Warts n All

Of leadership and player commitment

2009-10-05T07:02:00.001+01:00

It has become a national pastime.
Taking potshots at national football team players, I mean.

I know, I know. It is my pet peeve. But trust me, I have every reason to be fuming just now.

I can sympathise when the ordinary Nigerian takes aim at players when they don’t deliver, but I find it a bit rich when a member of government comes up to question the commitment and patriotism of football players.

What has got me going is a statement credited to Heineken Lokpobiri, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Sports following the Flying Eagles 0-2 loss to Spain at the Fifa Under 20 World Cup in Egypt.

Here is the quote before I go any further:

“This is a serious issue that we have to address as a nation. Our players must show greater commitment and sense of patriotism on the field. What is that thing that makes the Ghanaian player, or the Ivorian player, want to die on the field for his country, and the Nigerian player just strolls around lazily like he doesn’t care?

“There has to be a re–orientation of our players. We cannot continue to have palpitations anytime we are playing small countries, such as Venezuela. Perhaps, we should rely more on the home–based players and give them sense of belonging so they can compete well with the foreign–based for national team jerseys?”

Unbelievable!

First of all, I hope Lokpobiri was either misquoted, or was referring to two different games because anybody who says the Flying Eagles did not show commitment in either of those two games probably needs to go follow a different sport.

How does a team that does not show commitment dominate the opposition in possession terms and shots?

Nigeria was ahead in possession against Venezuela by 61 to 39%, and against Spain by 58 to 42%

In attempts on target, Spain were outshot 19 to 12 and Venezuela 20 to 14.

Our only problem was composure and precision in front of goal. That is the only reason both teams topped us in the stats that matter; goals.

Outside of dry numbers, we all saw those boys throw themselves into tackles, and win balls that they sometimes had no right to. We saw them press their opponents and hustle their way all over the park, and that is why they dominated possession, because their opponents were denied time and space on the ball.

So it beats me how anybody can question their commitment. Least of all a member of government.

Why our players don’t play with commitment? Oh please.

Without holding brief for the players, as I do not entirely disagree with the premise of his argument (in certain instances), I want to say that maybe Hon. Lokpobiri should look in the mirror for the answer to his question.

I believe there is a traditional Nigerian saying that goes something like “Fish wey wan spoil, dey start from head”.

The head in this case being the government that he is a part of.

Our Honourable Member should ask himself if the leadership has shown itself over the years, to be committed to the Nigerian people.

Thursday was Nigeria’s 49th Independence Day. How many Nigerians were actually, genuinely celebrating?

Facebook provides a near instant guage of people’s feelings and a huge proportion of the status messages I saw about Nigeria’s Independence do not bear reapeating.

Suffice it to say that for a country that parades itself as the ‘giant of Africa’, it is a sad reflection when its citizens ‘celebrate’ Independence by pointing out the things that don’t work in the country; which is basically everything.

We have friends from other countries and we see the status messages they post on their independence days about their countries. Few are anywhere as negative as what we read about Nigeria.

Hon Lokpobiri is a lawyer, so he is well versed in one traditional maxim of equity, that ‘One who comes into equity must come with clean hands’. Or more accurately, ‘One who seeks equity must do equity’.

The responsibility of our government and leadership is to provide us with motorable roads, functioning public schools, functional hospitals, provide water, provide electricity, security of lives and property, provide fire services and arrange elections for their citizens.

How many of these can the Nigerian government claim a pass mark in?

Electricity is virtually non-existent in the country. Only the very very poor do not have generating sets to supply their own electricity..

Public water stopped running decades ago. Now, most homes sink boreholes to get their own water.

Medical doctors go on strike on a regular basis asking for improved conditions and facilities in public hospitals. A simple case of eye surgery cost a former national goalkeeper Best Ogedegbe his life just a few days ago.

As for schools, University teachers are currently on strike. Our schools are in a state unfit for educational progress.

When they are open, that is.

Security of life or property is not guaranteed. A reporter was shot dead at his home less than two weeks ago, and as is usually the case, his killers will never be found.

There is a long list of people who have suffered the same fate, and not one assassin has been prosecuted or convicted.

Hon Lokpobiri comes from the Niger Delta, same as some of us. Yet, the major road that links the Western part of the country to our entire region area has been in a worsening state of rapid disrepair over the years, and continues to deteriorate by the hour.

Consequently, a journey from Lagos to Port Harcourt that should take no more than 7 hours at the most, now takes at least half a day.

And yet, a contract worth billions of naira was awarded for that particular piece of basic infrastructure.

We pay our taxes (and in case anybody wants to belabor the point, I have my e-tcc to prove it), and yet we still have to provide our own basic amenities. (Un)commited players included.

Our government had failed us at different (I should say, all) levels over the years, and Honourable Lokpobiri asks why our players don’t play with commitment?

Maybe he should also ask why Nigerians proactively seek citizenship of other countries, and would do just about anything to get them?

Why pregnant women do their damnedest to get out of the country and have their children abroad so they can be citizens of any country but Nigeria?

At the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Nigerians proudly display their ‘foreign’ passports.

If we had a country to be proud of, would that be the case?

There are those who can call players out on their commitment, but members of government have not shown the commitment to the Nigerian people that would give them the clean hands to come to this particular equity where they can question the commitment of football players, or any other Nigerian citizen for that matter.

Siasia’s big test

2009-10-05T06:55:00.000+01:00

Friday is the day that Samson Siasia takes his first major step on the road to being Super Eagles coach.

But it will not be until the end of the FIFA Under-20 World Cup that we will know whether or not he has done enough to be assured that when the time comes to look for the next Super Eagles helmsman, he will be the man to slide seamlessly in.

Or whether he will have to wait a while longer to get the tap.

For me, it is interesting to see how Siasia has progressed from 2005.

Some four years ago, he was an unknown quantity as far as coaching was concerned. I remember emailing him at the time while he was coaching kids at the Stars Soccer Club in Atlanta, Georgia.

I wanted to do an interview for KickOff. After the interview, we got to reliving old times and the conversation sort of moved to what he would like todo. In his typical, swashbuckling style, he told me he would like to coach one of the national teams.

Now, I have heard (and still hear) Nigerian coaches talk about coaching ‘any of the national teams’ and what I can say is that there is almost always a subservient tone to the statement, almost like the federation is doing them a favour by offering them the job.

But that was not the case with Siasia. When he said it, he did so with the brash, swashbuckling, almost arrogant confidence of a man who knew what he wanted and would brook no nonsense in getting it.

After that interview, and a few others that followed it from other sources, Siaisa was offered the Under 20 job. The rest, as they say, is history.

In that time, Siasia has won the African Youth Championships, won silver at the World Youth Championships, losing in the final to a team led by current World Player of the Year-in-waiting Lionel Messi, and then gone on to qualify for and win silver at the Olympic Games, again, losing only to a Messi-inspired Argentina.

But it is less what he has won, and how he has gone about it that has won him admirers all over the country.

Siasia has de-emphasised individual players, and emphasized the team. He has never been afraid to cut players, either for footballing or disciplinary reasons. Neither has he been afraid to take the establishment head-on in a bid to get what he needs to do his job.

It is a character trait lacking in most coaches of Nigerian extraction, and I daresay it is what has taken him thus far.

A classic illustration of this attitude happened early in the job, while he was still trying out players for the teams.

A certain veteran coach had not only suggested that Siasia was just a rookie coach and needed an ‘elder’ coach to essentially supervise him, but went ahead to show up at his team’s training session and tried to impose himself on players.

Siasia told him in no uncertain terms, to steer clear of his players. And if he had anything he wanted to tell the players, to pass it to him (Siasia).

That was the end of that coach’s interference in Sia’s teams. No other ‘veteran’ coach dared come near after that either.

It is a tribute to the young man’s self belief that even before he had achieved anything, he had the confidence to trust himself and his own instincts.

And it is that same spirit that has seen him win the hearts of the majority of Nigerians, and constantly draw the ire of those who run the game.

And that is why Siasia, rather than any of his players, will be the focus during this tournament for most Nigerians.

People want to see again, the man they expect, the man they desperately want, to take over as Super Eagles coach.

If he works his way to winning gold at this tournament, he will be a shoo-in for the job, and fans can sit back with a smug grin and tell the NFF ‘We told you so’.

If he doesn’t, and his team (God forbid) crash out early, expect to see a return of those strident calls for a foreign coach for the Super Eagles.

The only reason that hasn’t taken on life is simply because folks expect Siasia to be next in line.

We wait to see if this current class of Siasia boys will take their boss one step further.

His teams almost always seem to start slow during a tournament, but in the end, they find a way to get there.

Whether that might be the case at this particular competition, we will just have to wait and see.

But for Siasia, the goal is much more than this tournament.

Congrats to the semifinalists

This is sending a big hola to Kano Pillars, Heartland and Bayelsa United for reaching the semifinals of the CAF Champions League and CAF Confederations Cup.

I want to send it especially to Bayelsa, who looked all but out after the first three matches, but have clawed their way back to claim a place in the last four.

I must confess that of the three, the only team I expected to do well were Heartland. But I have been pleasantly surprised by the other two.

To think that two Nigerian clubs will play the semifinals of the Champions League is heartening. And I want to wish whichever one gets to the final the best of luck.

Incidentally, on the basis of what both sides have played so far, Pillars look the team better equipped to win the final.

I say this because their road record has been nothing short of remarkable.

And to win a final, that will be crucial.

Which is not to say, I support one team over the other. Just pointing out a simple fact.

Goodluck to all three.

Hopefully, at the end of the day, both CAF trophies will be comfortably ensconced in Nigeria.

Eagles shame: Blessing in disguise for Premier league

2009-10-05T06:51:00.001+01:00

The idioms are many. There is one about blessings hiding in disguises. There is another about silver linings hiding behind dark clouds. There is yet another about disappointments and blessings.

My drift is clear enough. Question is, who and what and how can we find any sort of blessing in the Super Eagles failure to beat Tunisia and essentially hand over their $10 million ticket to the World Cup away?

Not too many, but there is one I can think of with ease: the Globacom Premier League.

A new campaign kicks off this weekend, and I am looking forward to it, even though I am still on vacation in the USA and may not get to see any games.

As a football person, I know I am still heart-broken by the events in Abuja a forthnight ago, and can barely think about the Super Eagles now.

However, my love for football remains. My love for Nigerian football even more so. So if I can’t get my fix from the Super Eagles, I need somewhere else to turn, and the Premier League has the potential to fill that need.

There are a lot folks like me who are probably thinking the same way. Those who will want to watch the league as an alternative to the underperforming national team.

I remember back in the days of ‘Papa Eagles’, when they couldn’t win a game to save their lives. Our recourse was the league, and the junior national teams.

We can go back that way.

Already, there are those, like my young friend Matthew Edafe who would like nothing better than the to use players from the local league to play our international games, hoping that they do better than the ones who are currently there.

Of course I disagree with that opinion, based on precedent. But that is a discourse for another day.

However, the point is clear. We are naturally a fiercely patriotic people, even if we continue to live denial.

That is why, even when someone like my friend Michael Igoni slags off the Super Eagles every single day, he will leave everything he is doing, block off his calendar and sit in front of his television watching the Super Eagles squander two leads against Tunisia and nearly go down on his knees in supplication for them to win.

That is why others like him will lose their appetites after a gut-wrenching display like two weeks ago.

It is that patriotism, rather than the fact that there is comparable good football on display, that makes the likes of me and others troop to the stadia weekend after weekend to watch league games.

It is that patriotism that makes us me support Sharks through thin and thin. Yes, thin and thin because there has been little thick to support them through.

And it is that patriotism that we should take advantage of to go see our football games, starting this weekend, so that eventually, we can watch both the Super Eagles and the local league with equal fervour.

There are those who will dismiss this with all sorts of reasons, starting from the poor standard of play, running through the insecurity, via the dodgy refereeing and ending just about anywhere else.

I know the script, I have literally written some of it.

But my argument is that, it is our country. It is our league and it is, afterall, ours.

We can’t stay on the outside and slag it off. We can only do something from the inside. That means actually coming to see the games, and seeing how much improvement has been made rather than focus on the negatives, most of which are inaccurate second hand info anyway.

I do agree however, and like I said, I have written nearly a tome on it, that there are huge shortcomings, and this really is the crux of my piece today.

This is where the league organizers and club owners need to come in to ensure that they fill that void for football fans who need their weekly football fix.

Especially the club owners. Scratch that, club administrators.

So far, I have seen no evidence that they even know how to manage their clubs. Days to kickoff, clubs are still hiding their new signings, hiding their new coaches, hiding just about everything.

