The first shot has been fired, a process has begun.
President of the Alpha ‘The Hammer’ United Football Club Odinga Lumumba yesterday warned his players to get in line or face the axe from Guyana’s number one team.
He told media operatives yesterday that the management staff was fitting the missing pieces of Guyana’s number club together, pieces that have hampered them from performing to their fullest potential in the Caribbean and further afield.
According to Lumumba his team has not been performing the way it can on the international level because of the players’ indiscipline. He believes, undoubtedly, that his team is the best in the country but said the players are spoiled.
“Undoubtedly, it is the best football team to put boots on in this country but the players are indisciplined. I will safely say that Alpha United is possibly the most indisciplined team in Guyana and this indiscipline comes because they are spoiled and we have not been doing the necessary things to straighten them out.
We are now going to put in the various rules and regulations. If you are not in training camp half an hour before training you go home, if you do not come to a game an hour before you go home and if you are consistently absent from practice we send you away, initially suspension then expulsion or termination,” Lumumba warned his players.
Lumumba emphasised that the club’s management will be writing the Guyana Football Federation (GFF), local football’s governing body, to inform of the club’s policy and how players will be dealt with.
Lumumba and the rest of his management team believe that if these systems are put in place to curb excesses then the team will perform much better. He also charged the players to remember that they are representing their country and therefore should conduct themselves in a particular manner and not just themselves.
“…Your attitude has to change. You cannot continue to collect and to ask sponsors and government for support, in particular financial support, and we draw blank. People get tired of it; I will be tired of it,” Lumumba fumed.
He also flayed his players for believing that beating every team in Guyana will guarantee them success out of Guyana.
The price that would have been paid for missing yesterday’s briefing was a $5,000 fine.
Lumumba at yesterday’s meeting at the Water Chris Hotel charged that this the new stage of development for the club.
And, as the side prepares for the CONCACAF Caribbean Football Union (CFU) Club Championships from April 9-11, Lumumba revealed that there will be the addition of quality overseas players to bolster the side’s chances in the competition.
Alpha United has drawn a bye after the Antiguan club side they were scheduled to play withdrew.
The team’s next opponent will possibly be a team from Puerto Rico.
“This is the third year that the club will be going to the CONCACAF CFU tournament and this year we are attempting to put all the missing pieces together. Missing pieces in the past were (1) lack of quality players, [we had] good players but not quality players and I think with the recent additions to the team we have the quality players that can now compete in the Caribbean and hopefully in the United States.
On the other hand, Lumumba has flayed the local media for not adequately highlighting the accolades of the Alpha United team and what it has done in Guyana and beyond the borders.
“Look at our success rate in this country. We have been dominant, dominant, dominant. In any sport and I have not even seen a press person do a historical background of Alpha. They are more interested in carrying the issue of Kashif and Shanghai versus Alpha United,” Lumumba emphasised.
