‘Poor Welfare, Responsible For ABS Poor Run’

Fans of Abubakar Bukola Saraki FC of Ilorin have blamed the management’s failure to settle players’ entitlements for the team’s poor performance since the beginning of the second stanza of the league.

The fans, who decried the developmenton last week in Ilorin, advised the government to urgently settle the arrears of salaries and allowances owed the players and officials.

The team had remained unbeaten in nine matches and occupied the fifth position at the end of the first stanza of the 2011/2012 Nigeria Premier League.

However, since the resumption of the second stanza, the team had not won any of the four matches so far played and had dropped to the 14th position.

ABS FC last week  lost 1-3 to Sharks FC of Port Harcourt in Ilorin and presently has 27 points from 22 matches played.

A fan, Layiwola Gambari, advised the management to look for a way to settle the players and officials, stressing that further delay could jeopardise the ambition of the club.

“Unless they (players) are fed, you cannot demand for the best from them. These are players that played nine matches, home and away, unbeaten.

“With their performance last Wednesday, it showed that something was wrong somewhere,” he said.

Gambari implored the team owner, Sen. Bukola Saraki, to release funds to the club to enable the management settle the benefits owed the players.

Another fan, Abdullahi Jimoh, said it was an open secret that the players had not been paid their salaries and allowances for a while.

According to Jimoh, the failure to pay the benefits was killing the morale of the boys.

“ABS, being the only private club in the premiership, is faced with internal problem of failure to pay players’ salaries.