UCHECHUKWU JOHN MENSAH DROP MESSAGE FOR THE ELEPHANTS AS HIS ENYIMBA CAREER COMES TO AN END

The message goes thus;

"If you look at the big picture, not this season, I think in terms of myself and Enyimba, we have been good for each other," said Uche. "They have been great for me and given me the platform to express myself on the biggest stage and I feel I have given everything for the club and for the shirt when I’ve played. And I’ve been lucky enough to be in a lot of successful teams that have won a lot of trophies."

" When I first signed and walked into that dressing room with so many iconic players, I just knew Enyimba was where I wanted to be," he stated. "I could have pursued a move elsewhere, but I wanted to win and Enyimba felt right for that. I wanted to compete every year for trophies and Enyimba is that club.

"It took a few weeks for me to say to myself ‘you know what, I can play at this level’ and then when I got that confidence I went from strength to strength. I wanted the massive names and the stars to know I could play.

"I feel privileged to have been involved in Enyimba teams with such legendary players as late Chinedu Udoji, Ibenegbu Ikechukwu, Chinonso Okonkwo, Theophilus Afelokhai and Nelson Ogbonnaya, and the list goes on. To witness how they train and work has been a blessing for me. All my best years in football have been in the last six or seven years.

"But look at the players who have come and lasted one or two years and you see a club like Enyimba can be very difficult. It’s a ruthless environment, you sink or swim and half of that is ability and the other half is mentality. You have to be able to handle the stings".

"Late Udorji was someone I admired when I wasn’t at the club and admired even more when I played and worked with him," said Uche John.

"When it was clear he was leaving, it was a bit like when Sir Alex Ferguson left Manchester United in terms of the captaincy, 'who’s going to take that'? But also ‘who’s not going to take it?’

"Udorji was great when he wasn’t playing and he was still club captain and I was some times captaining the team. We won the title that year and I played near enough every game. I remember in the tunnel before we got the trophy in 2015, he was adamant that I should wear the armband when we lifted it together. That was a mark of what he is like.

"Last season is not something I will like to remember, it’s been really terrible for me personally," said Uche. "It will just be erased out of my head when I leave Enyimba. My last memory will be the season when we reached the confederation cup semifinal".

"It’s been very difficult. I have played on a regular basis over the previous six seasons and I’ve won everything with Enyimba, so to be watching from the stands is something I didn’t expect. I know how the whole club works, I’ve got a big relationship with all the players and staff, and yet none of that has been utilised".

"If you are not playing a player, any player, for two, three, four games, then you don’t have to give a reason for that. But if it gets to eight or nine games, then you have to explain the situation. What’s going on? But the manager hasn’t done that. I see some of the situations with players who won the title with Enyimba, not just myself, and it just hasn’t been right. It makes it very hard for me to have respect for someone who has not respected what some of us have achieved with the club."

As difficult as it has been, Uche John kept his counsel until now and added: "I’m quite proud with how I have dealt with it. I’ve not been disruptive and I’ve trained hard every single day".

"I’ve got a respect for all the other people at the club, the players and the staff and the people who helped to give me a chance, so it’s been important to me to conduct myself in the right way. And when you see a Feeder team player, or another young player coming through, he can see how you behave every day, so you have to set the right example."

"People talk as though my career is coming to an end, but it’s not like that for me at all,” said Uche John. “I 100 per cent see me playing another seven or eight years easily in terms of the way I look after myself.

"Over my six years in the club, I won the league two times, FA cup back to back and the super cup".

"I’m ready to go and I leave this club thankful to all the players, staff and fans who have helped me so much, and I go with my head held high."