Abdul Maikaba, the head coach of Enugu Rangers, has expressed enthusiasm for the beginning of the 2019 Nigeria Premier Football League season.
Maikaba specifically emphasized that the 10 million naira grant is a positive step since it will encourage players and clubs generally.
The manager added that for the first time in a very long time, clubs had extra time to be ready before the start of the new season.
According to Football Live, the Enugu Rangers boss suggested that the most challenging team of the new season would be the defending champions, Rivers United.
“Being the defending champions and having the stretch of time they had to prepare for the new season, it only means they could do better than they did last season.
“They’ll be even stronger playing an abridged format of the league.”
Maikaba also said, he expects the season to be a really tough one as the abridged league format means there would be no room for complacency as any slip up could prove very dicey and difficult to recover from.
“We will not underestimate any club, as everyone had the same time to recover from the previous season, and more ample time to prepare ahead.
“The abridged format is also the best way to go at this point in time in the country. I think the abridged league is the best for Nigeria most especially this season.
“We want to be in tandem with other leagues around the world, we want to finish the league together with them. The abridged league format is the best to do these things and to resume the leagues together as it is done abroad.”
