By :- GBENGA OLUMEKUN
I felt relieved when the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) finally decided to do what it had always wanted to do all along: get rid of Stephen Okechukwu Keshi (SOK). We all followed the rigmarole of contract renewal and all the tactical games played by all sides hence it didn’t need a clairvoyant to foretell that the ignominious departure of Keshi was a question of time. Apparently, greater powers within Aso Rock wanted to ensure the uninterrupted stay of Keshi as our Gaffer but as soon as there was change of power, I knew evening time had come for him.
What baffles me most was the fact that with all his experience and knowledge about Nigerian football Stephen, Keshi should have known so much about Ecclesiastes 3: 1-8. Unfortunately there is so much wisdom in the word of God but only few ever manage to latch on. Thank God those who are wise will continue to seek wisdom and those who are foolish will continue to pursue inanities.
It is unfortunate that the issues in contention are not about whether Keshi knows his onions or not but they are issues bothering on the recognition of body language, spoken and unspoken language. I am an awfully proud man and if I were Keshi, I would have walked away after the African Cup of Nations in 2013. Well, he stayed because he felt there was unfinished business and the business is now finished, albeit on a sad note. The law of averages has caught up and to whom the music is played must dance the “dance of death”. I almost forgot that there was a report somewhere that SOK is demanding one billion Naira from the NFF. I wish him well but since some issues are sub judice, I must keep my pen from such.
It is unfortunate that many did not see imminence of the present scenario but I had seen it ever since SOK was appointed as the Boss of the Super Eagles. Ever since Keshi was appointed, a certain Sunday Oliseh had believed the job was his own and had never hidden his contempt for Keshi.
I remember reading several blistering comments from him (Oliseh) about him being the more suited for the job. It didn’t take a crystal ball gazer to see that Keshi's heels were being gnashed at by no less a personality than one of his boys. Whether he was a true boy or not, time will tell. However, I felt disturbed when I read those unforgiving comments which lucidly alluded to the fact that he, Oliseh, was more qualified and better placed to lead the Super Eagles. I find the superciliousness not the least uncharitable.
Originally I had thought the guy, brilliant as he was as a captain of the Eagles, was on an ego trip but as issues unfolded I saw that he was Keshi's nemesis and it was only a question of time for the issues to come to the market square. Bringing the issue into contemporary context, Oliseh was acting more like an opposition spokesman to the government of SOK. It was more like Lai Mohammed versus Femi Fani-Kayode. The battles had no clearly defined armaments but the theatre was no less a place than the television screens of Supersport on DSTV and our ever news hungry newshounds. Oliseh was always quick to let all and sundry know that he possessed the skills and requisite knowledge to coach the Super Eagles and when the deed was done, it didn’t surprise amateur pundits like me that we had reached the denouement.
Since the change of guards I have followed the comments of several football commentators and gurus like Clemens Westerhoff, Adegboye Onigbinde and Segun Odegbami. I had known Segun since our Polytechnic days when I played Badminton and he was playing football. I have always agreed with Segun on his tips and analyses. I have however been trying to find commonality with him on this Oliseh issue but there has been no grounds for concord. Segun hardly gets it wrong and one of my regrets is that people like him have never been able to come near piloting the affairs of our “House of Football”. I still believe in him but on this Oliseh issue I really must follow my own heart and disagree with his undisguised optimism that Oliseh is, for now, a suitable person for the position.
Westerhoff says Oliseh is inexperienced and I am in absolute agreement. Onigbinde says so too and it leaves me wondering that if Oliseh is the best we have, are we so short of good quality materials? Don't get me wrong. I am actually egging myself to display enough optimism to wish him unqualified success but the critical part of me is saying that Sunday Oliseh will be a failure. I am praying that he will prove me wrong but the pointers are there for everyone to see. If he succeeds, I will be one of the very few to take credit, not because I really like him, but because I have always believed that we need to patronise our local talents rather than import several has-beens or those whose qualification for appointment as our National Team coach is the lightness of their skin colour and the length of the bridges of their noses. It is only on this point that I feel obliged to throw my hat into the ring in support of Oliseh, otherwise my better judgement is saying a different thing because I see big failure looming. If I get my predictions wrong, I will be most happy and will gladly dig into the “humble pie” that will be laid before me.
I have spent several moments wondering why we have suddenly displayed so much limited optimism about a guy who admittedly has had robust experience in Europe playing in the best leagues and mixing it with the best players on planet earth. However, playing football and coaching are two different things altogether. Does a few hours of paid punditing on TV equate to ability to coach the national team? Where has he coached before or is experience never a consideration for appointments any more? I can still vividly recollect that one of the big guns pointedly screamed that “if coaching was determined by level of playing, Pele would have been the best coach in the world” and “Maradona has been running from pillar to post trying to become a prominent coach. Has he made it? On the other side of the fence, in which league or country did Jose Mourinho play football? But he is one of the best coaches in the world. So playing and coaching are two different things. We are saying all these things in the interest of Nigeria,” he said.
Over the years we have seen several of our national players transmute into coaches and they have earned their apprenticeship with the lesser national teams or with clubsides. Examples such as Henry Nwosu, Samson Siasia, Nduka Ugbade, Daniel Amokachi and Emmanuel Amunike abound. We have followed their progress and have been able to see a few of them advance into top management by their deliverables. That should be the way.
There are too many arm-chair critics on football grounds and the best place reserved for them should be at the stands rather than on the pitch. Even in public issues, brilliant as they were critics, the likes of Tai Solarin and Gani Fawehinmi's deliverables when they had the opportunity to control affairs have demonstrated that critics and performers are too far separated in space and time in the performance index. Time will still tell.
As a scientist, I believe in experimentation and such bold attitudes are often rewarding. However the position of our national team coach in a season when football is big business and big politics, we cannot afford to play poker with our football destiny. In fact it is actually worse than poker; we are playing Russian Roulette and the omen is not good for our destiny.
One issue I have had irreconcilable differences with is the gargantuan pay attached to the position regardless of qualifications, experience and the reality of the Nigerian situation. I felt so terribly insulted when I learnt that the new coach was going to earn Five Million Naira (N5,000,000.00) per month whereas literate Nigerians like me, with all the big big degrees, don't earn that much in a year. Is he worth to the nation what I am worth? How much expenditure has he made on himself to warrant earning in less than two months what our President Buhari is going to earn in a year?
I have too often been critical of our value system which I believe is rotten; based on how performance is denominated or how importance is measured. The sort of pay doled out to other practitioners makes nonsense of our values and virtues and it makes hard-working folks like me want to throw in the towel and check out. I guess we'll have to revisit our reward system as I have always preached. The only problem is that much as I can shout, my voice may not be heard over the din of the moment.
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