That Our Football Will Grow

[Defender]

Association football better known as soccer is a game which unarguably controls majority of followers in the world. The game is so popular that very few people can afford to ignore it. Soccer has many die-hard fans who throng stadia all over the world during midweeks and week-ends to watch their clubs tap the round leather.

Football in the world is controlled by the Federation of International Football Association (FIFA) under the leadership of Sepp Blatter. The FIFA President is very powerful because he controls a game with a large followers around the world. In Europe and in South America it is a big time investment where individuals and corporate bodies own football clubs and run them professionally.

Going by records, Brazil has won the world cup five times the only country to have this record. Brazil play beautiful football known as samba and fans and spectators enjoy the money pay to watch them.

The world cup tournament holds every four years and it has produced many top stars such as Arantes d' Nacimento otherwise called Pele of Brazil, Diego Amando Maradona, of Argentina, Ronaldo of Brazil, Zinedine Zidane of France and many others more too numerous to mention here.

At club level, England boasts of the most vibrant and successful organization of the game.

The game is so successful in England that it attracts a lot of investment from outside. The ownership of football clubs which was the exclusive preserve of fans has now become that of some rich business tycoons.

Chelsea Football Club of London was taken over by the rich Russian billionaire, Roman Abrahamovic just like the Fraser family also took over Manchester United.

Nigeria is yet to tap from the wealth inherent in the running of soccer. We are still at the rudimentary and pristine level in the running of the game. It is a general saying in the game of soccer, that there are two coaches, the one that has been fired and the one that would be fired.

For sometime now there has been argument over the type of coach Nigeria should hire, whether an indigenous or expatriate. Those who support local coaches believe it would help to develop the game.

This is supported by the fact no country will willingly release her best coach to tender any country. What happens if the two countries engage each other in a competitive match? Will the expatriate coach be loyal to his country of origin or to the country in which he is plying his trade?

The second school of thought believes expatriate coaches are better than local coaches in terms of training, experience and quality of exposure. Besides, it is generally believed that our football officials do not treat local coaches well.

Their salaries are paid in arrears and they have no power to ask for their rights. The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) simply treat them with disdain.

The appointment of Samson Siasia was to end all that. First his hiring enjoyed the support of many Nigerians and his performance at the cadet level especially at the World Youth Championship at Netherland 2005 and the Olympics Games in Australia was to act as a catalyst in his appointment, Siasia took the Nigerian teams to the final only to lose to Argentina. On both occasions, the Nigerian lads lost to Lionel Messi-led Argentina.

The interesting thing is that both Nigeria's Mikel Obi and Messi came into limelight at the Netherland Championship. Messi went further to shine at his club-Barcelona Football Club (BFC) while Obi had the problem of switching from his Oslo, Norway based club to England.

Messi was to have a stable development which necessitated his becoming World Footballer of the Year twice. He also led his country into the Olympics championship in Australia.

Mikel on the other hand was to recede to his cocoon to become a local champion and conceited such that he refused entreaties to join the Olympic team for the Australian game.

Some Nigerians are wont to conclude that Nigerian football authorities do not appreciate our footballers, however, when Mikel's father was kidnapped, the whole country stood solidly behind him till he was rescued.

At the height of the saga, his coach at Chelsea, Andre Villa-Boas elected not to include Mikel's name in the team list that week-end but he insisted on playing. However, weeks after his father was released, and everything had subsided he chose not to be at the training camp for that all-important must win at all cost to qualify for the African Cup of Nations (AFCON 2012) in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon.

The fact of the matter is that some of these boys need discipline otherwise the fortune of their chosen profession could be affected. Mikel was second to Messi at Netherland 2005, but today we know the wide gulf between the two in terms of their fortune in the round-leather game.

Apart from professional ability, Nigerians appreciated the role played by Siasia to ensure the qualitfication of the two Nigerian teams he managed to finals.

They appreciated how he solicited for funds from some corporate bodies and his state government, Bayelsa to get funds to prosecute the games until he got to the finals before many people started to develop interest.

They now felt that it was a pay-back time when a manager was to be appointed, for the Super- Eagles. In addition, he performed better than his competitor, Stephen Keshi at the screening. Members of the technical team that screened them can testify to that.

All of a sudden, because we did not qualify for AFCON 2012 Nigerians, see nothing good in Siasia. He was fired and Keshi was employed instead. I am not against the hiring and firing power of NFF but I thought we should have shudder a while to do some analysis.

What exactly do we want as a country for our national team. What type of manager do we need? I am of a strong conviction that we need at coach who is a builder and a psychologist combined together. The type of coach we need with all due respect to others should be in the mould of Le Professor Arsene Wenger.

Wenger is the coach of Arsenal Football Club of London who plays a scintillating football. He has a unique style of bringing up budding talents and throwing them up as superstars. With Wenger, players struggle to fit into a team.

No player is indispensable and he is ready to psyche any young talent to take the place of any footballer who is recalcitrant, Before the Manchester United and Chelsea fans crucify me, let me state that their coaches are good.

Some analysts posit that Wenger is a "Baba Ijebu" who should be prosecuted for "child-labour" but I hasten to state that he is an efficient manager of resources. He may not have won a silverware since 2005, the fact remains that neither Jose Mourinho nor Sir Alex Ferguson can achieve what Wenger has done with the same set of players.

Mourinho may have won the European Championship Laurel with two different clubs from two countries, and Ferguson may have won the English Premiership titles more than any club in England, Wenger remains a unique coach in the world.

Nigerian soccer is at a crossroad where the issue of winning at all cost should not be our watchword, but how to develop the game. If you ask the Modakeke born soccer tactician, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde, he would agree that we need the likes of Wenger to build our football, even though we also know the win at all times mentality of Nigerians.

If the truth be told, Siasia did not lose any competitive match during his almost one year tenure at the helm of affairs at the Super Eagles. We may realize very soon that Siasia is not the problem of our football. I appreciate the fact that football evokes emotion and passion and every fan believes he can do better than the coaches.

I also appreciate the fact that every fan wants his team to win at all times. However, the reality is that no club or country wins all the time. You win some and lose some. That is why it is a game. We should tarry a while, to ask ourselves whether we want to develop football or want to win all matches.

My fear is that Keshi better known as Big Boss may not last long and that too may not be helpful to our system. Emmanuel Adebayor, the Nigerian-born Togolese footballer cost him the job of taking the Togo national team to Germany 2006.

He may have learnt his lesson. Siasia too may have learnt his lesson. I told some friends before the Nigeria-Guinea match that woe betides Siasia if Nigeria fails to qualify for AFCON 2012 without the inclusion of goalkeeper Vincent Eyeama in the team list.

It is now history. Because football matches evokes passion, the authorities have to look at things dispassionately.In Nigeria, there are governors who follow the English Premiership League with passion. There is a governor in the South-West who is so passionate about Manchester United that on any day his favourite team plays, he is fully engrossed.

Important appointments are rescheduled not to coincide with Man United match days. He is favourably disposed to things if the club wins but he becomes moody if the club loses like the day city rivals, Manchester City massacred them mercilessly. Conclusively the point being made is that a Wenger-like coach will be more helpful than either Mourinho or Ferguson type.

We need to grow football in Nigeria. Football needs to develop to generate more funds. Our league should be self-sustaining and cease relying on the government for patronage.

Osun Defender