Plateau United has slammed the Interim Management Committee (IMC) for postponing the commencement of the new Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) season at the last minute.
The 2023/2024 season’s first kickoff, which had originally been scheduled for September 9, has been postponed by the NPFL board.
The start of the league was delayed, according to Andrew Ekejiuba, media officer of GTI/NFF, so that its participants may concentrate on the annual general meeting (AGM) of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), which would take place in Uyo, Akwa Ibom.
In the season’s first game, Plateau United was scheduled to face Shooting Stars in Ibadan.
Yaksat Maklek, the club’s director of media operations, said to our correspondent that they were at the IMC office in Abuja for paperwork when they learned about the postponement.
The club, according to him, has “significantly spent on camping and other arrangements for optimal preparations.”
Maklek also regretted the “waste of resources” the postponement had cost the team.
“Plateau United has substantially lost in terms of materials and mentality put into preparing for the match and the new season,” he claimed.
“Plateau United has substantially lost in terms of materials and mentality put into preparing for the match and the new season,” he said.
“We were at the IMC office in Abuja for documentation when we found out. So a lot of things have been wasted. The club has spent substantially on camping and other arrangements for optimal preparations.
“Psychologically, so much focus has been built towards the match [on Saturday], and the team has also lost much in terms of preparedness, with the players disappointed and negatively affected.”
In the simplified 2022–23 NPFL season, Plateau United ranked fifth in Group A and missed the Super Six by nine points.
