Fans Express Dismay At Cancellation Of Arsenal Visit

Soccer fans in Nigeria have described as unfortunate the decision by Arsenal FC of England to cancel their pre-season tour of Nigeria, citing “complexities linked to the proposed game’’.

The “Gunners’’ as they are fondly called, were to play a match in Abuja on August 5 against the Super Eagles but have now decided against fulfilling the fixture.

Arsenal Marketing Director Angus Kinnear last week in a statement said: “Bringing a top-level club to an international market is always complicated and logistically challenging.

“With the proposed match in Nigeria planned for early August, we could not get comfortable on everything needed to satisfy our requirements, so we have reluctantly taken the decision to postpone the team’s visit’’.

They postponed the game till next summer.

Meanwhile, the fans who spoke blamed the decision on security challenges in the country rather than the reason given by the club’s official.

An Arsenal fan, Sulyman Asekunlowo said he was not happy with the decision.

Asekunlowo, a civil servant, however, said that he would not blame them because their decision must have been hinged on the security threat posed by the Boko Haram sect.

“I’m not surprised with the decision because I have envisaged such a thing. How will a club like Arsenal risk playing in Nigeria in spite of the spate of bombings?

“This is a call on our government to arrest the insecurity in Nigeria. We cannot expect the economy to thrive in this situation.

“If we expect foreign investors to come to Nigeria without guaranteeing their security, it is a mirage,” he said.

For a student and fan of the English Premiership team, Kazeem Aremu, he was delighted with the cancellation.

According to him, it is better that the club cancels the trip than subject the players to the state of insecurity in the country.

He added that he was sure that the club would change their plan if they reconsidered the security situation.

“Everyone knows that the reason is not far-fetched. It is because of the bombings, especially in the northern part of the country and not the logistics reason given by the club.

“We hope our government will address the problem since they have known that people are avoiding the country because of the threat,’’ he said.

Also, Ex-Super Eagles goalkeeper, Joseph Dosu, said that it was unfortunate because the Eagles were expected to resume camp in about two weeks to prepare for the friendly.

“It is a setback on our football, especially at this moment when we are trying to regain our lost glory and bounce back to our winning ways,” he said.

Dosu added that the club should be true to Nigeria and clearly state what the problem is rather than attribute their postponed visit to logistics.

“If something has gone wrong, they should come out clearly and say it rather than create technical excuses because it is sad,” he said.