Some fans of the Nigeria Premier Football League NPFL, have called out a former Super Eagles Captain Austin Jay Jay Okocha, over his comments about the local league npflupdates.com reports.
Austin Okocha last weekend, called out the various lapses and challenges facing the Nigeria Premier Football League NPFL, and why it has experienced a gradual growth in decades.
Also read: Ronaldo In, Messi Out As Okocha Names Exclusive All Time XI(11)
According to the former Super Eagles midfielder, the NPFL has stayed long enough to be a world standard and compete with European leagues.
The former Bolton Wanderers skipper, said he’s sad that the organisers of the local league, can not capitalize on their efforts when they played in the NPFL decades ago.
Okocha loses cool about the gradual growth of the NPFL in the past decades
“It hurts to see that the efforts that we have put in those years have not been built on. Maybe we are just realising that now and some clubs are taking the initiative,” the 50-year-old said.
“The league should give us what we are craving for and that is why I made the statement so that we will all wake up and do the right thing. We need to start attracting investors to our local league.
“We need to make our stadia conducive to watching matches and not people being harassed; we should make sure that we are having the right results and not that home teams must win at all cost.”
Speaking further, Okocha canvassed support for grassroot footballers and developmental clubs and academies. The former Paris St-Germain midfielder, urged club owners, and league organisers put up structures which can help develop grassroot footballers.
How do we develop the local Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL)
Also read: Okocha Drops Exclusive Analysis About Super Eagles AFCON Group
“The future of football is grassroots development and that is the point I am trying to make. At this stage, we should have been able to put structures in place that Can enable us to say that these are our future players,” he continued.
“My position on NPFL stands. One thing that is for sure is that there is no shortage of talent in Nigeria, the only difference is management and putting structures in place.”
He added, “I don’t want to own a club, I would have loved to. But the question is, how will I function when I know that I will struggle to win away matches, knowing that those games Won’t be televised?,”
What was said about Okocha’s NPFL statement
Statements from the Nigerian legend has since generated a mixed Reaction, with a larger number of persons asking him to look away from the NPFL if he can contribute positively.
“Jay Jay is a Nigerian legend, nobody can take that away from him. Football in the world can’t be talked, without him in the discussion, that’s quite a good one,” NPFLUpdates in-house analyst Mr Best said in his analysis Monday morning.
“Meanwhile, what he said about the NPFL is his personal opinion. That made a lot of sense, but talking without action is as good as not talking at all. So I urge him(Okocha) to take the bull by the horn and run for a position in the NFF and the NPFL.”
Also read: “There’s Nothing Anybody Can Do” Gbenga Ogunbote Cries Ahead Of NPFL Fixture
“He can contribute a whole lot to the Nigerian football, and we know he loves the NPFL because the local the league made him. Okocha should come out in full force and own a club, so that when he speaks these things, people can relate,” he added
