the resultant effect won’t be funny. He has vowed to cling unto power. An irony, did I hear you say. Rangers are going; going… yet Chukwu cares less about it. Shamefully, he is keenly interested in answering General Manager/CEO of a sinking ship.

He should be told in clearer terms that he will be doomed if the team is found in the second tier of the league next season. He is not more Rangers than any nwaIgbo. One thought he would be praying that the cup fast pass him in an hour like this, but sadly, he is ready to take on the Commissioner. Chukwu must know that Rangers is not Enugu State team but that of Ndigbo. He is not the only one that played for the once almighty Rangers squad. He should throw in the towel and quite go and enjoy his retirement. He has failed woefully as an administrator. He should go home in peace and leave our Rangers for us to re-invent. Rangers must remain in NPFL.

A candid word for Governor Ifeanyichukwu Ugwuanyi: He should without any further delay, put word across to his friend, Christian Chukwu. Rangers can cost him re-election in 2019 if he fails to stem this slide. Chukwu is one of the problems of the team. Period!

The Governor should also be told that, it will be better for him not to have a hand in Rangers unwanted journey to NNL because the consequences will be grave. He started well by leading the club to break the- 34- year old cup drought and now failed to make history. His name is hanging on the balance between refuse dump of history and the other side. Igbo youths are keenly watching, livid with anger. Ugwuanyi must read between lines and nip the impending rage on the bud. So League Management Committee must be extra vigilant in its Enugu centre. The fans are red hot angrily. They could rise in anger at the slightest provocation, and it will be too brutal.

There will be need for a Rangers follow up article as we journey on.

Come with me to celebrate with Bukola Olopade, the very resourceful and suave former Sports Commissioner in Ogun State. He does not fly cat. He has been there and that is why I believe he will succeed. I don’t write for the sake of it. He has paid his dues and so knows the right places to put words across.

His foot prints on the sands of time in Sports in the State remains unequalled. Let me also say that the sports infrastructures that the administration built has remain the rallying point till date in Ogun State due to its solid nature. I rejoiced with him when he was told to man the Nigeria National League as its Chief Executive Officer. I did tell some of my close colleagues that he will reposition that tier of our league through sponsorships. I did also call him a goal getter whose workaholic nature knew no bounds. No jokes. Bukky, as I fondly call him never takes NO for an answer.  I met him five times when he was a Commissioner and we have not met after he left office.

This week in our usual characteristic, we want to bring to the fore his relentless efforts that yielded sponsorship deal for NNL, It is even said that more are on the way. Daily Sports (www.dailysportsng.com) ran what it described as historic deal. Olopade should be encouraged. He is a good follower of the beautiful game with great interest and passion. It is why he has again put his all for the upliftment of the game at the NNL level. He has fresh ideas on the way forward.  He has practical achievements. He is just beginning. In short, he is an achiever of sort. He merits any accolade that comes his way, he does not solicit for them, that, I know him for. He will do more as the days go by. He has broken the ices.  In my over two decades plus in Sports Reporting, Bukky, breasts the tape. He is not a noise maker. A smooth operator if you like. Dear readers you know, I quickly lose appetite with noise makers otherwise called notice me administrators, politicians and name droppers. They are the bane of our society today even in sports administration. Pretenders if you like.

We rejoice once again with NNL, BET9A and Honourable Bukola Olopade. He has done well and we will be praying for him for very successful and entrenching tenure and relationship. Football is a game that sell products and services. DailySports, a people oriented platform so solid well accepted and visited by readers that cut across all ages is ready to propel your products and services to great heights. The place of his like is NFF where he will collaborate with like minds to move our football forward in the real sense of the word. 

This is how Daily Sports treated the BET9A/NNL deal; it enjoyed heavy traffic of 1,510, the record is there on the April 6, edition of your soar away heavily read online portal. Our headline read thus: NNL seal historic deal.  

The blitz sponsorship drive by the NNL has finally yielded dividend, with the ‘Most Important’ League sealing a three year multi-million Naira deal with top ranked sports betting company, BET9A in Lagos.

An obviously elated Chief Operating Officer and CEO of the NNL, Honourable Bukola Olopade, said the deal which is a major one will definitely help in the rebranding effort of the NNL’s new board.

He said, “It is a done deal, we are happy about this development, we can now say it is a new League, it will now be known as BET9A Nigeria National League.

“We are indeed excited, this will catapult us to a higher pedestal, it is a good deal, and this was a league with a zero percent of property to hold on to.

“We are not resting on our oars; however, in the next couple of weeks we are hoping to have Star Times and an oil company come in, we are hoping for more, I can say there is a great future for the Nigeria National League.”

Olapade also expressed satisfaction with the progress of the NNL in 2017.

“It is worthy to note that we are extremely doing well with the outcome of the League so far, we have recorded impressive away wins and draws, these are positives to take from the new NNL,” Olopade concluded.

We promise to do something on BET9A on this its bold step to embrace sponsorship in the country. This is the beginning of its greatness, and choosing this most populous sport is the best step ever. Well done!

Daily Sports, Nigeria’s Best and Most Read online is here to partner corporate outfits that want to build this game. Trust us, discussion continues on WhatsAPP, Twitter. Keep shooting hard, till next week!! 

Source Daily Sports

Posted April 17, 2017

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