Gombe United Reflect On NPFL Exit

Over the course of the last five days so many things have happened in football circles in Gombe State and Nigeria at large. The Management Board would like to commiserate with football fans all over Nigeria for the failure of the national team, the Super Eagles to qualify for the 2015 African Cup of Nations. Nigerians were aggrieved by this debacle, but we have to take it in good faith and carry on from where we stopped without applying breaks.

2. On Sunday 16th November, 2014 dark clouds fell into the horizons of Gombe as the darling football team, Gombe United Football Club, got itself relegated from the Nigeria Football Premier League for the very first time in history.

The effect of this
catastrophe was unbearable on all stakeholders and the teeming supporters of the club. The management board alongside the technical crew have done everything humanly possible to avoid the drop, but destiny cannot be reversed. At the end of the first round of the season we have recruited 11 new players in order to strengthen the team and also recruited two ex internationals to lead the technical crew. The team went on to win two away matches and got two away draws. But despite these efforts, the mathematics was overwhelmed by football politics and we got ourselves at the wrong end of the table.

3. We would like to apologise to the government and true fans of the club. Whatever was the indices behind the drop, as the body at the helm of the club's affairs, the management board has taken full responsibility of the disappointing end to the season. However, the fans should not relent in their zeal to keep on supporting the club next season so that our glory will be regained.

4. We wish to appreciate the maximum support given by the state government under the stalwart leadership of Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo,OON (Talban Gombe). In the same vein, we appreciate the contributions of the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Abubakar Sule Bage, the Chief of Staff in the Government House, Alhaji Ahmed Yayari, Nigeria's Ambassador to Kuwait and Bahrain, Senator Haruna Garba (Magayakin Gombe) and the Speaker, Gombe State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Inuwa Garba and all the members of Gombe State House of Assembly.

5. We would also like to thank the club's old players, security forces, the media, the supporting staff and the technical crew, under Augustine Eguavoen. Mr Eguavoen deserves accolade for his dedication and commitment, he might have lost it out at the end by failing to keep the club up, but he has done his best and we salute his courage.

6. It should be noted that in our drive to give chance to local talents, Gombe United Football Club was, over the course of the last two seasons, the club with most local players in the NFPL.

7. We were dealt a hard blow when the club was banished to play three home games in Bauchi, following what the League Management Company wrongly deemed as uprising from our fans after the home match against Kano Pillars. The two home draws we played in Bauchi went on to define our season. In the same token, there were the so-called football fans who sabotaged our efforts by conniving with our detractors and other NPFL teams.

8. It is our hope that after this disappointment the club is going to bounce back strongly. We can only do that with the total support from the government, the fans, the players and officials.

9. Gombe United Football Club is a cultural identity of the entire people of Gombe State. That identity will not fade away, and Gombe United will never die.