Felix Owolabi, a former left winger of the then IICC Shooting Stars now 3SC FC of Ibadan, said on Monday in Lagos that the relegation of the club for the third time showed the degree of failure in its operations.
Owolabi, who played for the IICC between the late 70s and early 90s, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the relegation was disturbing.
The ex-international, Owo Blow as he is fondly called, who played much of his career as a left winger, he featured at the1978 African Cup of Nations and the 1980 Summer Olympics; he was with the club for 15 years, and in 1992, he helped the club win the CAF Cup now CAF Confederation Cup in 1992.
Owolabi said:“It is sad that my club is yet to get it right, the truth of the matter is that this is bigger than the players and coaches.
“For three consecutive years, they are still back at the same spot, it is not done, you can’t keep doing the same thing over and over and expect different results.
“There is something fundamentally wrong with the club due to years of neglect, we are used to patching things up and when there is nothing to patch everything falls apart.’’
Owolabi, who also won the 1980 edition of the AFCON with the Green Eagles in Lagos, said the players’ fortune dipped because they were “totally neglected by the management of the club”.
“When things are not working, the administrators should look inwards and ask themselves questions: are we considerate of our players’ welfare?
“Are we giving necessary training to our coaches, are they sharing modern tactics to their players or are they still basking in the outdated ones.
“For as long as the questions are left unanswered by the administrators, we will keep seeing 3SC at the bottom of the table,’’ he told NAN.
NAN reports that 3SC had 50 points from 38 matches played at the end of the 2016/2017 season.