Like Stoke City in English Premier League who under Tony Pulis maintained its status in the English top flight despite a much marginalized budget but immediately lost it EPL status when its management decided they needed a change in style which was to be led by another manager albeit on a similar budget.
Many would ask, why did the plan fail? Was the new man not good enough? Pundits and Analysts would tell you it’s simple, managers have budgets they are comfortable working with to provide results and this has been proven time and again especially in the EPL, a league well followed in Nigeria. One just need to look up names like Sam Alledayce, Roy Hogson, Tony Polis etc. who are notorious for keeping budget teams in the EPL.
Now back to the Nigeria Professional Football League, over the last four seasons not many teams have survived on a lower budget than FC Ifeanyi Ubah and MFM FC.
ABS FC, Go Round FC, Adamawa United, Yobe Desert Stars, Jigawa Golden Stars even FC Ifeanyi Ubah (not under Coach Uche Okagbue) are low budget teams that have all flirted with or gotten relegated not because their coaches weren’t good enough but simply because those coaches needed a better budget to recruit more established players for the NPFL.
A quick look at FC Ifeanyi Ubah since January 2019 when Coach Uche Okagbue would immediately point to a change in fortune on the pitch and in effect on the NPFL Table but not much positive change in terms of budget. However, in his two full seasons in charge, Coach Uche managed has a 3rd and 11th place finish respectively despite losing eight first team players including goalkeeper, Anozie and Defender, Adeleye after the very successful 2019 abridged league season.
Dakkada FC are currently in a similar position to FC Ifeanyi Ubah, as the team lacks the budget to retain its best legs nor attract the players/coach that would exactly replace the departing ones. Hence, the management needs to be very witty in appointing a new coach to drive the team forward and based on records over the last two seasons, there’s no better man for the job of keeping Dakkada FC in the NPFL than the FC Ifeanyi Ubah Technical Adviser, Coach Uche Okagbue.
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