What makes football is information. What creates a buzz is outlandish, out-of-the-ordinary information. That is why Cristiano Ronaldo is a big draw today, because he went for 80 million pounds. That is why David Beckham is a big draw today. Because he signed for the LA galaxy for $250 million and earns roughly $37.4 million a year.

That is why Victor Ezeji, who was paid N7 million as sign-on fee by Sharks last season, should be a big draw. No other player in the league earned that much, as far as I know.

And Victor is a predatory fox-in-the box striker. Let’s not forget that he scored four goals in one game last season. Of course he should score more, and I do expect him to, with the right kind of players around him.

But it is less about Victor, and more about the access to information to give folks like my friend Mike Igoni something other than poor pitches, bad refereeing or poor security to talk about.

Let them discuss discuss Nigerian transfer fees at the same time they are discussing C-Ron’s and Becks’. Let them discuss his four goals as they discuss C-Ron’s and Beck’s free kicks.

Let them discuss the N12 million that Rangers say they paid Christian Chukwu as sign-on fee last season.

Let them discuss the spectacular goal that Joseph Eyimofe stunned Lobi Stars with last season. Or Akarandut Orok’s record-equalling goals last season.

It is all a matter of information.

The NPL need to get league stats out as soon as games are played rather than treating those like state secrets.

They also need to provide a comprehensive list of all the players in every club, with their bios, complete with dates of birth, etc.

Again, that is another issue I will return to another day.

Hoarding information, by both clubs and the league, needs to stop. now.

There is a lot we can do to promote this league and make it better.

Transparency across the board would be a good way to start.

In the meantime, I envy all you folks back home in Nigeria who will be going to the stadia this afternoon.

If you are one of those who do not watch Nigerian leaue matches, I hope that as you read this, you will make that decision today, right now, to go to the nearest stadium and see a game.

Go on, make that U-turn. Go to the stadium. It can’t hurt, surely.

And as you do so, pare a thought for me, who cant go.

And be sure to send me an email about it, or leave a comment.

Eagles shame: Blessing in disguise for Premier league

2009-09-21T04:05:00.000+01:00

The idioms are many.

There is one about blessings hiding in disguises. There is another about silver linings hiding behind dark clouds. There is yet another about disappointments and blessings.

My drift is clear enough. Question is, who and what and how can we find any sort of blessing in the Super Eagles failure to beat Tunisia and essentially hand over their $10 million ticket to the World Cup away?

Not too many, but there is one I can think of with ease: the Globacom Premier League.

A new campaign kicks off this weekend, and I am looking forward to it, even though I am still on vacation in the USA and may not get to see any games. Channelsurfing, atdhe, please help???

As a football person, I know I am still heart-broken by the events in Abuja a forthnight ago, and can barely think about the Super Eagles now.

However, my love for football remains. My love for Nigerian football even more so. So if I can’t get my fix from the Super Eagles, I need somewhere else to turn, and the Premier League has the potential to fill that need.

There are a lot folks like me who are probably thinking the same way. Those who will want to watch the league as an alternative to the underperforming national team.

I remember back in the days of ‘Papa Eagles’, when they couldn’t win a game to save their lives. Our recourse was the league, and the junior national teams.

We can go back that way.

Already, there are those, like my young friend Matthew Edafe who would like nothing better than the to use players from the local league to play our international games, hoping that they do better than the ones who are currently there. Of course I disagree with that opinion, based on precedent. But that is a discourse for another day.

However, the point is clear. We are naturally a fiercely patriotic people, even if we continue to live denial.

That is why, even when someone like my friend Michael Igoni slags off the Super Eagles every single day, he will leave everything he is doing, block off his calendar and sit in front of his television watching the Super Eagles squander two leads against Tunisia and nearly go down on his knees in supplication for them to win.

That is why others like him will lose their appetites after a gut-wrenching display like two weeks ago.

It is that patriotism, rather than the fact that there is comparable good football on display, that makes the likes of me and others troop to the stadia weekend after weekend to watch league games.

It is that patriotism that makes us me support Sharks through thin and thin. Yes, thin and thin because there has been little thick to support them through.

And it is that patriotism that we should take advantage of to go see our football games, starting this weekend, so that eventually, we can watch both the Super Eagles and the local league with equal fervour.

There are those who will dismiss this with all sorts of reasons, starting from the poor standard of play, running through the insecurity, via the dodgy refereeing and ending just about anywhere else.

I know the script, I have literally written some of it.

But my argument is that, it is our country. It is our league and it is, afterall, ours.

We can’t stay on the outside and slag it off. We can only do something from the inside. That means actually coming to see the games, and seeing how much improvement has been made rather than focus on the negatives, most of which are inaccurate second hand info anyway.

I do agree however, and like I said, I have written nearly a tome on it, that there are huge shortcomings, and this really is the crux of my piece today.

This is where the league organizers and club owners need to come in to ensure that they fill that void for football fans who need their weekly football fix.

Especially the club owners. Scratch that, club administrators.

So far, I have seen no evidence that they even know how to manage their clubs. Days to kickoff, clubs are still hiding their new signings, hiding their new coaches, hiding just about everything.

What makes football is information. What creates a buzz is outlandish, out-of-the-ordinary information. That is why Cristiano Ronaldo is a big draw today, because he went for 80 million pounds. That is why David Beckham is a big draw today. Because he signed for the LA galaxy for $250 million and earns roughly $37.4 million a year.

That is why Victor Ezeji, who was paid N7 million as sign-on fee by Sharks last season, should be a big draw. No other player in the league earned that much, as far as I know.

And Victor is a predatory fox-in-the box striker. Let’s not forget that he scored four goals in one game last season. Of course he should score more, and I do expect him to, with the right kind of players around him.

But it is less about Victor, and more about the access to information to give folks like my friend Mike Igoni something other than poor pitches, bad refereeing or poor security to talk about.

Let them discuss discuss Nigerian transfer fees at the same time they are discussing C-Ron’s and Becks’. Let them discuss his four goals as they discuss C-Ron’s and Beck’s free kicks.

Let them discuss the N12 million that Rangers say they paid Christian Chukwu as sign-on fee last season.

Let them discuss the spectacular goal that Joseph Eyimofe stunned Lobi Stars with last season. Or Akarandut Orok’s record-equalling goals last season.

It is all a matter of information.

The NPL need to get league stats out as soon as games are played rather than treating those like state secrets.

They also need to provide a comprehensive list of all the players in every club, with their bios, complete with dates of birth, etc.

Again, that is another issue I will return to another day.

Hoarding information, by both clubs and the league, needs to stop. NOW.

There is a lot we can do to promote this league and make it better.

Transparency across the board would be a good way to start.

In the meantime, I envy all you folks back home in Nigeria who will be going to the stadia this afternoon.

If you are one of those who do not watch Nigerian leaue matches, I hope that as you read this, you will make that decision today, right now, to go to the nearest stadium and see a game.

Go on, make that U-turn. Go to the stadium. It can’t hurt, surely.

And as you do so, spare a thought for me, who cant go.

And be sure to send me an email about it, or leave a comment.

Eagles: The big disappointment

2009-09-15T20:21:00.001+01:00

I am still shell-shocked.

And this is inspite of the fact that I know that it is not all lost. This is a game of football and until the fat lady sings, there is still every chance that the Super Eagles can make it to the World Cup in 2010.

However, I have lost confidence in this crop. Coming from me, that is a lot of admission.

A lot of people have asking me what happened last Sunday. It is a question I have asked myself over and over and over again. Still, it's like looking into a bowl of murky water.

On the Saturday before the game, I sat in the stands watching the team's final training session, and I went away confident that there was no way they could not win.

Why?

Because I saw players running as if their lives depended on it.

I saw players pushing their way forward in midfield, with Mikel Obi even taking a few shots at goal that found its way to the target.

I saw players crunching their way into tackles like they would be flogged if they didnt. It was so bad that Dele Adeleye almost took Obinna Nsofor's ankle off in one tackle.

There was a feeling of chomping at the bit, as if they couldn't wait for the game to come to show their stuff.

On game day, everything turned limp.

In the past, we would complain of lack of preparation, of owed bonuses, of unrefunded flight tickets, of this, of that. I have even pointed to a lack of support from fans and media in the recent past.

But this is one instance where none of the above came into the picture.

This was one instance when it was all down to the players and the coaches to leave their mark on the field.

Sadly, it turned out to be the one day that they imploded, miserably.

In looking back at the whole series, my firm belief is that there is a serious leadership issue in the squad, from top to bottom.

Games like this call for the strength of character of a Chukwu, a Keshi, an Oliseh or an Amokachi on the pitch.

We didnt have any of those.

A captain who can turn even a group of poorly-motivated players into determined lions on the pitch.

A captain who can enforce compliance with one withering look. We didn't have that.

Kanu is too nice to everyone, playing the protective big brother. Joseph Yobo, his assistant, seems to believe that every player is big enough to know when to do the right thing and will prefer not to be the one to wield the whip.

At the top, the coach has found himself so emasculated by the manner of his appointment and the need to stay in line, that in the midst of trying to earn the trust and respect of his players, he has lost sight of the need to enforce his authority.

What this has led to is a team with no clear direction. Every player believes he is a 'star' and so he rules his own personal fiefdom.

On a night when we needed someone to take control of that team on the pitch, we had no-one.

And the price was steep.

However, I am not one to advocate panic measures. We have two games to go. Two games in which we can qualify or not. Firing the coach and disbanding the team as has been suggested in some quarters is not the way to go.

Besides, knowing our Federation, they would probably appoint James Peters while they take the next six months globe-trotting for a foreign coach and then end up giving us Jo Bonfrere.

In the meantime, we would probably get beaten to the Nations Cup spot by both Kenya and Mozambique.

Let Amodu continue, until the last game, and then we can say our goodbyes, if he fails to qualify us.

As it stands, I don't believe this team, playing the way they did last week, can do it.

But if they sober up, realise the enormity of the shame they have brought to this nation, and make a monumentally determined effort to right this particular wrong, then maybe, just maybe, there could be some hope.

I had a chance to speak with some of the guys in the days after the game, and I could see genuine remorse.

But how long that will last, I do not know.

Hopefully, long enough for us to fluke our way to the World Cup. As it is almost unthinkable that in the first, and maybe only World Cup to be held on our continent in our lifetimes, Nigeria will not be present.

If Amodu does qualify us, he would have earned the right to lead the team to South Africa and should be allowed to go.

After that, we can start making long term preparations. To do that, we have to ask ourselves what we plan to achieve, how we plan to do that and who the best man is to take us there.

In the interim, let us lick our wounds and show the players we are unhappy with them.

We gave them everything, and they failed us. Maybe it is time for the fans to protest in their own way, by boycotting their next home game.

Let the fans sit at home and watch the game, and let the team play in an empty stadium.

Maybe then, they will realise just how hurt we have been by their lack of effort.

Nigeria Premier League: #1 in Africa?

2009-08-02T14:47:00.002+01:00

Once again the Nigeria Premier League is celebrating a rating as the 'best league in Africa'.

I have warned before and I will say it again, celebrating an award this dubious does no good for us as a league and as a country.

There is no doubt that the Globacom Premier League has made big strides in the past few years, but we are still a long way short of even coming close to the being the best league in West Africa, let alone Africa.

A lot of folks claim that the award comes from FIFA. That is a blatant lie. FIFA does not and have never done club ratings. FIFA only rates national teams.

This so called rating comes from the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS) based in Germany, where it is generally derided and its statistics ignored by a wide range of serious mainstream media and football people.

This is how the IFFHS is described:
“In a wide range of media there is massive doubt about the significance of IFFHS rankings and elections.
German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur abstains from publishing news relating to the IFFHS.
Karl Lennartz, a sports historian from Cologne, Germany, calls the organization "obscure", describing it as a one man show of its chairman Alfredo Pöge.”

May I also add that this is the same outfit which named Egypt's Mohammed Aboutreika World's Most Popular Player for two consecutive years; 2007 and 2008!
In that 2008 award, FIFA World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo was a distant 21, and his runner-up Lionel Messi was 24th.

Kaka was 29th. Need I say more? Yes I will.

Second place went to Sporting Lisbon's David Suazo of Honduras and Brazil's Marcos picked up third place with El Merreikh's Faisal Sido grabbing fourth!

Yes, Sudan's El Merreikh, no less. That's a player I can bet that most people reading this have never even heard of. And he was in fourth place ahead of the likes of Ronaldo, Messi and Kaka.

Much as I like Aboutreika and believe he deserved the African Player of the year award ahead of Emmanuel Adebayor, this surely,is taking the piss!

I could go on and on about the dubious awards thrown about by the IFFHS, but I won't.
Is it any wonder that the only place where this so-called award is celebrated, is in Nigeria?

