By EMMA JEMEGAH
The chairman of the Shooting Stars Sports Club (3SC), Gbolagade Busari has absolved the Oyo State government on the club’s relegation to the lower division.
He disclosed that the relegation was not as a result of lack of adequate support from the government, stressing that 3SC is the only agency that still gets its monthly subvention regularly from the government despite the cash crunch in the country.
Busari explained that the club gets monthly subvention of N12m for players’ salaries, technical crew and administrative staff while gate takings (at an average of N1m per match with the money realized from sponsorship deals) are all utilized for match prosecution, allowances as well as bonuses of the players.
He went further that no one should put the blame of the team’s poor performance at the doorsteps of the government but rather the commitment of the players.
“We tried everything we could, not to be in this situation but it’s obvious our best is not enough. We got the necessary support from the government but we have not been able to justify the investments on the club.”
“We collect our monthly subvention and our gate-takings are being used for the players. We also used the proceeds realized from our sponsorship deals for allowances and bonuses of the players without interference from the government”, he said.
“We had identified the problems even before the end of the season and necessary actions were put in place to ensure that these challenges did not lead us to relegation. We will do everything within our capacity to ensure that the team bounces back in due course,” Busari assured.
He hinted that major decisions at improving the fortunes of the club would be made in a matter of weeks, emphasizing that the club’s poor performance was not due to the lack of funding.
He said that both the players and the technical crew are going to be evaluated by the management with proper restructuring in the pipelines.
Busari, therefore, appealed to the teeming fans of the team to remain calm, assuring that necessary measures will be put in place to marshal the team back to the premiership in due course.