Edo has set new template for club management with Bendel Insurance, Queens, says Itemuagbor

Sports Marketing expert, Mike Itemuagbor, has described the management architecture set up for Bendel Insurance and Edo Queens by Edo State government as a new template for club administration every Nigerian club should adopt for the development of football in the country.

Itemuagbor, who praised Edo State Governor, Godwin Obaseki, for positioning the state’s two clubs in a way that it would be easy for private sector players to buy into them, said the new structure has given the clubs the plank to build and become independent of government.

Speaking during the unveiling of the clubs’ new jerseys in Benin, Itemuagbor cautioned the teams to see their new status as a responsibility they owe Nigerian clubs, adding that the success of their relationship with the private sector will impact on other clubs.

He said: “It is very easy for Sterling Bank to agree to the sponsorship, but it is your responsibility to make them stay and even ask for an increment from N50 million to N100 million.”

He described the clubs’ jerseys as of international quality, which “adapt to the environment such that when the weather is hot, it is cold and when it is cold, the jersey is hot.”

He added: “What the governor is doing is to make Bendel Insurance a truly world class club.

“I want to remind Bendel Insurance players that you must play entertaining football and also get results so that the stadium will always be full whenever you are playing. That is the only way your sponsors can leverage on their investments in you.

“With Bendel Insurance, Sterling Bank doesn’t need too much advertisement in other media. I say this because you now have a viable visibility through the club’s followership, which includes market women, workers in different offices, students and even the ordinary man on the streets.

“I want to remind the players that they should understand that their on-field or off-field behaviour affects the brand. So, they must always be well behaved.”

To support the teams, Itemuagbo bought one Insurance jersey for N500,000 and one Edo Queens jersey for the same amount.