There is seeming unrest within the camp of Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) club Heartland FC over the delay in payment of financial entitlements to the players.
Following back-to-back losses to Katsina United (3-2) and Nasarawa United at home (1-2) in the NPFL, the Owerri club currently occupy the lower rungs of the table.
Reports then surfaced that the players of the club were unwilling to play under the new management which it was claimed culminated in the inderwhelming results posted in the opening two match days of the season.
Imo State Sports Commissioner, Dan Chike Oguh spoke on a local Radio Station on the situation stating that the government was not owing the players, a claim which players of the club described as untrue.
The players, led by Ikechukwu Ezenwa who is also Nigeria’s national team goalkeeper, said some of the players are owed seven months salaries while some are currently owed for three months
“What the players are asking for is their wages because most of them are having serious challenges which they’re facing in their immediate and extended families,” Ezenwa said. “They just need funds from the government which is their monthly wages for them to resolve all those problems that is making them not to concentrate on their career.”
The goalkeeper then denied reports that the players are not keen on playing for the club because of a new management constituted months ago.
“How will a player come out to say he doesn’t want to play for a team that is paying him monthly salary? No player can say that.
“We played against Katsina, we were being owed. We were being owed coming back to play in our home game against Nasarawa United but if anything that we are facing is because of what players are going through in their various homes and it is affecting the players.
“So what we are begging is for the government to come to our aid to settle these bills and I think everybody will be fine.
“There is no time any player made mention that we are not going to play for the management or the government, it is a big lie”.
