Niger Tornadoes head coach, Abubakar Bala has called on Niger State Government and the club management to make the welfare of the team their priority so that they do not struggle in the coming league season.
Tornadoes missed relegation by the whiskers last season with the team forced to play all their matches including home games on neutral ground with work on their home ground- the Bako Kontagora Stadium, Minna yet to take off.
Bala also opined that players’ clearance fees and match bonuses of close to three seasons have not been attended to. He said the delay in the payment of these debts may affect the team negatively despite his effort to have a good team.
“We are also appealing to our management and state government to come and show their support to the team. They should fulfil some of the promises they have made to the team for more than three years now so that it will boost the players morale,” Bala told our correspondent.
“They promised that the Bako Kontagora Stadium, Minna would be fixed so that we will return back home. It is yet to be started. They also promised to settle the players clearance fees and they also promised that match bonuses of close to three seasons would be paid but none of these have been done.
“We struggled last season because we played all the 38 games away from home. We used a record five pitches last season for our home games. This affected the performance of the team but luckily we were able to secure another season in the NPFL.
“We believe we are over 70 percent ready for the start of the season. What we are lacking now is motivation and support from the Niger State Government and the management. We are not lacking in qualities. We just won the Gusau/Ahlan Preseason Tournament in Kano.”
Tornadoes will kick off the season with an away tie to Wikki Tourists in Bauchi on January 8th.
