..Laments Debt Profile Of Over N250 Million
TERKURA AKAA SAKERA In Makurdi
The management of Lobi Stars Football Club (FC), of Makurdi, says it plans to layoff about thirty of the players that are presently under its employ and retain thirty-five of them, preparatory to the next season.
It also lamented that the current management, headed by Terver Ikya, inherited about N250 million, from the previous management of the club, and was still counting.
The Lobi management argued that the debts owed by the club has weighed on Lobi Stars, thereby affecting the smooth running of the club.
Chairman, Lobi Stars, FC, Terver Ikya, who disclosed this in a chat with newsmen in Makurdi on Wednesday, observed that Lobi Stars, would have to layoff some of its players because the contractual agreement it has with most, if not all of the players would end by the close of the season.
He pointed out that the salaries of the players was over bloated and management felt that the best thing to do was to layoff those that were not really serving the purpose for which they were engaged, in view of the lean resources at the disposable of the outfit.
While he pointed out that some of the players were being paid large sums, as salaries, he explained that they were not even among the choice players of the club, thus the club may have been operating at a loss.
Ikya, who stated that he plans to have a robust team that would deliver the goods at any given time, insisted that any new players that would be signed by the club from henceforth, must be one that would be fully utilised and not merely for the purpose of just signing them for the sake of it.
According to Ikya, he was aiming high come next season as he was not going to have anyone act as a clog in the wheel of progress of the team to return to the Premier League, a dream he intends to achieve along with other members of management.
He also stressed that the era where players were employed because someone put in a word for them was over, emphasising that he was prepared to place his job on the line in order to have productive players in the employ of the team.
On the debt profile of the club, he noted that he was working on a plan that would receive the blessing of the state governor, Hyacinth Alia, and get it out permanently out of debt.
During the interactive session, Ikya was flanked by the Team Manager, Yamelu Finbar, the Director Media, Emmanuel Uja as well as the Principal Media Officer of Lobi Stars, Austin Tyowua. ###
