Stanley Eguma has revealed to SportingLife why he has spent almost his entire career coaching Dolphins FC which has been merged with Sharks to form Rivers United.
Speaking in an interview in Lagos, the former U-23 team assistant coach said he got offers from top clubs in Nigeria and beyond to dump Dolphins but decided to stay after assurances from the state government that the club will not be starved of funds any longer.
He stressed that the club’s poor performance in the past two seasons was not due to lack of quality but because of poor funding from the immediate past administration.
“I got lucrative offers from clubs in Nigeria and outside the country but I had to stick with Dolphins because the new government promised proper funding of the club.
“The club did not perform well in the past two seasons which was neither the fault of the coaches nor the players. We simply did not get enough funds to run the club,” he said.
Beyond the monetary reason, the former Heartland gaffer reckoned that the fulfilment that comes with grooming players from very obscure background to stardom also made him to develop special attachment to Dolphins.
“I have developed a culture at Dolphins that I’m very proud of and is that of given young players the platform to achieve their life-long dreams.
“When I brought the team from the lower division to the elite cadre, a lot of people did not give us any chance of making any impact in the Nigerian league.
“I didn’t discard these young lads. Most of them were with me for several years before becoming stars in their own rights. Some went on to secure juicy contracts outside the country thanks to the technical plans I took them through at Dolphins.
“This programme encouraged me to stay longer at the club because I didn’t have the heart to abandon these young players that were under my tutelage halfway.”
Eguma was of the opinion that the foundation he laid at the club had yielded dividends in terms of generating funds from transfer of players and also bringing glory to the state with the trophies that have been won over the years.
“I have recruited players from academies into Dolphins and later sold to clubs in Europe. My fulfilment is that most of these players call me regularly to appreciate what I have done in their lives. A player like Aaron Samuel is one of them.
“Through this process, we’ve generated funds for the club and also won trophies for Rivers State.”