I listened to Chief Adokie Amiesimaka, ex-international football player and one of the most erudite and informed commentators on Nigerian football, on Ray Power FM the other day. He said that Samson Siasia has been made the scapegoat of the present crisis in Nigerian football; that coaching is not the problem with the National team and that even if Nigeria were to hire the combination of Mourinho and Ferguson to handle the team, they would fail with honours giving the circumstances presently around Nigerian football. He said that Nigerian football has stopped producing high quality football players as a result of a lack of developmental policies and strategies. He concluded that football in Nigeria has been on a steady decline since 1998, and that even if the right things are now done Nigeria would still have to wait till about 2022 to get back to the top of African football.
I totally agree with Adokie. What are being done now by the illegal board of the NFF are cosmetic. They are treating the symptoms and leaving the disease! Take the issue of Samson Siasia for example. The man has been made the convenient scapegoat in this well orchestrated strategy to divert attention from the real source of the problems (the NFF) and hide under public sentiments. Samson and his female counterpart in the national female team, the Falcons, have become the sacrificial lambs on the altar of public sentiment.
Samson made a few fundamental mistakes in the manner he dealt with disciplinary matters in the team, weakening it in the process. But until the team drew their last match against Guinea his defiant stance to do away with indisciplined players was applauded by many who now condemn him. The real problem with that team that failed to qualify for CAN 2012 is less about coaching and more about the quality of the players. A team and its coach are only as good as the players they have to parade in the team. They are the critical success factor in determining success in football. Would Barcelona FC be the same team without Lionnel Messi, Iniesta and Xavi? Would real Madrid be the same without Christiano Ronaldo? Have the Super Eagles being the same without Okocha, Kanu and Amuneke? The players make the team. Samson just did not have the quality of players that would have provided the kind of results that he boasted about and that Nigerians expected before the Guinean match. The Super Eagles stopped playing great football many years ago. The team that qualified for the 2010 World Cup put up the worst display I have witnessed in over forty years of my interaction with the game. The players were so ordinary they left no memories of their performances, and so inconsistent Nigerians unanimously called for the removal of Amodu even if he qualified the nation for the championship. We forget so soon how bad the situation was and how other factors assisted the qualification process.
The problem with Samson is that he appeared to be ‘arrogant’ in his conduct, and unrealistic in his assessment of the players he had. The Super Eagles had long lost their physical and psychological edge and Samson was only slowly rebuilding the team, one block after another, in a process that would have still have led nowhere until and unless the domestic game is fixed and structures put in place to produce quality players from which a strong national team would be selected. On top of that Samson over-rated the impact of coaching on a team even when it does not have great players. No matter how good a coach is, he would need good players to demonstrate his coaching prowess. Amodu Shuaibu himself, at a point during his reign, described the players in his team as average and some people wanted to crucify him. With the quality of players available in 1980 and 1993, Samson would have worked over Guinea and made them look like school children. Not now!
Samson Siasia has been sacked and Stephen Keshi hired by an NFF suffering from a terminal disease called ‘illegitimacy’. That singular act is an announcement to all Nigerians that the problem with the national team is with the coaching. Losing to Guinea was so painful that no amount of theorising would temper the people’s desire and call for some heads to roll. The most convenient was Samson’s. But, as Adokie said, if the system remains the way it is, not even 10 Jose Mourinhos will succeed where Samson failed. So, the coming of Keshi is just another musical game of chairs. He is being set up to fail also. My friend and former class mate, Yakubu Ibn Mohammed, put it this way: ‘One more nail in the coffin of Nigerian football. This is the only way I can describe Keshi’s appointment by our disturbingly clueless NFF. Once again we have succumbed to the blackmailing antics of our former internationals of the Westerhof era who think we owe them our lives. Me, I don tire o’. Yakubu may have been a little bit hard on the former internationals but he speaks for a lot of people.
