In response to the 10-days deadline set by the NFF for State football association to present a team that will represent the state in this year’s Aiteo Cup, the proprietor of 36 Lion FC of Lagos, Hajji Gafar has bared his mind on the development while noting that there is no institutional framework to meet up with the demands.
In a post on a WhatsApp platform Nigeria Sports Mouthpiece (NSM Reloaded), the astute football manager said it will be difficult to produce a State FA Cup winner within the stipulated date and suggested MFM FC or Smart City FC to represent Lagos.
“Let’s hope the FA in Lagos will choose either Smart City FC or MFM FC as our representative for the AITEO Cup especially considering the form in which MFM is right now. Lagos State with 80 or more affiliated and FA Cup already paid clubs can never produce a single winner in 6 days”, said Gafar who raised the poser of how possible will it be to play over 60 matches in 6 days?.
He believes that the Lagos State FA should have been proactive and expect the sudden demand from the NFF noting the fact that some of the State officials are also office holders at the National level.
He advocated the need to reach a compromise on the last season FA Cup registration fee paid by clubs in Lagos State and suggested how the financial commitment of the team could be boil down to a ’50/50 loss situation’.
“I plead with every club in Lagos to anticipate 25 Thousand Naira payment to the FA for next season’s FA Cup, that is, all clubs will forfeit half of our last FA Cup payment for administrative cost and look forward to a brand new 2021/2022 season”, quipped the administrator in his opinion which he said is coming from a concerned stakeholder.