As fans of Plateau United wonder why their darling team was booted out of the 2020/21 CAF Champions League in the preliminary stage, accusing fingers are pointing towards the direction of the state governor, Simon Lalong, whom they said did not release funds on time to get the boys to prepare adequately for the encounters.
The fans argued that if the governor had released funds early enough the team would have gone on early preparation but that was not done which paved the way for the eventual results and the ouster of the team. A member of the supporters club who spoke to New National Star on condition of anonymity said, “It was that bad because there was no money for the team to start early preparation, the management was stranded until an unholy hour when the funds were released to them.
He continued; “there was no way Plateau United could do well in this competition because the state government was actually not ready for the club, otherwise they should have provided financial intervention early enough for the team.”
In the same vein, fans also accused the head coach of the team, Abdullahi Maikaba for allegedly overhauling the winning team he inherited from his predecessors. He was also accused of using only the players he brought to the club in the first leg of the encounter played in Jos where the visitors, Simba SC of Tanzania, ran away with the victory which eventually knocked out Plateau United from the competition.
New National Star reported that the government released money to the club at the last minute, specifically during the second leg at Dar es Salaam, the team got funds from the government while on their way to the Abuja airport.
Meanwhile, New National Star can authoritatively report that the ambition of some stakeholders in Plateau state, mostly at the state Football Association (FA) to unseat the General Manager of the club, Pius Henwan, is seriously rubbing on the club because the FA is reportedly working against the efforts of the club management to achieve success.