Lets look at the real issues. The domestic leagues that should produce national team players of quality are in complete shambles. The Premier league of the 2010/2011 season has run for one year and is still has not ended. It must go down as the longest season in the history of the game in the world! The Premier League board was without a Chairman through most of the season as a result of internal crisis that still have not completely gone away. The league has lost its sponsorships through some immature handling of very sensitive situations. The NFF, like a cursed body, was constantly violating its own, as well as FIFA Statues, by its unnecessary interference in the internal affairs of its member and has several court cases and unending controversies as show for it. Corruption charges plague the entire football structure and there is no end in sight of a resolution of the power struggle between contending forces. Even my election case of August 26, 2010 in FIFA remains unresolved and unresolvable, hanging dangerously over FIFA’s neck like an Albatross. FIFA, for fear of the repercussions, has been unable to announce the result of their May 30, 2011, sitting over my petition of almost one year! But ijo wo ni maku o ni ku? Death is an inevitability!
There are no grassroots football development plans, programmes or institutions. The adoption and proliferation of artificial turfs for domestic premier league matches is perhaps the greatest mistake the country has made in its development strategy for football. Artificial surfaces are a big mistake. They may look good for television but the damage to skills development and the spate of serious injuries make it detrimental to growth.
Finally, Nigerian football is still in the grip of a deep-rooted syndicate. Now football is being run by an illegal body and government is not being authentic about it, romancing with a body that has physically abused and disregarded the rule of law, and spiritually offended the elements through its unjust practices. Peace and development cannot be built on such foundations. Nigeria must redeem itself by seeking forgiveness for embracing injustice, and do ‘restitution’ by making peace with all those the system has ‘wronged’ – appealing to the aggrieved and appeasing the elements! Until that time, I am afraid Nigerian football will continue to ‘wobble and fumble’.
Samuel Ojebode is critically ill!
I am writing this on Thursday morning.
I am about to put my original write-up to bed when I receive a call from a former colleague in Shooting Stars Football Club, Ibadan. His words pierce my heart like an arrow. No, God, please do not let it be true. I am blaming myself already. Did I wait too long before making contact with the government of Oyo State? Why is it taking me 2 days to get the job done when I was told that my skipper was critically ill in hospital and needed immediate support. Kola Taiwo, ex-international football player and former captain of Shooting Stars, had given me the assignment to contact the governor two days earlier after informing me about the plight of Samuel Ojebode my former captain in Shooting Stars of Ibadan in the days when the club represented the movement of the Yoruba race all over the world. He told me that ‘skipper’ had been rushed to the University Teaching Hospital Ibadan, suffering from a heart-related ailment, and badly needing support to meet his medical needs. Could I use some connections to get across to the governor and let him know the plight of one of the great football heroes of Nigeria from Oyo State.
I call up two colleagues in Ibadan who would know what the situation truly is. The first call does not go through. I call the second – Jossy Lad. He tells me he has heard the rumour and has been afraid to call anyone to confirm. I urge him to do so immediately and let me know. He calls me back in two minutes and I ear the excitement in his voice. ‘Sam is alive. His wife says he just finished having his lunch. He is still in critical but stable condition, but he is alive’. My relief is total. My heart leaps in joy and relief. Thank God we still have the time and opportunity to do something about Samuel Ojebode.
It has taken two days but I have finally, through Dr. Deolu Akande, the Chief of Staff to the governor, made contact. The governor is showing great concern and would do intervene immediately.
For those that may not remember, Sam was the captain of the Shooting Stars football Club between 1974 and 1980. He was left full back for both club and country through that period and his attacking runs down the left flank were a beauty to watch. In 1976 he led Shooting Stars to victory in the Africa Cup Winners Cup and made history by becoming the first club side in Nigeria to win a continental trophy. The last two teams in that year’s championship were Zamalek of Egypt in the semi-finals and Cameroon’s Roger Miller-led Tonnerre Kalala in the finals.
The good news as I write this is that Samuel Ojebode is alive and everything will be done to support him through this challenging period.
His own situation draws attention to that of many other ex-internationals who are suffering in their narrow and isolated lives from different illnesses many of them traceable to their active participation in the game of football. Our list is growing and we must do something about it before it is too late for most. This is wishing Sam the healing touch of God and quick recovery.
