Heartland of Owerri head coach, Emmanuel Amuneke has received a huge shower of support from two Imo State-born broadcasters and the club’s sporting director, Ogundu Robert Chukwuemeka, following reports that his job is under threat, Sports247 gathered.
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Although information trailing Heartland’s ouster from this year’s Imo State FA Cup on Friday indicated that Amuneke was likely to be sacked, a renowned broadcaster at a private radio station in Owerri, Kennedy Onwunali (aka Mark Fish) told Sports247 that the former Super Eagles star is being bad mouthed by rivals for his job.
Soon after the rebuttal by Onwunali (also fondly called Wakawaka), anorher rejoinder came from Ilekam Ikechukwu (aka Flakes), who also happens to be the official announcer at Enyimba International Stadium, Aba, a famous commercial city in nearby Abia State.
‘Flakes,’ who is an Imo State-born journalist and close confidant of the 1994 African Footballer of The Year, alleged that Amuneke is being victimised by envious people in power and many detractors.
While asserting that a witch hunt was launched against Amuneke from the day he got the job, Flakes stressed that Heartland’s woes should not be blamed on the former Julius Berger FC of Lagos, Zamalek of Egypt, Duisburg of Germany and Barcelona of Spain winger.
He added, “Amuneke debunked those claims saying that some bad eggs within the Imo State football cycle don’t want him to succeed. You know, for years, Heartland have been bedevilled with lots of difficulties concerning players’ welfare.”
Flakes then reeled out a long list of things that are needed in running a successful club but have been missing at The Naze Millionaires since Amuneke took over their saddle, thereby making his task very difficult.
He declared further that, despite all forces staked against Amuneke, the ex-international is still giving the best of his ability and has brought some innovations into the second-tier National League (NNL) outfit.
The highly jocular stadium announcer posited, “Salaries are being owed year in year out and even clearance papers are not being paid.
“Since this man came on board, you can ask the present crop of players, they will testify of the immense changes recorded so far. There’s transparency now, regardless of the fact that they could not get the top-flight ticket.
“The Heartland project is not a quick fix. If only you really knew the extent of damages in that team for years, no thanks to their horrible past administration.
“The current sporting director of Heartland, Ogundu Robert Chukwuemeka also rose to the defence of Amuneke when I shared my views with him.”
Sports247 reports further that the strong defence Amuneke is gaining among media buffs in Owerri and nearby states could be due to his status as a top rated former player, who was Nigeria’s hero in winning the 1994 Africa Cup of Nations.
He was also part of the under-23 Dream Team that won the 1996 Olympic Games football gold in Atlanta, USA, where he scored Nigeria’s winning goal in the final against Argentina.