Have we seen these reports in any other media outside of Nigeria? Even the ones outside of the mainstream? No.

I will say again, our league has seen tremendous improvements in the past few years.
But, and I continue to say this, we are nowhere near being the best.

Our clubs are run amateurishly. There is a lack of organisation at almost every level. There is zero marketing.

Club 'administrators' hardly know the first thing about administering clubs, and worse, the football is not exactly eye candy.

Such is the state of training and lack of technique, that the last time we saw a player move directly from here and walk into a top European side was Finidi George in 1993.

Now, the overwhelming majority have to go to small clubs in backwater leagues to 'unlearn' all the bad habits they have picked up from here before they are ready to make an impression with the big clubs.

Final word, lets stop celebrating dubious awards and knuckle down to the real business of making our football work.

When that time comes, we will not need any funny-monikered organisation to tell us we are where we want to be.

Okocha: The Unnecessary debate

2009-08-02T14:45:00.001+01:00

I can't believe we are actually having a nationwide debate on the merits or otherwise of having former skipper Austin Okocha return to the Super Eagles!
I dont know how, where or when this debate began. Irrespective, it now seems to have creeped up on all of us, enough that it has become a national issue.
Pretty soon, it will get so that we might just see somebody in authority slyly 'advise' national coach Shuaibu Amodu to 'try' Okocha.
Shocking.
The very fact that we are having this debate, to me belittles our nation.
Do not misunderstand me. I admired Jay Jay, not a little and I still do. He also happens to be someone I am honoured to call a friend.
But as far as I am concerned, he has done his bit, done it very well and got to the end of the road. Full stop.
We do not need him back on the field, at least not, in a playing capacity.
This is the time for us to make a job of what we have with the personnel we have available.
The argument for his return has been that the team lacks a creative midfielder.
I mean, just how lazy can the argument get? We need a creative midfielder, go get Okocha. That simple. Get Okocha and all our midfield problems will be solved. Gbam!
In that case, why stop at Okocha?
A lot of people have pointed out, and rightly so, that the team haven't been scoring goals as they should.
So, we need a free-scoring striker. Let's go un-retire Yekini.
Heck, haven't we been going on and on about 'wing-play'? Finidi George and Emmanuel Amuneke are still available. Lets call them up too.
Oh, and weren't we complaining about problems in defence?
Go get Uche Okechukwu and/or Taribo West.
That's how ridiculous this whole Jay Jay argument is.
By the way, we seem to be collectively afflicted with a variegated combination of selective myopia and short-term amnesia.
Was Okocha not involved in our 2006 World Cup qualifiers? How did that pan out?
In one breathe we talk about retiring Kanu, in another we are asking for Okocha.
The same man who has not played any sort of competitive football in over two years, which makes him way unfit for the rigours of an African campaign.
Maybe we would have to get the NFF to give him a contract with a European club, or get hm to play for Enyimba, then fast-track him into the Super Eagles.
And at his age, and current fitness level, what would he really do except be what we call a 'short one'?
If, by some stroke of miraculaous misfortune, we get Jay Jay back into the team, his spirit could well be willing, but it will be extremely tough for that willingness to be backed by a body slipping gradually into decrepitude.
I saw Jay Jay play last week in that MTN African Legends game. And while the skills were still there, it was clear to see that some critical things had gone. He misplaced passed a few times and had a few issues with his timing.
These are things that come naturally with age and not playing regularly, and it is clear that it Jay Jay is at that point.
The same people who are calling for him now, would be the first to tear him to bits when he fails to live up to the high standards they will, naturally, hold him up to.
And then his legacy would be ruined forever.
I dont think even Okocha wants that for himself.
I know I certainly don't.

Ownership question for NFF: Sharks, Dolphins and others

2009-07-29T11:47:00.001+01:00

About two years ago, before Dolphins were relegated to the National First Division, I raised a question with NFF Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba with respect to the single ownership of Sharks FC and Dolphins FC. Both clubs are owned, funded and administered by the Rivers State Government through the office of the Commissioner of Sports.
This is in clear and flagrant violation of the FIFA Club Licensing Regulations which I have included in full below.

Art 9 FIFA Club Licensing Regulations

Introduction

This criteria defines the minimum legal criteria for licence applicants.

It is of fundamental importance that the sporting integrity of club

competitions be protected.

To that end, FIFA and the confederations reserve the right to intervene and to take appropriate action in any situation in which it transpires that the same natural and legal person is in a position to influence the management, administration and/or sporting performance of more than one club participating in the same club competition.

L.03 A Ownership and control of clubs

The licence applicant must submit a legally valid declaration outlining the ownership structure and control mechanism of the clubs and confirming the following:

No natural or legal person involved in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of the club, either directly or indirectly:

a) holds or deals in the securities or shares of any other club participating in the same competition;

b) holds a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights of any other club participating in the same competition;

c) has the right to appoint or remove a majority of the members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of any other club participating in the same competition;

d) is a shareholder and alone controls a majority of the shareholders’ voting rights of any other club participating in the same competition pursuant to an agreement entered into with other shareholders of the club in question;

e) is a member of any other club participating in the same competition;

f) is involved in any capacity whatsoever in the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in the same competition;

g) has any power whatsoever over the management, administration and/or sporting performance of any other club participating in the same club competition.

This declaration must be executed by an authorised signatory no more than three months prior to the corresponding deadline for its submission to the licensor

(cf. F.01).

Ojo-Oba assured me at the time, that the NFA (as they were then) would look into the situation and resolve it as soon as possible.

Two years on and counting, we haven't heard a pipsqueak from the Glass House.

Looks like our NFF's understanding of the word 'soon' is different from that of us mere mortals.

In those years, Dolphins have been relegated and are now back in the Premier League where they will compete against Sharks in the coming season, at the very least.

Also in those intervening years, both clubs have featured in the Nigerian Cup competition.

They might not have come head to head at the national level, but they have met on almost every occasion at the state level.

The Port Harcourt teams are not the only ones involved in this. Just across the pond in Bayelsa, we have a similar situation with Ocean Boys and Bayelsa United.

And over in Oyo State, the government owns, funds and administers Shooting Stars and Crown FC.

Now, there are those who will argue that the case in Bayelsa is not quite so clear cut. Ocean Boys are actually owned by Brass Local Government Area while Bayelsa United are owned by the state government.

This would have been all well and good if it the money lines were all properly delineated. But that, unfortunately, has not been the case, as we have seen over the past two seasons.

Bayelsa State have practically funded Ocean Boys, and it is not like there has been any subterfuge regarding how the funding has been routed.

It hasn't gone to the local government account, and then funneled to the club. Money has simply been handed down to the club administrators directly from the state government.

I also know there have been representations made to the government to take over the club completely.

Do we blame the clubs? Or the governments who own them? Maybe. They are expected to study the regulations before applying for registration.

But the bigger share of the blame should be apportioned to the NFF, who really should be the enforcers of these regulations.

NFF officials cannot claim not to know about this regulation. Afterall, they are the custodians of the football laws at national level.

Infact, it would be a bigger shame if they so much as claim ignorance of that.

Beyond that however, is the question of what the Federation should do about the situation before the new season kicks off.

Dolphins and Sharks CANNOT be allowed to play in the Nigeria Premier League or Federations Cup under the prevailing circumstances.

Neither can Ocean Boys or Bayelsa United. Or, 3SC and Crown in next year's Federation Cup.

Am sure there has got to be a few more examples in other states. But the NFF will have to act.

Each of these states will have to sell off one of these clubs. And while handing it over to one of its local government areas would have looked the easy option, the example of Bayelsa United and Ocean Boys means it is not exactly a workable idea.

The local governments will always run back to the state to get funding for their clubs.

And the NFF doesn't seem to be in any position to put in and enforce mechanisms to ensure that a clear line exists between state and local government funding.

One of the clubs will either have to be sold, or disbanded. And before the start of the new season.

I have already written to FIFA about the situation.

Hopefully, they take action, as the NFF obviously won't.

Do we really need a Presidential Task Force?

2009-05-31T16:09:00.000+01:00

Okay now. This is bordering on the ridiculous.
A Presidential Task Force on the 2010 World Cup? And comprising 12 members! Whatever is coming next?

What I have found shocking is not even the constitution of the committee, but the overall lack of scrutiny, not just of the necessity of such a committee, but also of the possible motivation behind it and how it dovetails into existing structures. For the record, I do not support the decision. Except it means that the Federal Government is disenchanted with the present NFF board and is looking to ensure drastic, far reaching changes at the next elections. Now, that would be more like it.

So first off, what will the Task Force do?

Everybody knows that I have been and continue to be a strong critic of the current NFF board. For the simple reason that I expect the people who run our football to be held to the highest possible standards, and the current posse just dont cut it.

One thing they cannot be faulted for however, is the way they have handled this qualification campaign, from an administrative point of view.

Where in the past we would harp on inadequate preparation, this time, the Super Eagles have played friendly matches on every FIFA window with a full, first team squad.

Neither have we heard a pipsqueak about ticket refunds or match bonuses.

Invitation letters have been sent out on time, to both players and their clubs simultaneously.

Further, they actually found about about, and prepared for the artificial turf in Maputo well ahead of time and made preparations to get the Eagles acquainted with the surface.

I would be interested in hearing what else they could have done that they didnt do, that the Task Force will do better. From a technical perspective, will the Task Force take over the coaching duties from Amodu? Or will they headhunt and appoint a new coach?

Or maybe, they can take over from the players? Since there are 12 of them, we can have a starting team plus coach from among the members?

Otherwise, what exactly is the job of the Task Force supposed to be?

Apparently, the only thing I can think of is to ensure that the players are made aware that the President takes more than just a passing interest in their current campaign and ensure that they are sufficiently motivated to play with passion and pride for their country.

Acting on that assumption, I would say we needed just one, but no more than three people, for a one-off mission. Governor Chibuike Amaechi and two others would have been just fine.

I have a lot of respect for Governor Amaechi. I covered the Rivers State House of Assembly during his first term as Speaker, and the calm, unflustered but dignified manner in which he kept that House together was worth seeing first hand, the mark of good leadership.

His subsequent elevation to governor has brought these qualities to national attention. I rate him along with Lagos State governor Babatunde Fashola as the standout administrators of the current dispensation.

So yes, he would do a fine job as President Umar Musa Yar'Adua's envoy to the team. And if we needed others, I would go for two ex-internationals. One from the past and one from the recent past. Segun Odegbami and Sunday Oliseh would have been my picks.

The choice of Odegbami easily explains itself. Oliseh not so easily, so let me explain.

Sunday Oliseh was one of the best leaders the Super Eagles ever had. He had the genuine interest of his teammates and his country at heart, and brooked no nonsense from either players or administrators.

When the Super Eagles were in danger of missing out on World Cup 2002, Oliseh rallied the troops and ensured that everyone pulled together to do what was neccessary to get there.

He understands how to get the best out of players just by his presence, and also knows how to reach them with a word or two.

Plus, he is gathering administrative experience from working at a European clubside, and I believe it will be only a matter of time before we start looking to his likes to lead us out of our present state of administrative inertia.

That, right there, is our very own Michel Platini.

This is the team that, for me, should have been put together to visit the players solely for this three-match series and let them know exactly what their President expects of them, and find out what they require to deliver on that expectation. And Mr President himself should have then made arrangements to be at the Kenya game (even sit down with the players prior to the game, either at Aso Rock or at their camp), to drive the message home.

That should have been that, and I have absolutely no doubt said message would have sunk home and things changed. As it is, no matter how hard it is denied, the Task Force IS second-guessing the NFF. It makes no difference that the NFF President is a member. I would suspect that it is to counter any suspicions of 'interference' that would lead to those hackneyed threats of 'FIFA ban'.

But my take? We never needed a 12-man committee, and certainly not for the qualifying long haul.

Amodu: Judgement Day or Salvation?

