The 2024/25 season of the Nigeria Premier Football League ended penultimate weekend with Remo Stars emerging champions. It was their first title ever. Intriguingly, Enugu Rangers, who were champions the previous season, surrendered their crown long before the final day of this season. Their title defence began on a high note but soon became feeble as the season wore on. What happened to Enugu Rangers? With coach Fidelis Ilechukwu, the man who piloted their flight to their first title in years still in the saddle makes it was even more intriguing that Rangers finished outside teams that qualified for next season’s continental inter-club competitions. Pathetic.

A passionate Enugu Rangers fan, Emmanuel Okeke, alias Okwuluora ndi Igbo, believes there is more to Rangers’ capitulation than meets the eye. For instance, he mentioned Rangers loss to Heartland FC during the season as one of the indices that showed that all was not well with the club. He described the goals Rangers conceded in that match as ‘magical’.

In a chat with Osondu Ngude on Primesport 104.9 FM, Enugu Okeke said, “Four days before that match, I got phone calls from Heartland fans that they were going to beat Rangers 2-0; they said there was an arrangement. I questioned, which arrangement? When they hosted the match they won but the manner they got their goals was magical.”

Continuing, Okeke said, “Some of you don’t know how much I love Rangers. I forfeited the chance of going to America for the first time and chose to go watch Rangers. After that defeat, I withdrew my support for Rangers to some extent.” He called on the administrators of Rangers to take responsibility for the poor campaign. “We need someone to come and tell us what happened in that match. Rangers is our club; Rangers is our conscience, Rangers is our joy; Rangers is everything. People need to take responsibility.”

He said in the game against Enyimba, the team played well and demonstrated they wanted to win that game like true Rangers. But the Heartland game was unbelievable. He insisted, repeatedly, that Enugu people should start asking questions because the “club belongs to all of us”.

He recalled telling a group of journalists on a TV programme that Rangers were going to lose in Benin in Benin. lose in Rivers and in Ibadan, all these happened. There was no controversy in those matches because they played very well.

“When I spoke with some of the players, they told me they were distraught and not motivated. Some of them cannot pay their rent. Truth must be told, we have not done well in terms of players’ welfare.”

Without sparing management, Okeke said the players should have done better.

“I expected them to do better. I don’t think they were helping themselves. If because a team is not paying you well and you refuse to do well, that is doing a great disservice to yourself, because if you do well you are selling yourself. If I am poorly paid and I am not doing well, how can I go to Real Madrid? They will never come for me, if you are not ready to play and die for Rangers, then leave,” he emphasised.

He recalled Nwankwo Kanu’s experience at Ajax. “On getting to Amsterdam, Kanu said the weather was so unfriendly because it was too cold. Kanu remembered how he was hawking akara (bean cake) in Owerri. He then made a choice to remain under that cold and prove himself. Within months, Kanu, together with George Finidi, shot themselves to Ajax’s first team and subsequently won the Champions League. There are a lot of issues in Rangers that need to be addressed urgently.”

He was asked if Rangers will ever bounce back to the pinnacle of Nigerian football.

He began, “In 2016, we won the league and in 2017 we were almost relegated. We had a match against Zanaco of Zambia, they couldn’t depart from Nigeria until a few hours before the match because money wasn’t released. In Zambia, they went straight from the airport to the pitch. They lost that match 4-0. One thing with us is getting to the top; another thing is how to sustain that height. Rangers need total overhaul. When Rangers lost that match people were crying and I noticed one player, Evans Ogbona, who covered his face in shame. He earned my respect. Rangers’ problem is lack of sustainability. Every day, you pay to go sit under the sun only to see your team lose. Bringing Rangers back will be very difficult.

If you were asked to advise Rangers management, what would you tell them to do first?

They know the problem. The first thing I will say is to tell the General Manager to embark on a media tour and explain to the people what really happened during the season and explain the challenges as well. He shouldn’t wait for people to start pointing accusing fingers at him when he is not the problem. He should stop taking bullets for another person. Personally, I am ready to leave any position that will dent my image. We have seen Prime Ministers resign. I have seen a lot of coaches walk away because of poor results. Even if you are being paid $1 million you should leave when things are not working because people’s emotions are at stake. Each time Rangers lose I feel sad,

Again, why is the General Manager playing? He has a very big task on his hands and I see that(playing) as a distraction. The Rangers’ project is too big to be shared with other duties. Wearing that jersey alone is a distraction. You are the GM, you sit at the VIP, You don’t sit around the coach. Club chairmen, top officials of clubs, sit in the VIP lounge, high up there. You don’t see them around the pitch. The guy is doing too much and it is beginning to tell on him. He should suspend playing and focus on this project.

