THE Chairman of Sporting Lagos FC, a football club playing in the Nigeria Premier League Club (NPFL), Godwin Enakhena, has attributed the poor performance of the club to the departure of two key players, Kalu Chukwuemeka and Chisom Orji. 

Before the players’ departure, they were instrumental in the club’s promotion to the country’s top-flight league, NPFL, from the Nigeria National League. 

During Orji’s stint with the Lagos-based club, he made ten appearances, scoring two goals and two assists since joining in March 2023, while Kalu scored five goals in eleven games played within that period. 

They both left before the club began its campaign in the 2023/24 NPFL season in August 2023.  

However, Orji returned to the club in September 2023.

But since Sporting Lagos’ debut in the country’s top-flight league, the club has played sixteen matches, recording four wins, six draws, and seven losses and currently stays in the 16th position on the league’s table.

The last time the club won a match was against Katsina United which ended 1-0 at the Mobolaji Johnson stadium, Onikan, Lagos on December 3, 2023. 

Speaking on the X space on the topic: ‘Can Super Eagles win the African Cup of Nations?’ facilitated by The ICIR, Enekhena, who was a speaker while responding to questions, confirmed that Sporting Lagos has not been getting the right result.

“Certainly, we ( Sporting Lagos) are not doing well and the reasons are many, our key players of the team travelled at the same time. Kalu went to Bulgaria unceremoniously.

“Number two, we have Orji, scoring goals, and suddenly he left for Egypt, these are the two players that we built the NPFL upon,” he said.

He said as a football administrator, he is interested in the progress of any players, stressing that he would rather allow a player to leave than abort the player’s move to another club.

“I am one of those people that has always said any player that wants to move should move, the player’s future matters to me more than anything else. I don’t hold down anybody, no matter how long they are.

“I said that as the secretary of the club’s owners association if you hold down a player, you are a wicked person. If you keep that man down, that man could be the reason his family will have breakfast. It is not about the man, it is family,” he added.

He expressed optimism about the club’s wake to winning matches, saying that the club’s technical director, Paul Aigbogun, will support the coach, Paul Offorr in the dug-out.

“But again, getting the best players is always difficult, but we will strengthen the team. Paul Aigbogun is our technical director, but he is going to be more involved with the team.

“From our game with Shooting Stars on Monday, you will see Paul Aigbogun and Paul Offor,” he said.