2009-05-29T14:27:00.000+01:00

Nigeria versus Republic of Ireland.
This is just another friendly, right?
Wrong, wronger, wrongest!
It is Shuaibu Amodu's version of Terminator. This could turn out to either be his Judgement Day, or Salvation.
Ominously, in the film franchise, the former comes before the latter. Amodu should hope that will not be the case with him.
For a plethora of reasons, some feasible and others totally unreasonable, Amodu has not quite warmed his way into the heart of the average Nigerian football fan.
Whether he will ever do so remains a big doubt, but if he is to even start along that path, then Friday is the day.
Amodu may have won six games on the trot during the first phase of group qualifying games, but that has not convinced the overwhelming majority.
It is why there is such a panic ahead of the June qualifiers.
His tactical knowledge has been put under over a hundred million microscopes , his man management has come under question, and his team have been accused of playing some of the blandest and uninspiring football of any Nigerian football team ever.
Some of the discontent has also centred around Amodu's seeming reluctance to employ anyone other than his 'usual suspects' in friendly games, in order to foster competition.
A follow up to this is the accusation that Amodu has been unable to get his team to play with passion and committment in the green white green.
That, infact, was the biggest complaint following the 0-0 draw against Mozambique in March; that a draw, even a loss could have been tolerated if the players had shown a willingness to shed their blood on the pitch.
It was the same complaints in friendly games against Austria (1-1), Colombia (0-1) and Jamaica (0-0), that there was no passion in the team.
Whether the team agree with this or not appears to be immaterial to the fans, and most commentators.
And so Amodu has an opportunity to start the process of wooing the Nigerian football public anew.
The first of what is expected of Amodu's team on Friday night has already been forced on him.
Key players have withdrawn for varying reasons, leaving the coach with litte option but to go for the mostly untried and untested.
That means the likes of Dickson Etuhu, Yusuf Mohammed, Dele Adeleye, expected debutants Sone Aluko and Adefemi Olubayo as well as Joseph Akpala get a chance to impress and do their best to dig Amodu out of what looks to be an endless rut.
The second may also follow directly from the first. With so many 'new' players expected to be in the team, a fresh energy is expected.
What the fans want to see is a group of players hassling and harrying the opponent, refusing to shy away from tackles, infact, digging into tackles, moving the ball at speed, passing the ball well, running rather than strolling back to cover when they lose possession and generally putting themselves about.
With everything just seeming to follow along from the other, the next expectation follows naturally from the preceding ones: Amodu must show that he has the tactical ability to switch things around as he plays what is essentially a new crop of players.
If all this happens, can the coach and team expect a fresh romance with the Nigerian football public?
Maybe, but there are no guarantees.
However, they will have the comfort of at least knowing they did all they were required of.
Win or lose, the fans just want their Super Eagles to show passion and committment on the pitch.

NFF: Another day, another committee

2009-05-18T10:44:00.000+01:00

There seems to be no end in sight to the number of committees the NFF churns out everyday.

Not content with having a technical committee which casts lustful eyes on every national team job while trying to usurp the duties of the coach in very public view, our Glass House continue to over reach.

This time, it is a committee to monitor the preparations of the Under 17 team.

Frankly, I do not care what the committee's terms of reference are. If the NFF do not trust their own appointed coach enough to let him fail or succeed on his own, then perhaps they should simply turn the exco into a body of coaches and let each one manage a diferent team.

That way, we can kuku avoid the need for supervision, since the 'supervisors' will be the ones doing the job in any case.

According to Lulu, there are 11 national teams at the moment.

So there should be more than enough to go round.

No love for Amodu

2009-05-18T10:42:00.000+01:00

It is just as well that Super Eagles coach Shuaibu Amodu failed to make an appearance at the AIT Sports-organised Mobilisation Seminar for the Super Eagles World Cup qualification.
The event, inadvertently (there are those, Amodu included, who would dispute the use of the word) turned into an Amodu bash-fest.

He was described as dense, arrogant, poor man manager, maybe incompetent.

More than a lot of the contributions focused on how the team needs discipline, how old players need to be replaced with new, how the coach has got to design better tactics to squeeze wins out of the players. How he need to turn a group of non-performers into world beaters a la Greece of Euro 2004.

If one listened hard enough, there were even veiled suggestions about changing the coach.

Thankfully, the Berti Vogts experience meant that what would have been the cue for calls for a foreign coach were self-censored before they even had time to shape up as thoughts.

Not one person mentioned any need for a foreign coach.

Impressive.

However, Samson Siasia was given a rap around the ear for rushing to take over the Flying Eagles job when he could have waited to be installed as Amodu's successor.

There was no mention of how we have collectively (as fans and media) contributed to whittle down the brand value of the team from a brand health rating of 86.4% to a shocking 17.1%.

That is a topic for another day.

It is debatable, if most of these statements would have been made, and in the manner they were, if Amodu were to have been present, but that is not the issue.

In that sense, maybe his absence served a good purpose, in that it got folks to speak with more freedom, without the need for sensitivity.

I have no doubt in my mind, however, that Amodu was watching on TV.

Would he have been pleased by what he heard? I doubt it.

Will he see it as a chance to make amends and start afresh? Possibly.

Ultimately, will it help in our bid to get to South Africa? Hopefully, yes.

At the end of the day, while no formal conclusions were reached, the general consensus as fas as I could make out were

1. The Super Eagles are condemned to qualify for the World Cup. Nothing else is acceptable.
2. The path towards achieving that lies in annexing a minimum of four points from the back to back games against Tunisia.
3. To do so, the team needs competition, with younger players needing more run-outs in the team.
4. Tactically, Amodu needs to get more speed, as well as more passion in the team.
5. Nigerians need to be more supportive of their team, partly by turning home games into a sea of green.
6. But more importantly, if the team wants the support of Nigerians, they need to show that they are ready and willing to die on the pitch for the green and white shirt.

These, in a nutshell, constitute the highlights of the debates and I have no doubt they are fairly representative of what most agreed needs to be done.

However, what was being thought but not said, is that Amodu should be fired.

Because that is not a realistically feasible option at this time, the agreement is to support him and get us through this trying times, at least until the next match.

One thing I took away from that gathering, and the general concern about qualification, is that the nation as a whole will settle for nothing less than the ultimate: a good team, playing good football, winning and qualifying for major tournaments and with a good shout at winning those tournaments.

I am one of those incurable believers in our Super Eagles and as I type, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that those lads will get us to the big party.

But we all need to pull together. Team, fans, media, sponsors, everyone.

Mozambique, our collective failure

2009-04-30T12:33:00.003+01:00

Since that 0-0 draw in Maputo, Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu and his players have taken a rollicking from both media and fans.
But maybe it is time for that group to look in the mirror and see how they also contributed to that result.
Nigeria lost two points in that game to two things
1. A selection error and
2. Insufficent desire and committment to victory.
Both of these, as far as I am concerned, were the direct results of fan and media pressure on both coach and team.
Make no mistake. Every coach is under pressure to win, and the Super Eagles job is no exception.
But any coach who has masterminded six successive wins in World Cup qualifying, with just one goal conceded, deserves to be cut a little slack.
Not so for Nigeria coach Shuaibu Amodu.
Sitting down to chat with Shuaibu in his hotel room at the team's Mpumalanga training camp prior to the World Cup qualifier against Mozambique, it was clear to see that this was a man under a considerable--I might go so far as to say, well nigh unbearable--amount of pressure.
And it is not difficult to fathom why.
This was a coach who took over a team in tatters, their confidence shot and with their fans turned against them and turned things around in rapid quick time
Any other coach, especially if he was one of foreign persuasion, would probably have been hailed as a messiah after results like that.
But not Amodu.
Apparently, the bad belle from the events of 2002 continue to simmer below the surface and two indifferent results--mind, I didnt say performances--in friendly games against Colombia and Jamaica got things bubbling to the surface.
Flak came pouring from each and every quarter, especially over his selections.
One of his so-called 'sins' was in fielding 'bench-warmers' and 'tired legs', that tired euphemism whose meaning has since become lost for the hackneyed usage.
There were calls to dump the 'old players' and replace them with new blood, preferably from the Olympic team.
The sustained criticism stung not just the coach, but the majority of his playing staff.
Most of the talk in camp was about the negativity directed at the team from the media and fans.
The players could not understand how they could still be facing such stringent criticism even after the results of the previous rounds.
To put this into perpective. They understood the criticism after Ghana 2008.
But fans are supposed--no, expected--to get behind their team through thick and thin, but especially through thick, when that team wins games.
But in the Nigeria case, after coming out from the first round of qualifying as the only team in Africa to corner all 18 points, they were stunned to see that they still faced an unwarranted and inexplicable lack of appreciation.
Amodu was put in a position where he had to put himself between the players and the negativity in order to deflect attention from his players.
In doing so, he allowed himself to get sucked into the mire. Inevitably, it told on his selection for the game, and it wasnt about the glut of options.
From the opening day of camp, the coach was already agonising over who to start.
By Saturday, when the result of the Tunisia win in Kenya came through, the tension was thick enough to cut.
And that is where Amodu made what I think was his mistake.
Mikel showed up in camp with lip blisters that clearly proved he had been ill and in no fit state to start a game, much less play all 90 minutes.
In another time, another place, Amodu would either have started Kanu, or thrown his skipper on when it became clear that Mikel was not fully at one hundred percent.
Kalu Uche was also available to play some part in midfield, but Amodu, in trying to pander to the wishes of the 'play the young guns' brigade, left Mikel on. And when it was time for a substitute, brought in another youngster in Femi Ajilore, instead of the experienced duo of Kanu or Kalu.
So, in addition to Osaze Odemwingie, Obinna Nsofor, Kaita and Onyekachi Apam, that made five players from the Olympic team that played in that game.

Exactly what the fans had been calling for. Unfortunately, it didnt quite work out.
Mikel, usually such a stabilising influence in midfield for both club and country, fell just short of being the glue that was expected to hold the side together.
And so, almost tragically, in some subliminal bid to spite his face, Amodu looked to have taken a knife to his own nose.
With that midfield not working, everything else sort of started to fall apart at the seams, leaving the Mozambicans to enjoy a field day.
But that was not the only problem.
The players too were fighting individual battles of their own against the media stereotypes.
There was one occasion where Taye Taiwo took a throw-in to Mikel. Naturally, the left back expected to get the ball back. Instead, Mikel tried to take on two players and eventually lost possession.
At Chelsea, he would not do that. But because he was probably trying to impress an increasingly over-demanding and critical Nigerian fan base, the youngster tried to take on more responsibility than he should.
I could go on and on for each player, but I'll let this suffice.
And then there was the artificial turf.
A player mentioned to me that there was something different about the turf from the one they trained on at Mpumalanga. But it wasnt until a day or two after the game, while looking through the pictures I had taken that I stumbled on it: the Maputo pitch was that little bit darker than the Mpumalanga one.
Apparently, there was more of the plastic underlay in the Maputo pitch than there was at Mpumalanga.
As a result, the players were wary of running too much or committing to tackles too much in order to avoid bad knee injuries, which almost always result from such conditions.
One player (I will not name names) was just coming back off a long injury, and to expect full-blooded tackling on that turf, when Nigeria is notorious for abandoning players who get injured on national duty, was asking a mite too much.
Sad as this may be, that was the fans' biggest quarrel with the team; that there was a lack of committment.
Even the players themselves acknowledged it.
But, and this was key: under such difficult circumstances, players draw motivation from the support they get or expect to get, from their fans.
That is what pushes them to give that extra bit, to make that extra tackle, to stretch that extra muscle, in order to guarantee victory.
This group, however, had received little appreciation from winning six games previously and quite frankly, had little motivation to raise their game and risk anything for an unappreciative country.
And why should they, when their previous efforts had drawn little but ire?
Most of these boys have given loads and made sacrifices in service of their country, and get little but over-the-top abuse and insults in return, for every little slip.
We all--players, fans and media--want to go to the World Cup. But we must all work as a team to achieve that objective.

If the fans want committment from their Super Eagles, they should start by showing some loyalty of their own.
Like the Mozambicans in the pic to the right.
This means getting behind their team, through good and bad times.
One question each and every Nigeria fan should ask is; what have I/we done for these players?

Its time to look in the mirror.

Simple.

