Cup holders, Heartland have placed 14 players on the transfer market while they retained 21. Heartland finished eighth on the log on 51 points from 36 matches.
General Manager of the Naze Millionaires, Fan Ndubuoke said the players, who have been asked to look for jobs elsewhere, under-performed in the out gone season as well as those with disciplinary problems.
“Fourteen players have been asked to look for greener pastures elsewhere while we keep 21 for the 2012/2013 NPL season.
“Of course, the dropped players were as a result of their performances in the 2011/2012 season which were adjudged to be below average. Others were dropped on disciplinary grounds and other related vices. This means we’ll shop for quality replacements especially in the areas the technical crew will spell out for our league and continental campaigns,” he said.
Ndubuoke blamed his side’s league poor performance to players’ strikes and the difficulties playing their home matches away from home due to late approval of the Dan Anyiam Stadium, Owerri by the league board.
And the instability created in the technical crew due to frequent travel of the former technical adviser, Lodewijk de Kruif to Holland.
Ndubuoke informed fans that Heartland will no longer enjoy 100% government funding.
He said the government has directed the club to cut down on their expenses and device internal means to generate fund for the running of the club.
“It means we have to restructure and re-brand and run the club with a view of making profits.
“We must devise ways of bringing fans to the stands. And to cut costs, we are definitely going to reduce our staff strength,” he said.
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