Former Flying Eagles’ Chief Coach, Issa Ladan Bosso
By Segun Awofadeji
The Management of Wikki Tourists Football Club of Bauchi has retained former Flying Eagles’ Chief Coach, Issa Ladan Bosso to pilot the affairs of the club in the new football season.
Chairman of the club, Sule Chindo confirmed to THISDAY in Bauchi Monday that many Nigerian Premier League clubs were desperate to sign the former Kano Pillars tactician but he accepted to continue working with the Bauchi-based team in the coming league season.
He said the reason for retaining Bosso on the job as the technical adviser of Wikki Tourists was because of his vast knowledge of the team’s players.
“This experience will come handy in grooming the players to face the 2012/2013 league challenges,” observed the Wikki boss.
Chindo also confirmed that 15 players were sacked by the management for non performance based on the recommendation of the coaching crew.
“Already, between six and seven tested players have been pencilled down to reinforce the club ahead of the new season,” he noted.
He explained that the management may abolish the old system of paying sign-on- fee to players and revert to paying improved salary to reduce burden on the state government once approval is obtained from the owners of the club.
“The issue of sign on fees has been the major headache of clubs in the country that often lead to strike actions by players every season. We are thinking of doing away with it and adopt decent salary to encourage our players. Players of Lobi, Bukola and Jigawa don’t go on strike because sign on fees is never part of their bargain but huge salary for the players,” stressed the club chief.
The Wikki boss revealed that already, the management has submitted a N170m budget proposal to the government for the new league season, saying that once the government approves the salary proposal, that will lead to about N50m saving for the state.
He commended Governor Isa Yuguda for the financial support to the team which enabled it to have a decent finish last league season. Chindo said that the target of the club this new season is a continental ticket to play in one of Africa’s club competitions.