Obaseki and the art of misyarning

2009-01-06T22:39:00.000+01:00

Everytime Nigeria Premier League chairman Oyuiki Obaseki opens his mouth, I cringe.
The man is a walking, talking advertisement for how to misyarn in public.
For a man who is head of Nigeria's domestic league, some of the utterances that Obaseki spits out are more the stuff of a traditional village meeting, complete with calabash of the prevailing local brew, than the composed dignified statements of a true leader.
His latest outburst came last Wednesday while announcing the suspension of Bayelsa United from the league for their indebtedness to players.
He made a statement to the effect that he 'swore an oath that Bayelsa United will not kick a ball until they pay the money they owe."
I mean, how much more uncouth can a man get?
Where did he swear the oath? Was it at Okija shrine or somewhere in Benin?
Please someone at the NPL, anyone, needs to put a clamp on Chief Obaseki's mouth.
Consider it a national service

Why Bosso survived

2009-01-01T23:50:00.002+01:00

You may have read the story on KickOffNigeria.com about how Flying Eagles coach Ladan Bosso survived the sack on Wednesday.
Well, what I gather from an inside source at the NFF is that he was saved by Iroha. Now, how is that possible?
We have to start from the beginning.
Bosso was slated to be fired after the Canada 2007 fiasco where his Flying Eagles team disappointed in a 1-4 Q/F loss to Chile.
The coach himself compounded matters by accusing the ref of racism, a charge which earned him a FIFA ban.
But then Sports Minister Hassan Gimba ensured that he stayed on.
Subsequent dismal performances, including the most recent one at the WAFU Cup, had Nigerians calling for his head.
The almost-last straw was when he went on radio to say that a planned pre-tournament trip to Kenya had to be shelved because the NFF had no money, so he should not be blamed if the team fails.
The bigwigs at the Glass House were miffed, and that is putting it mildly.
I was informed that Bosso was in the picture of the entire Kenya trip and the circumstances behind the cancellation, which included the fact that the East Africans (who were expected to line out their senior side), developed cold feet when they were drawn against Nigeria in the World Cup qualifiers.
Consequently, the arrangements were never finalised.
So the NFF big guns were aggrieved to hear the coach hammer them in a radio interview.
at the meeting on Wednesday morning, NFF President Lulu was all for firing him with immediate effect, and promoting Iroha to Head Coach.
But other members, led by Taiwo Ogunjobi, prevailed on Lulu to back down.
One of the arguments used was that Iroha is involved in player agency, and it would not be right to hand over a cadet team to a coach who moonlights as a player agent.
That was how Bosso survived.
And now the question must be asked as to Iroha's long term future as a national coach.

Happy New Year!

2009-01-01T23:48:00.001+01:00

Its 2009, and the makeover is almost complete.
A new beginning will be upon us all on these pages.
For now, enjoy the festivities

Comments

2008-12-31T00:18:00.001+01:00

Oh, and did I add that I would so love to have those comments pouring in?

--
Believe!

End of the Year

2008-12-30T15:22:00.002+01:00

What a year 2008 has been!
I can barely believe its coming to a close.
Now, I dont usually do New Year Resolutions, but this year I will make an exception and do one.
This Blog is going to get a makeover.
No more will I spend months before coming back, no matter how lazy I may be.
I am going to make this the UnOfficial Naija WC 2010 Blog, with news, analysis and pics (as much as my kpokoro camera can get).
It will also continue to be the tale of my own personal experiences here and t here.
And if I start to slack every now and then, please y'all can feel free to jack me back to reality.

So lets prepare to welcome 2009 in just over 24 hours.

Forgive me

2008-06-19T00:47:00.002+01:00

I dont know whats up with me, really.
Everyday since my last post I keep reminding myself to blog,and then I never do.
Is there some sort of something for one to take so that I can get myself to do the necessary?

29 years later, Who remembers this IYC song?

2008-02-29T15:11:00.001+01:00

I was in Abuja, on my way to the airport when this song came to me from nowhere. I mean, from absolutely nowhere.
Its a song from my childhood days and it came to me very suddenly.
Such was the clarity (none of those 'Kai, I dont remember this word') it felt like I was singing it along with other children, only yesterday.
This made me think i just had to share.
There's got to be someone who remembers this song

International Year of the Child/
International Year of the Child/
A year of faith/
A year of hope/
A year of dedication/
1979 we hail thee!/
1979 we hail there!/

Who else remembers? It cant be just me, surely.
And what memories does it stir up for you

NFA's bungling merry-go-round

2008-02-28T16:03:00.000+01:00

Is there some curse on whoever and whichever group moves into the Glass House that they must lose all sense of logical reasoning?

I am sitting in Abuja and being a very interested spectator in the comedy of errors that is the process of appointing a new coach for the Super Eagles.

Okay, scratch that. Its a new assistant coach for the Super Eagles. No, I meant to say, just coaches for the national team.

Are you as confused as I am?

Well, thats exactly how confused the folks trying to appoint somebody, anybody for the national team are.

The exercise which took place on Wednesday was ostensibly to select a replacement for Berti Vogts. But constrained by a contract they signed (I will charitably assume they did so blindfolded--nothing else explains it) with the German, the NFA have got themselves tied up in knots.

On Wednesday, Committee chairman Taiwo Ogunjobi was quoted as saying that they were only going to appoint assistant coaches.

This, inspite of Sunday Oliseh making it clear he had applied for the top job and nothing less. Same with Stephen Keshi.

So what is the problem really.

It all boils down to a comprehension deficit from the Glass House. Either that, or the people were in so much of a hurry to pander to the wishes of the masses, they failed to sit down and look at the document they signed in the first place.

By the way, these are the same people who harp on about following 'due process'.

Here are the REAL FACTS of this whole sorry situation.

1. The NFA held a series of meetings in Ghana prior to and after the 2-1 quarterfinal loss.

2. At the meetings prior to the QF, there was a consensus that Vogts was not the man to take Nigeria to the 2010 World Cup

3. Consequently, it was decided that Vogts will be asked to go, especially if he failed to make the semifinals. A consensus was also reached that th enext coach would be local.

4. After the defeat in Ghana, the NFA were poised to announce Vogts' dismissal (without recourse to his contract), but were advised, with barely an hour to spare, that the contract stipulated a 30-day notice in the event of dismissal.

5. The NFA subsequently did an about-turn at the world press conference where his dismissal was to be announced.

6. On arrival in Nigeria, the Sports Minister asked the NFA to hold on before sending the German his notice.

7. After holding on for a while, the FA then sent out the notice.

8. After receiving the notice, Vogts lawyer came out with a statement saying that ' because of the behaviour of the NFA during and after the Nations Cup, further co-operation with the NFA was impossible.'

9. Vogts lawyers then followed this up with a letter to the Nigeria Sports Commission (NSC) acknowledging the notice sent to him.

10. Somehow, this acknowledgement letter was misconstrued as a 'resignation letter'. And Vogts' statement to the international media was interpreted as a breach of the confidentiality clause in his contract, even though he made no reference to the letter.

11. Meanwhile, up until the NFA board meeting on Thursday, most NFA board members had not seen the purported resignation letter.

12. Yet, the recruitment exercise for a new coach was initiated on the basis of the fact that Vogts had resigned.

13. When it dawned on the NFA that they were stepping on quicksand by starting a recruitment process when the 30-day notice was yet to expire, Ogunjobi came up with that statement of 'interviewing assistant coaches'

14. By Thursday morning, prior to the board meeting, the tune had changed. Now they were just interviewing coaches for the national teams. Comical.

But what was the hurry? What stopped the FA from waiting until the 30-day notice had expired?

In light of our catastrophic failures in the past, why not hand over the process over to a reputable consulting agency?

Now, our 'wise men' once again find themselves in a quagmire of their own making and are desperately looking for a way out.

From where I sit, there is none to be seen.

And Egypt claim No 6, but what happened to Eagles?

2008-02-10T22:14:00.000+01:00

Neither of the two teams in the Final of the 26th African Nations Cup were my choices, and as a matter of fact, I watched the game as a neutral without supporting either side.

I would probably have preferred both teams to lose.

Oh well. . .

My choice of winners, after Nigeria were booted out in somewhat humilating fashion, would have been Ivory Coast. But they imploded against Egypt, and again in the third place match against Ghana.

Well, its come and gone, and that it.

I have been inundated by calls to speak up on the inside details of what went wrong in the Nigeria camp.

All I can say is that I will, in the next few days. Right now, I am putting my thoughts together.

What I want to do is examine the whole situation with a clear head.

I am in a position where I have good relations with the players, the coach and with certain people in the FA, and there is blame on every side.

What I will do is sit down and do everything with a clear head and not the knee-jerk thing we have been subjected to all over the place.

Besides, I have obligations to folk who pay me for these thoughts and they must come first.

What I can promise though, is that I will do what needs to be done without fear of favour.

THAT, You can take to the bank!

In-flight jitters

2008-02-07T10:20:00.000+01:00

This post should have been made at least two weeks ago, but maybe I am still to recover.

Flying has never been a problem for me, despite all the crashes we have had in Nigeria. Whenever I get on a plane, I hand myself over to God's protection, and to His glory, he has been kind and kept me safe.

Of course I feel the normal take-off butterflies everytime(who doesnt), but that is usually about it.

This tim however, I endured the worst experience of my flying lfe.

It ws on JAn 16, on my way to Accra for the African Nations Cup. The flight was virgin Nigeria.

Usually, I do my ablutions (err, and this includes everything else you do in the 'white house') before I leave home every morning.

On this day however, I needed to catch that flight--it was for 7am. When you leave where I leave (Ajah) and you have to be at the Murtala Mohammed Airport by 7am, you leave by 5:30am at the very latest.

So I left the number one as I didnt have time for it.

When we gotto cruising altitude, I decided to go do my 'business' in the head, as I had become so uncomfy I was sitting on one nyansh.

Wrong timing.

Almost as soon as I started, we hit the worst kind of turbulence imgaginable!

The aircraft was climbing and droping at an alarming rate. Of course, everything went back in.

One big dive had me feeling like I was going through the roof.

But I told myself that noway on God's good earth was I going to get out of that place without wiping and washing my hands, not even when the hostess announced that 'the gentleman in the lavatory should please come out and take his seat and fasten his seatbelt."

My first thought was how on earth she knew it was a gentleman in there. I quickly looked up to see if there was a hidden camera somewhere.

I barely had time to steady myself as we took another really big roll.

The planned climed, and I felt like I ws going to go through the floor.

This time, her announcement was for everyone to take the emergency position and await further instructions.

Luckily, the aircraft steadied a bit, which allowed me time to do the necessary and step out, and quickly take the first seat I could find, which was just in front of the loo.

By that time, I was sweating buckets, and happy to just sit down. Most folks were in the emergency position, and I quickly followed suit.

The plane continued to dance ajasco as as the pilot fought his way through the turbulence.

I didnt have the liver to go back in there, and waited patiently until we were back on good ole terra firma.

Whew!!!!

When two Elephants fight

2008-01-11T13:55:00.000+01:00

There's plenty of football to go around with just 10 days to the African Nations Cup so on my return to bloggin duties, let me drift in a diferent direction.
Okay, I'll admit there is a bit of football to it (no be there my garri dey? LOL), but it is essentially more than that.

Its the fight for the contents of my wallet by DSTV and HiTV, two of the major cable TV providers in Nigeria.

As Africans, we all know the saying that whenere two elephants fight, its the grass that suffers. Well, in this case, its a bit of both. Some parts of the grass are suffering, the other part is having a ball.

But down to the nitty gritty. I want to do a comparison of these two and I am going into this because a friend of mine was in my house recently and saw me using both and asked if I could recommend HiTV on the basis of my usage.

My answer was to tell him in similar words, what I am about to post here.
I got my DSTV a long time ago, so I am going to keep initial costs out of this, even though I got my HiTV at the total promo cost of N25, 000 (frankly, I wouldnt have bought it otherwise).

Another reason why i decided to add HiTv is because I found out that cost-wise, I was spending about the same, or even more more money than the subscription fee going to see games at bars than I would if I just pay the bloody subscription.

Reason is because I usually take energy drinks when I go out, and the least I pay for one of those is N400. Over a 90 minute spell, I end up with between 3 and 4 cans. A N1200, over a one-month period, I would have been set back about N4800 in a month. An this is not counting fuel for my car, etc.

Back to the comparison.

DSTV subscription is N9500. HiTV is N4000.

DSTV has over 60 channels, plus about 20-odd audio channels.

HiTV has 15 channels, out of which one (Hi-Sports 2) only comes up at weekends. So that makes 14, abi na 14 and half.

Of HiTv's 15 Channels, Sky News, BBC news and E! are also avialable on DSTV.

Hi-Mix is the equivalent of DSTV's Series Channel, and loses hands down.

Hi Nolly is their own answer to Africa Magic. I dont watch Nigeria home videos but my wife, and one colleague in the office are afficionados, and they swear by Africa Magic.

Infact, because AM is a no-go area for me on my DSTV, I set the HiTv to Hi-Nolly for them. But they all refuse to watch the Hi Nolly films and prepare to wait until I am out to work and then dig into Africa Magic.

So, on the basis of second hand experience, I would say DSTv again takes that one.
Nigezie is a Nigerian music channel and would be said to be the alternative to Channel O. I would call that one a draw, even though Channel O offers a wider range of quality content

Hi Kids has nothing on the DSTV equivalents.

Hi Soccer and Hi Soccer 2 are HiTv's flagship channels as they carry the English Premier League that has made them top competitors with DSTV'S SuperSport.

But in answer to that, Supersport have claimed other leagues and now have matches for the UEFA Champions League (a real biggie), French Ligue 1, the English FA Cup, the Carling Cup, the Portuguese League, Serie A, the Nigeria Premier League and a major competition like the African Nations Cup (another major body blow for HiTv).