All he needs to do is go back to the drawing board. He should tell himself the truth and ask himself, ‘Why are the players complaining? Why are they looking poor? Why are they not feeding well? All the Enugu Rangers buses are in bad shape. In terms of players’ welfare, Rangers have not tried at all. Although this situation is common in the Nigerian league. At times, I sit and wonder, how players in the Nigerian Premier Football League survive.”

Getting the fans back to the stadium

To start with, somebody should come and address supporters about the just-ended season, the challenges and so on. Even if they had finished 20th, the fans need to be told why the club performed the way it did. That is packaging, how a football club should be run. Rangers is a brand and do not deserve less.

The Nnamdi Azikiwe Stadium needs to be retouched now that the season has ended. A match day should be an experience beyond football.

When we knew we had lost out in the race for CAF Champions League spot, all our hopes were placed on the President’s Federation Cup. Then we lost to Kwara United in Lagos. Imagine how the final would have been: Abakaliki FC against Enugu Rangers. That would have been an epic. An all-south-east final would have rekindled something else in the entire region.

The loss to Kwara United

Back to the loss to Kwara United, a team that travelled for such a match should have been lodged in a hotel where the players could have balanced diets and rested before the encounter. They would have gone with their dietitian.

Imagine in 1994, Iwuanyanwu Nationale were going to the CAF Champions League on a chartered plane. If by then a Nigerian club could go to the continent on a chartered flight, why should clubs in Nigeria be travelling for league matches on coaster buses? In 2025, Nigerian clubs should have been owning their own planes. Nigerian league twenty, thirty years ago was better than it is today both in standard and management. Back in the day, when we had the likes of Dolphins of Port Harcourt, Udoji United and Jasper United in Oba, Spartans of Owerri matches were explosive and more entertaining.

It is said when the righteous are in authority the people rejoice. The present people that run our football lack the passion. I told the General Manager that I want to call some people so that we can raise one billion naira for Rangers but after the Heartland match, I changed my mind. I promoted the Heartland match with close to ten million naira. I printed posters, jerseys and the like. I am a human being.

When I joined the Rangers crusade last season, I saw that Rangers jersey was the most sought after product in Nigerian football. Even abroad, people are ready to pay in dollars to get it but they don’t have enough. I wrote to club management that I wanted the franchise, when I sell I will remit the money to the club. I planned to build a shop like that of Manchester United along Ogwi Road, where you can have everything about the club- jerseys, banners, bangles and memorabilia. Nothing came out of it. Some people feel I am becoming too popular with the Rangers project. Some feel I am beginning to do too much. My plan was to change the way things are being done at present. I want to digitise the marketing methods for Rangers products. I wanted to contact DHL, EMS so that if you are abroad and you order for a Rangers jersey, it can be delivered to you through courier service. The day Rangers played Enyimba, people were reselling the Rangers jersey they bought. Those who bought it N15k were reselling it for N25k.

Rangers travel to away matches and are lodged in hotels you cannot drink water from. When they visited Umuahia, I was full of pity for the players because of the kind of hotel they were checked into. Why were they packed three in one room? When I asked, I was told because the hotel was close to the stadium. Rivers United won the league the previous year and they were given 20,000 dollars.

Why would Enugu Rangers not do a trophy tour. We all saw what Honourable Kunle Soname did with Remo Stars. The trophy tour was Real Madrid or Manchester United standard. That is how a club is run.

The governor of Enugu State is a businessman. He is not a football person. Maybe somebody has not told him that football is serious business. Maybe they are afraid of him. They should tell him if we qualify for Champions League, it will fetch us $500,000, Group stage $700,000, quarter final $2 million and so on.

We, the fans of Enugu Rangers, are appealing to the governor to take another look at Rangers, that some of us our lives depend on this team. All our efforts should not be in vain due to the poor management of the club. Rangers players are hungry, that is why they are not doing well.