What this has done is to split the market. Where DSTV enjoyed a monopoly in the past with the EPL and other properties, HiTv is left with just the EPL, the Spanish La Liga and selected UEFA Cup games.

As for picture quality, DSTV is infinitely better than HiTV.

I have also experienced serious issues with my HiTV decoder in that it scrambles frequently and has to be switched off and turned back on at the mains for it to start working properly again.

A friend with close relations to HiTv told me that the problem was that they had a lot of substandard decoders supplied to them and are working to replace them. He advised me to go back to my dealer and exchange the old decoder for a new one. So far, I havent done so, yet. But I plan to.

In summary, I would say that for my money's worth, over 80 channels of quality TV at N9500 is a better deal than 15 channels at N4000.

Some may say I am saying this because i work for a company with close affiliations to DSTV. Guilty as charged, but the bottom line is that facts are facts.

Which reminds me, can someone please explain this statement 'Not every fact is the truth'

Thats a HiTV line in their radio commercial and I dont know if I am slow, but I cant for the life of me, fathom what that implies.

As far as I know, fact are facts. Simple. And a fact can be twisted to suit a context, but a fact has got to be true, o therwise it is not a fact.

I mean, doesnt the very nature of a 'fact' make it true?

Anyway, like I said, unless you are a real English Premier League fanatic, there is really little reason to dump your DSTV for Hi TV.

You are better of doing what I did. Keep your DSTV, and use the HiTv to supplement it, on weekends for EPL games.

Thats what I told my friend.

Good news for me now is that I am off to the ANC in a week, and wont be back until February, and since no one at home will be interested in soccer, I dont have to pay any subscription fee for nearly two months.

Last weekend was FA Cup weekend, so I had my footie dose from SSport.

By the end of the EPL season in May, I wont have to pay again for another two or three months until August, so I get the best of both worlds.

Now you know.

Wonder kid Rabiu Ibrahim

2007-08-11T11:06:00.000+01:00

Last week I was in Abuja, and I saw the Under 17s play to a 2-2 draw against the U23s. Playing a starring role in that game was new wonderkid Rabiu Ibrahim, who has just signed for Sporting Lisbon.

To say Ibrahim was impressive is stating the obvious, so let me state the unobvious. I noticed the beginnings of something I hope can be nipped in the bud right here and now: Its the start of what I call 'The Brat factor'.

A player, especially one that young who knows he is good, tends to do different things to impress, on and off the pitch. But it's left to the coaches to stop it before it goes too far.

Simplicity, in writing and playing football is always a winner. Showboating sgould come at intervals. That is what makes it so alluring. The unpredictability.
I noticed that Rabiu was doing no-look passes almost all the time. He tried to dwell on tha ball every opportunity, and he walked with an arrogant bounce to his step.

Now that is an attitude that cannot be encouraged. Unfortunately, the coaches either did not notice it, or appeared to have got used to it.

My advice is that while a young player can be allowed a certain degree of 'feeling', he should be brought back down to earth and reminded that he has not won anything yet, has not proven anything at international level and still has a ways to go before he can be listed as a genuine star.

Otherwise, we stand the risk of having another brat on our hands.

I have nothing against Rabiu, but I believe that he is a young kid who needs to be guided so he doesnt go the wrong route. Properly managed, this kid can be a huge thing in Nigerian football. I dont want to see him going down the wrong route.
Having said that, I must admit that the kid can ball. His short game is good, his long game even better.

He is an archetypical playmaker with the strength to hold his own in an area of the park where folks take no prisoners.

Abuja files. . .

2007-08-07T00:58:00.000+01:00

Have been in Abuja since Sunday night. Was actually booked on a 2pm flight from Lagos, but got back slightly late from Church and didnt make it.
Nothing spoil, though. Re-booked on the 6pm, which gave me a chance to watch United claim the Community Shield over Chelski. Sweet. . .
Anyway, Monday has been tough but rewarding.
Was at the NFA office this morning and had long fruitful chat with Media Officer Ademola Olajire and Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba.
Left to attend the opening of the NFL's Pre-season Seminar.
The highlight was a disappointing presentation on 'Corporate Governance' by Dr Amos Adamu. It was such a shockingly horrible presentation I was embarrassed.
This was Presentation 100: How not to.
Anyway, rounded up the day by watching the U23s and U17s play out a 2-2 draw and then interviewing Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts.
But I was happier with myself for able to get him to agree to a general press conference 2moro.
He didnt feel inclined to do it, preferring to speak to me. But I explained to him that others also needed access and he would be well-served doing it in one fell swoop.
He agreed. So 1pm Tuesday, it is then.

Back and Bloggin again

2007-08-04T15:49:00.001+01:00

Havent been here in a bit. Have been travelling around a mite and then got so caught up in work that its been an absolute nightmare.
But there's definitely going to be stuff happening here on regular basis from now on. Promise.
To start with, let me leave a link that should make interesting reading for y'all.
http://www.supersoccer.co.za/default.asp?id=5480&des=sportstalk
Hope you enjoy it.
Dont forget to leave them comments behind here.

Between the Devil. . .

2007-05-10T23:09:00.000+01:00

Allard's comment on my 'Small world' post just reminded me that I had promised to tell the story of Ishiaku Ilyasu.

My apologies for forgetting. But, better late than never.

I knew Ilyasu Ishiaku when he played for Julius Berger.

As a midfielder, the young man was very combative, and scored some cracking goals too.

That was about three, four years ago and like in the Ezeala case, I was with KickOff magazine still. I am terrible with dates, unless I have something to use as a marker and right now am kinda lazy so I wont go back and do any checking.
Okay, I just did and it's really four years ago.

The story I am about to tell however, actually happened in 2004. Ishiaku (#28 in the pic above) had left Nigeria and was playing in Israel for a second division club. He was actually doing quite well and had scored a brilliant goal almost from the half way mark in a Cup tie and another fine individual goal.

I had downloaded the videos of both efforts from his club website. Those were the B.Y. days (ie Before YouTube).

I was looking to do a story on him, but I needed to speak to him and get some quotes.

Let me jump off the track a bit and give a lesson here to aspiring journos. In any story, quotes are king. Not only do quotes give your story credibility, they also make it more interesting to read, and have the added benefit of showing that you put in some work.

Anybody can sit down and write an article, but it takes someone with contacts to get the quotes necessary, and that is what sells your story. Not the amount of grammar you blow.

Back on track again. I had made a note to get Ishiaku's number and ring him to get his quotes on his goals and leading what amounted to an unfashionable club to the semifinals (I think, not sure anymore) of the national cup competition.

I wasnt having much success.

Reason being that I couldn't reach the young man. When he went on trials in Israel a few months before along with Emeka Akueme (then of Kwara United), he had called me from there and we chatted. But I think I lost his number after that and no one else seemed to have it.

It was frustrating.

And then voila! A gentleman walked into my office one day on Victoria Island and said he was a football agent. He told me he had come to talk about his player who was doing well in Israel.

I was willing him with everything I had to say Ishiaku. . .

I think it must have been that strong self will of mine, although I can see now it was God's hand working. But the gentleman brought the pics and lo and behold, it was the boy I had been looking for!

I could have done a jig right there and then!!

I had to check my calendar to be sure Christmas had not come early. It hadnt. But I was not looking this gift horse in the mouth, so I asked him to shoot, and he gave me contact number, pics and all. He informed me the semifinals would be coming soon and if I could do something on the lad ahead of it. He even told me it was Ishiaku who had told him about me as I was a friend of his.

At that point I could have said yes, even if it wasnt true. Kiddin. . .

Over half my job was done at that stage and I assured him that his boy would get his well-earned coverage.

The next day I rang Ishiaku and we had a long chat. My plan was to do something for the magazine, and then a preview just before the semifinal.

But here is where the story began to unfold.

Two days after that meeting, Mr Agent called me to say he hadn't seen the story on the KickOff website. I told him I had spoken to the boy and the story would be in before the semifinal, but my focus was on the magazine as I had a deadline to meet.

My guy was forced to come down to brass tacks. Apparently, my friend and his partners in Israel were looking to sell the lad on to a top club, and needed some Naija media coverage to add to the videos and cuttings from Israel.

His partners, obviously, had done their part (with help from Ishiaku's goals) by getting him in the papers in Israel. But they also needed some lines from Nigeria to add to that.

Did I mention that the boy had also appeared in an U23 game or two at the time? So they were looking to build up a CV. And Mr Agent had assured his partners that he could guarantee the Nigeria angle. KickOff of course, was the only online medium he could use at the time so he came to me.

After explaining all these to a gradually incredulous me, he assured me that there would be 'something' for me, and also later when the deal went through.

I was not angry. I wasn't. Truly. Just sad.

Dilemma is the only word I can think of to describe the situation I found myself in at the time. This lad had done well and deserved his fair share of copy, both print and online.

At the same time, I had an agent who had practically told his partners he could buy his way to getting copy for a player. It was a big problem. I had spoken to the boy and had a good story that would have been on the site in a couple of days and goodness knows he deserved his time.

But, how could I convince anyone that I wasn't doing it for the lure of the lucre on offer?

The answer was that I couldn't.

The consequences of putting that story out far outstripped whatever benefit it would have done to the player. The implication would have been that we were up for sale. That any agent could come and offer gratification to have his player hyped. And in this business, word gets around at the speed of light.

I probably would have had more people trooping in and offering 'something' so that this or that player could be 'promoted'. Say no, and it looks as if you are holding
out for a higher bid.

And then there was the issue of the foreigners. They would probably look at whatever other reports come out from us and think that someone else paid to have that there.
I wasn't going to stand for that.

So I made the difficult decision to drop the story.

Simple.

Life is good. . .

2007-05-09T17:05:00.000+01:00

For me, yes. I do my best to enjoy each day as it comes. Not because I do not have my own fair share of troubles like everyone else, but because I am determined to make the best out of every situation.

Yesterday, I felt even better. Sorry, that was two days ago. I had just finished talking to my friend Chris Obodo (sorry if you are not a football follower). He had recently undergone an operation for a torn anterior cruciate ligament injury and was making good progress with his recovery.

For me that was great news. Especially to hear the sparkle in his voice. An injury like that (or any injury at all) is never a good thing.

I remember back when I was in Uni and competing in the Martial Arts. During one of our sessions, I dislocated my knee and and couldnt train for a long while. It was a bad time for me as I missed the NUGA prelims then, and another competition.

I was all jumpy and chumping at the bit, trying to get back in the dojo and onto the tatami in no time. So I can almost empathise with Obodo.

And then he told me he had received a call from another of our 'walking wounded' Chidi Odiah and he was back from injury.

Trust me, I promptly called Odiah up, and we had a long, long chat lasting nearly 45 mins (my fone bill!!!!)

He was really back in shape and feeling good--I could tell from the way the yeye boy was yabbing me! Or trying to (2 of us na PH boys so we know how far).

Anyway, bottomline is that I was happy for two of my buddies. Obodo still has some way to go before he can kick a ball again. But the fact that things are progressing well is good news.

As for Odiah, what a relief to know that that right full back position will be no problem, especially after the last game when Isaac Okoronkwo was played out of position and looked exactly like a fish out of water.

Ray Nnaji fights

2007-05-04T11:58:00.000+01:00

I have never quite brought myself to like the man. Ray Nnaji, that is.

Somehow, his pesky attitude has never really impressed me. If anything, it tends to irritate me.

But today, Nnaji made my day. The gentleman (and I use that term very very loosely) was on Brila FM this morning challenging James Peters' declaration.

That is the first club boss to come out and so so. I am waiting for others to follow his example.

NFa Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba held a press conference in Abuja yesterday. I am surprised nobody took him to task for his, and Peters' statements.

Na wa o.

Ruled by Ignorance Pt 2

2007-05-03T17:33:00.000+01:00

And then to the one that really gets my goat.

James Peters came up this week saying clubs who have players in the Flying Eagles could not use them for matches under threat of sanction!

My goodness!! Just how much lower are we prepared, or can we afford to sink???

Peters' reasoning is that they dont want the players getting injured before the World Youth Championship at the end of this month. oh, puh-leeeeaaasssse!

Injuries are part of the game and while nobody prays for a player to get injured, it has happened before and will happen again.

Besides, if a player must get injured, why not do so playing for the club that splashed out for his services rather than a national team that will look the other way as soon as they spot the first sign of injury.

I could name a list as long as my arm, but we all know the stories.

Clubs pay players sign-on fees, salaries, match bonuses etc. Some provide them with accomodation and even meals and sometimes medical services (ok, I know, I know. But you get the idea).

So where does Peters get off actually threatening these clubs that they will face sanction if they use THEIR OWN PLAYERS??

And this coming at a critical time in the season when clubs are fighting desperately, either to win a place in the Super Four, or to avoid relegation.

Will Peters and his NFA pay compensation to the clubs for the points they lose by not having their players? Or if those players get injured in the course of playing for the national team?

I plan to ask him that question the next time I see him.

My biggest surprise though, was not Peters' comments. It was the fact that no club chairman or coach has had the bottle to stand up to him. In trying to get reactions from club officials, I called just about everyone.

I expected outrage at the very thought. What did I get? Cowardly whimpers. Adokiye Amiesimaka was the only one who had the balls to call it for what it is. A clueless attempt to browbeat clubs.

I corrected him though. These people cannot be browbeaten by anyone. They have done it all by themselves. In the media we call it self censorship. There must be another word for people who cower in the face of such official bullying and tyranny. But I am so upset I cant think of anything just now.

So an employer is barred from using THEIR OWN employee because the James Peters says so? Funny, innit?

It would be if it wasnt so tragic.

As you can see, I have used James Peters throughout as the statement came from him. Here is hoping the NFA will do the right thing, and discredit such an outbreak of ignorance.

Then again. . .

Ruled by ignorance Pt 1

2007-05-03T16:59:00.000+01:00

How did we come to a pass this sorry?

That our football is run by men who seem not to have the foggiest idea of how to do the job they are supposed to, and stick their foot in their mouth each time they open that particular orifice?

How does one explain this week's comments by both our Secretary General Bolaji Ojo-Oba and Assistant Secretary General (Technical) James Peters.

BTW, I kid you not. That is James Peters official designation, as opposed to the former title of Head, Technical Department. Why use two words when four can do, eh? With brackets to boot. Thats our NFA for you.

Anyway, to what I was talking about. I'll start with Ojo-Oba. Our good friend (he calls himself a 'creation of the media' but I digress.

On his return from China where he had gone to witness the FIFA Women's World Cup draws, Ojo-Oba insulted our collective sensibilities by claiming that theteam's Head coach Ntiero Effiom had no business in China as the draws were a 'purely administrative matter'

In that case, maybe Ojo-Oba might want to explain to us what the other national coaches were doing there? Or maybe they have usurped the administrative functions of their various FAs perchance?

Draws are meant to give coaches a chance to assess the opposition managers, speak to those they are likely to organise friendlies with, check out facilities for their teams like hotels, training pitches, playing pitches, distances, meals etc.

At the same time, it gives organisers a chance to get media quotes from the coaches and players (those who can attend).

Let me tell Ojo-Oba in case he does not know. At a draws ceremony like this, people like him are not the draw (pun fully intended). It is the players and coaches who are the media draw, as we want to know their thoughts on the teams in their group and their expectations etc.

The following countries had their coaches present at the draws: Germany, Japan, England, USA, Sweden, Norway, Australia, China (ok, they are the hosts I concede), and Denmark.

For those who werent present, the people who went there to perform administrative tasks like Argentina and New Zealand (both represented by their respective Heads of Women Football) and Korea (represented by their youth team coach), all spoke on the draw.

Our friend Ojo-Oba did not say anythin to the press about Nigeria's chances or expectations even. Makes you wonder if he went there at all.

If Ojo-Oba had told us that money was the problem, it would have been understood. But to say the coach had no business at a World Cup draws is taking the biscuit.

I feel embarrassed for him.

I feel even more embarrassed for the coach who let himself be tossed around like this. These are the kind of situations where he should at least make a case for himself. he would have learnt more, and made quite a few contacts by being at the draws than by sitting at home waiting for the NFA to 'approve' his 'programme'.

Shame.

And Jerrilyn survives--again!

2007-05-01T11:45:00.000+01:00

I'll put a caveat here.

Jerrilyn has come to be a very good friend of mine, but given a choice between her and Jodie, friendship would have surely taken a seat way back at the end of the hall.

To say I was shocked at the elimination of Jodie would be a gross understatement. I was STUNNED! I had my mouth open for all of at least five minutes!

Begging your pardon, I get ahead of myself.

What I am talking about, for those who may not know, is the show 'West African Idols'. Last Monday's results show saw Jodie evicted.

Yes. Jodie.

The young girl that everyone admits is probably the best singer in the competition, along with Timi.

Once again, Jerrilyn survived. If our Liberian Girl the first two evictions, it was almost understandable. But then she seemed to lose confidence along the way and bungled her lines about three weeks ago.

On that occasion, even she thought she was going home. Infact, she actually told me she had her bags packed and ready to say goodbye. But, surprise, surprise, Uche was the one voted off.

Her performance picked up the next week, but there were still confidence issues. Again, she thought she was heading home. This time however, it was to be the tall Mercy (there is a story there too, but that will be later).

At last Sunday's show, Dede could barely utter a word and simply called her Houdini for all her escape acts. If he was speechless then, I imagine he would have been dumbstruck to the point of apoplexy after Monday saw Jodie going home.

To be honest though, I am beginning to fear for Jerrilyn.
People were surprised by her outlasting Uche. They would probably have been slightly indifferent about Mercy.

But Jodie??????

This was a girl who regularly brought the roof down each time she sang. Her only less than perfect performance was last Sunday, but she did not deserve to go, not even on the basis of that.

The fans wont like her exit, and the blame will fall on Jerrilyn. I fear that she may even get booed this week. It was borderline last week at Planet One. The applause for her was just polite and the critique from the judges was hailed by the audience. I fear the fangs will be bared this week and our Liberian Girl will suffer boos from the audience at Planet One.

Even worse for her will be the relationship with her fellow contestants. If they feared for their places before, Jodie's exit will now almost certainly frighten the bejeezus out of every single one of them.

Eric's tears would not have been just for Jodie alone.

Will Jerrilyn still find it comfortable living in that Idols house? I doubt it. Cloying would be an understatement. Her housemates are going to make life even more difficult for her. Maybe we will see the first case of an idol voluntarily withdrawing from the competition.

So the question must be, how does Jerrilyn do it?

Of course she doesnt vote for herself. Africa votes. And therein, I think, lies the issue.

My gut feeling that most of the votes come from Nigeria and Liberia. The rest of Africa dont look like they can be bothered as they have no contestants there.

So the only explanation is that the whole of Liberia's votes go to Jerrilyn, while the Nigerian votes are split among the rest.

For instance, I gathered from sources that the week Uche was eliminated, Jerrilyn polled the second highest number of votes!

And that was the week when she performed really poorly.

But Jodie? Nah, I cant take this.

Small world, really small world

2007-04-18T01:18:00.000+01:00

I have a little story to tell.

If am boring you, please skip this part.
About three, four years ago or thereabouts, when I was still with KickOff Magazine as Managing Editor, a young man came to my office at Victoria Island.

He had just recovered from a near fatal car crash in Germany (or Austria, not sure any more) and was just putting his football career back on track. He brought pics of the crash, and I have to admit it was difficult to see how anyone could have come out of that alive, or without some permanently crippling injury at best.

He also showed me a pic he had taken with Sunday Oliseh while they were both at Cologne together, although he (not Oliseh) was more a reserve team player.

He then told me his agent was arranging a move for him to a big club (I forget the club now). And even gave me the agent's contacts (I think it was a consortium).

Bottomline (which I had half guessed, from previous experience) is that he wanted me to help give him coverage in KickOff.

I told him very politely that that was something I could not do, for the simple reason that not only was he not playing football yet, he was not a 'known' quantity who could make headlines on his own, and on the basis of his past football exploits.

I gave him the Kanu heart problem as an example. Because of what he had achieved with Nigeria, Kanu's heart problem in 96 was major news and the man himself would have continued to be even if he had stopped playing football then.

I then told him that he should go back to Europe, get into that big club and start playing football and by the time he started doing well, I would be the one chasing him for interviews as his football would do his talking for him.

He left, leaving his contact details and that of his agents. I never heard from nor saw him again.

Until now.

And who was that young man, you may ask. Well, his name is Emeka Ezeala, and he is now Technical Assistant to Super Eagles coach Berti Vogts.

Small world, eh? Better believe it.

I finally saw him again with Berti when they came into Lagos last month, and I recalled that his face looked familiar, but I could not quite place it until a day before the match.

I had somehow got the Ugandan starting line-up from the Ugandan journos in Abeokuta with a good idea of how they were going to play (which turned out correct except for a last minute change at RB) and I wanted to pass it on to Berti.

The reason I was doing that was because the tape of Uganda Berti had requested for, had not arrived (it never did). Idah Peterside had been asked to get the tape on the Monday before the game. He did so and sent it via DHL on Tuesday hoping it would arrive by Wednesday.

When it didnt arrive on Wednesday, Austin Eguavoen called Idah to find out why. Idah called DHL and it turned out that they were only going to send it on Thursday, meaning it wouldnt get to Abeokuta until Friday afternoon, by which time it would be too late.

Idah called me to see what I could do. So I got the line-ups and tactics from the Ugandans, and also went to look at their final training session.

I then stopped by Ezeala's room after seeing some players and passed on everything I had to him and he promptly took it to Berti.

While I was in his room waiting for him, I saw some pics he had left on the bed and decided to take a look. That was when I saw the Oliseh pic and it all came back to me (apologies to Celine Dion).

When he came back, i showed him the pic and asked him if he remembered giving me a copy. It turned out the young man remembered every detail of that visit from when he was talking to me on the fone from Germany!

Well, hope you enjoyed the little story. Will be talking about the story of Ilyasu Ishiaku next. Its kinda interesting, too.

Elections, what elections?

2007-04-13T15:11:00.000+01:00

Lagos is a cauldron simmering below the surface. With one day to the election, its a tough call to make about going out.
I have invitations to this week's Idols show--again. But its one hour to the start of the show and I amm still not sure I want to go. Why? Because I wont get back until about 7pm and that may not be a good time to be driving the streets of Lagos, with all the thugs and police and army etc prancing around with fingers hovering over triggers, hands cuddling matchetes and all sorts of dangerous weapons.
Here in the Ajah area where I stay, fighting seems to break out almost on a daily basis. Yesterday, I sent my driver out to get me petrol, as one part of my estate (my side) had no electricity.
He came back to report that people were exchanging bullets with police at Ajah. Not good.
At this rate, how many bodies will we see on the streets before this is all done?

Port Harcourt, our. . sorry, their Port Harcourt

2007-04-04T00:16:00.000+01:00

I have been in Port Harcourt these past few days (about four days, I believe) and what I saw of the city churned my heart. Port Harcourt is a dead city, and thats the truth.

For my non-Nigerian readers, Port Harcourt is the biggest city in the Niger Delta region and houses most of the top Oil companies. I arrived on Thursday and made straight for a friend's Stag Night (or Bachelor's Eve as we normally call it).

Unfortunately, we were a bit too early. It was just 10pm afterall, and so I told my friend we should hit the hotspots a bit and get a few drinks in before returning.
I was shocked to the bones to discover that almost every hangout in the Garden City had been shut down. Business was really bad. We couldnt find ANYWHERE to go to!

We did manage to get to a joint called 'Wish', but it was a disappointment. Overcrowded and full of kids. To make matters worse, the service was . . . non existent. We sat there for over half an hour and there was no one to attend to us, and I told my friend we had to leave.

We trolled around the city after that without finding one decent place to have a drink. No whites on the road anywhere. As for the ashis, business has become so bad they have crashed prices to rock bottom, and that is the few left standing.

And 'Charlies' the joint owned by Charles Tabansi has been closed down and the premises sold to a bank, I hear. Sacriledge!

Luckily, by the time we got back to the 'Illusions' nite club where the party was being held, things had heated up a bit. And there I got another shock. People were being frisked before getting in and there was almost half a dozen MOPOL with assault rifles. I later learnt that there had been some shooting there some weeks back, and the owner still had the bandages to show for it.

Shock No 3 was to come when we got inside. Like a third of the guys I saw there, could have started a mini war all on their own, and later on, I saw someone I know to be, well, I'd rather not say it before they come and arrest me o.

And then came Shock No 4. Almost everyone was carrying Nokia 1100s or cheaper fones. I couldnt understand why at first. I mean, this was Port Harcourt where guys show off flashy stuff, but everyone was taking my number on what could pass for disposable fones. And then it hit me: the fones were indeed disposable. If anything were to happen, no-one would miss those fones if they went missing.

Then someone filled in the puzzle. PH guys now carry 'night fones'. Cheap, inexpensive things that mean nothing if they are stolen at gun-point as has become the case. My Nokia N72 was the most expensive fone in the house!

And as for the insecurity, it was palpable. I mean, I was looking at hard, Port Harcourt boys who would pull a piece and use it without blinking. But these guys were being extra careful, and looking over thei shoulder at every turn. I was almost tempted to let a glass drop just to see the reaction. LOL

I had planned to be in town till Monday, but with nothing to do and nowhere of note to go, I had to head back to Lagos early.
The only good thing? I spent my birthday with my mum, the first time in nearly ten, yes TEN years!
And did I mention that I forgot my birthday?
It took someone to remind me.

Good weekend, not so good week

2007-03-19T09:27:00.000+01:00

Its been a bit of this and a bit of that. I have had some great responses to this blog (even though y'all keep forgettin that I want them comments ON THE BLOG!!!!)
Anyway, thanks guys and keep em coming.

Its a new week and time to look ahead, after the horrors of last week. I live in Ajah area of Lagos, and with all the political and other wars going on, going home from work this past week has been nothing short of horific.

On two occasions, I have seen dead bodies on the highway as I go home from work. Early in the week, my driver was robbed at the bus-stop on his way home after dropping me off. The fighting rascals dispossessed him of his cell phone and a few other valuables. At least he got away with his life.

Can someone please beg these guys to stop it already! Going home this past week has been a case of courage under fire. On Tuesday night, I had to even go catch a movie while i waited for reports that the fighting had abated before I could go home.

Serious.

Enough of that, though. Lets take look forward to a better week ahead but not before taking a look back at what has been, well, a weekend that will put a pendulum to shame.

Football wise, its been great! (Yeah, you knew I was going to go there didnt you? Sorry to the ARSEnal and Ghana fans in advance cos am launching into you like you wouldnt believe. Ha ha).

Anyway, it so happened that Man United started it all off with a 4-1 pounding of Bolton, with some irresistible performances by the two Rs, Ronaldo and Rooney that left me dancing a jig and begging for more.

And then the Golden Eagles went through Ghana's Black Starlets like they didnt exist. BTW, who are those folks who keep saying that the Eagles restored pride 'after a series of losses to Ghana?'

Helloooooo, we have only lost to Ghana once and that was in a friendly game where the real Super Eagles did not show up. The U23 games both ended in draws and Ghana only advanced on goal difference, so puhlease! Ghana still havent beaten Nigeria in a competitive fixture in 15 years, and you can take THAT to the bank!

Moving ahead, all of Nigeria's continental representatives, Nasarawa United, Dolphins and Kwara United advanced to the next round of their competitions, with Kwara coming through a nerve-jingling penalty shoot-out.

And as if that was not enough, Joseph Yobo and Victor Anichebe 'conspired' to help Everton to a 1-0 win over the auld enemy, ARSEnal!

Whew! How does it get any better????

It does and it did and it was in church this Sunday. No, I didnt hit on and get a date with that pretty girl in the front row. It was the Sermon by Pastor Segun Banwo. It felt like he was talking to me.

But that is another story.

On Sani Lulu’s plea

2007-03-16T09:42:00.000+01:00

Before I start this, let me say that I originally planned this blog as a personal story of me. But it’s not so easy to separate it from work. Besides, some folks who emailed, wanted me to comment on national issues (football-wise).

I will try to create a balance.

Last night in Lagos, NFA chairman Sani Lulu begged the press to ‘package’ the NFA and not only report negative things about the Glass House.
In other words, Lulu is asking us to censor ourselves for his benefit.

Now, I ask myself, why? What have the NFA done to deserve anything from us, from me? How do you ‘package’ an NFA that goofs at every turn?

Let me use the case of Berti Vogts as an example of how this NFA does itself in and then expects to be packaged.

1. Vogts fails to arrive: First the man failed to arrive in Nigeria because the NFA defaulted on his contract, causing Nigeria international embarrassment.

2. League postponed for Vogts: To heighten the disgrace, the entire league was postponed because of an inconsequential exhibition match to ‘welcome’ the German!
Can someone please educate me? I want to know where else in the world this happens.
What were the consequences? TV rights holders Supersport were in a quandary. The schedule and logistics for televised matches had been planned to the last detail from the start of the season, and then updated at the start of the second round (I know because I was part of the planning).

That postponement (without informing Supersport, formally or informally), meant that the production crew were sitting at a league venue, waiting to televise a game that never took place.

Not only that, it has thrown the entire transmission schedule out of kilter as officials scrambled to re-work the schedule. This might sound like an easy task, but different provisions were made for midweek games and weekend games. That has all been turned on its head. Maybe I will talk about this later. For now, lets move on.

BTW, did I mention that the NFL was not consulted when the NFA decided to arbitrarily rule that all league games be moved?

3. Anti Press NFA: This same NFA that wants ‘packaging’ has been blocking the press at every turn from talking to Vogts.
Reports from the Nnamdi Azikiwe Airport in Abuja says NFA officials actually ordered security to throw out journalists who tried to interview the coach on his arrival.

If we assume that they did not want the man to be ambushed at the airport, we would have expected that they were taking him to a press conference.

Unfortunately, that would be too much to expect from this ‘abeg package us’ NFA. Rather than a press conference, Vogts was taken on a junket all over the place. Doing this and doing that and only feeding snippets here and there to the press.

Now, someone correct me if I am wrong, but is there anywhere in the world where a coach is employed and there is no press conference?
South Africa and Carlos Alberto Parreira are a recent example. The Brazilian went straight from the airport to a press conference.

Rather, what our NFA have done is attend a ‘dinner’ organised by the sponsors where the coach was ‘unveiled’. Someone please tell me that Berti Vogts is not a statue that needs unveiling.

4. Invitation letters: This has been beaten to death, but this is a new one. The NFA sent 36 letters of invitation to players (including those we are trying to woo to come and play for us).

I know for a fact that two of these players (Everton’s Victor Anichebe and Man City’s Nedum Onuoha) were planning to come and be part of the squad.

Then a list of 25 players comes out and their names are not there. Now, I understand that a cash-strapped FA cannot deal with 37 players. But I did expect that what should have gone out would have been notification letters and not invitation letters. Or the coach simply names his squad of 25 before the 15-day FIFA deadline.

Now we have players sitting with IVs on their hands, and travel plans that they do not know what to do with anymore.

In Anichebe’s case, he has been posted so many times by our NFA it is a wonder the kid still wants to play for Nigeria!

This is the NFA that Sani Lulu wants me to ‘package’? Abegi!

Let me tell Lulu right here and now. There is no better ‘packaging’ that you can have, than the one you do for yourself.

It is that simple.

Post ur comments on the blog!

2007-03-14T16:51:00.000+01:00

Since I sent out the email with the link to this blog, I have received tons of comments from folks.
Unfortunately, y'all cant see most of those comments here. Why? Because, people, most of y'all chose to send the comments to my email, or via sms. A few even called! Dayummmmm!
I want to read the comments on the blog!!! So please, please, please, drop em here. You'll even get paid for doing so. . . See them, everyone's all excited now. ha ha. Just kidding, but pls post them comments.
Thanx and thanx again for the humongous response!

Working, and lovin it!

2007-03-13T19:40:00.000+01:00

I just got an email from a former classmate. We were in Engineering School together at Uni. We were also in the same private study group and used to do a lot of stuff together. We also graduated at the same time, although we worked for two different Oil Servicing firms in PH.
He is currently an Engineer and Team Leader in a major Oil company, and earning tons of dosh.
This got me thinking.
If I had stayed where I was at the time I decided to make the jump from engineering to journalism, I would be where he is or thereabouts.
He earns a whole load more than I do at the mo and then some.
But the key questions are; would I have been as happy as I am now?
Would I be kicking myself for not having made the change to what I enjoy?
Would I wake up in the morning and still feel excited about going to work?
Would I have made as much of a difference in people's lives as I have made where I am?

Frankly, I cant claim to have the answers to those questions. What I do know however, is that I love what I am doing now, I love waking up in the morning and thinking of the challenges ahead, the money may not be much compared to what my friend is earning, but I have been lucky in life and can claim to be one of the better paid in this country in the profession I chose.

All in all, I think I made the right choice.
I would like to go on and say those of you who have a passion for something other than what you are doing now, should chase it. But i hesitate to do so, because I am aware that I got this far, not only by hard work and talent--mostly a gift for writing and an ability to learn quickly--but also by getting some good breaks along the way that put me in the right place at the right time.
Its not quite so cut and dried then. All I will say is, weigh every option before taking the plunge.
For me, I thank God for His numerous blessings, even though I dont know that I deserve them.
Oh, and by the way, the pic there shows me at the FIFA Headquarters in Zurich when I was appointed as a FIFA Instructor.

The poem below by Robert Frost helped me make up my mind. But that is a story for another day.

But yield who will to their separation/
My object in living is to unite/
My avocation and my vocation/
As my two eyes make one in sight/
Only where love and need are one/
And the work is play for mortal stakes/
Is the deed ever really done/
For Heaven and the future's sakes/

AWOL? Guilty again!

2007-03-11T12:10:00.000+01:00

Okay, okay. I know, I know, I know. I did not update the blog when I should and for that, I apologise.
So much has been going in the past few months its unbelievable. Unfortunately, I cant go into all of it, but I’ll do my best, in parts. For now, let’s stick with the birthday.
The pic here shows me and girlfriend at the FIFA World Player of the Year Gala in December with Fabio Cannavaro, who won the Footballer of the Year award

So first off, what happened on that Saturday?? Well, thanks to y’all who sent me reminders, I actually remembered!! Isn’t that great???
That is just the beginning. Not only did I remember, I surprised the tears out of the lady. Which is never an easy thing to do, I can assure you. Its kinda tough to be in Lagos, while your wife is in the USA and do something to make her enjoy her birthday, but yours truly managed it (lesson for all you young hubbies out there. Am da maaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!!!!).
And what did I do? Simple. Planned an ambush with some mutual friends. Got one of my pals living in the same city (fortuitous coincidence) to get a whopping big cake and some flowers over to another friend’s house (who she was due to go visit that day). Almost everyone knew about the plan but wifey.
She got to the house, and there was this big cake waiting from her from her darling! My baby cried. . .
Hey, Robby, thanks bro. You rock!

Guilty as charged

2006-10-19T19:58:00.000+01:00

Okay, I agree I am guilty as charged of not updating this blog since Post Day One.
First of all, let me thank all y’all who called, sms’d and emailed to ensure that I did not forget.
As it turned out, I didn’t. But that was only because I had to stay up half the night. I was worried that if I fell asleep, even the din from all those alarms would not remind me.
So now, all’s well that ends well. Except that I put in so much effort trying to ensure I didn’t forget wifey’s big day, that I actually forgot my mum’s—again!
I was in Lesotho a couple of weeks ago to see our beloved Super Eagles beat Lesotho 1-0 and put themselves in pole position to reach the Nations Cup (something we have never failed to do).
That will form the focus of my next gist. My observations, experiences, and all else will come in here

Of birthdays and memories

2006-08-25T23:42:00.000+01:00

It was August 26 last year, and our annual Media Games was on. Yours truly, hiding behind the facade of work, had conveniently 'forgotten' to take part in anything bearing any sort of remote resemblance to physical exertion.

However, enjoying said physical exertions was not something I was going to run away from. So I duly finished my work and headed off to the National Stadium to catch a bit of the football Final.

Game was barely done when beep beep (well, the ring tone was different) and it was wifey. I could hardly wait to share my enjoyment of the proceedings. . . except that the voice at the other end was, should we say, less than willing to share a laugh.

Now, I usually know when I am in deep doo doo. And from the voice on the other end, it was clear as day that I had overdone even myself. But for the life of me, I could not imagine what it was I had done. I even got to thinking if somewhere in my dreams, I had errrrm. . .strayed and got caught.

My ears were still ringing long after the connection had been severed. It was not until a full two headscratching hours later that I realised what had happened: Horror of horrors!! I had completely forgotten to call and wish my wife a happy birthday!!!!

It took days of begging, plus hours of grovelling (you know how those women are--forget the disarming smile you see on her face to your right in my profile pic)to get back in the good books again.

Now, I ask. Is this a problem or is this a problem? I don't know how many people have this particular affliction. I know I am a bad case. I even forgot my mum's the same year, and it was the very next day! But you dont want to be caught without a cure. Especially not when you have a partner who will be very very unforgiving in matters of this nature.

The reason I am starting my blog with this is that my wife's birthday is 2moro. Every elctronic device I have, fones, laptop, PDA etc are configured to start a mad din the moment it turns 6pm in Lagos and 12 midnight in Atlanta, Georgia.

To be doubly sure, I have started this blog to make sure I will NOT forget. Now, if you want to help, please give me a call. If you have this link, then you have my number. Am counting on you. . .