“Flaming enthusiasm, backed up by horse sense and persistence, is the quality that most frequently makes for success.”-Dale Carnegie
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| WARRI WOLVES |
Last weekend, the 2012 African Cup of Nations got underway with fanfare in Malabo as co-host, Equatorial Guinea put up a show that made the whole of Africa very proud to signal the start of the 28th edition of the continent’s most-sought-after trophy.
Similarly, most Nigerians were engrossed with the English Premiership particularly with the ‘Super Sunday’ offering which pitched Arsenal against Manchester United as well as Manchester City versus Tottenham Hotspurs. So much on the horizon but having resolved to pay more attention to domestic interest (especially with little or no Nigerian interest at the AFCON and Premiership), but my focus actually was the much expected debut of Jude Aneke for Warri Wolves.
Aneke was quite a sensation in the Nigeria Premier League last season with Kaduna United when he scored 20 goals to erase Ahmed Musa’s ground-breaking 18-goal that eclipsed the long-held 17-goal record by Ishaya Jatau for Iwuanyanwu Nationale (now Heartland FC) in 1990.
If it were in the other climes, cameramen as well as the written press would be at the back of Aneke in droves: turning him to an overnight celebrity. But rather than jump on the bandwagon and hop on the next available seat to Europe in search of the proverbial greener pasture, Aneke has made a wise move by joining Warri Wolves Football Club (WWFC) in a N12 Million deal-albeit after a botched trip to Belgium.
Though WWFC is not the oldest club in Nigeria today, we can safely say that it is a model for others to follow. In WWFC is the truism in the saying that ‘having wisdom like Solomon has nothing to do with the age of a Methuselah.’
“I think the management of Warri Wolves FC must be commended for the way and manner they have been managing the team,” Adekunle Michael, a staunch follower of this column stated in a long message ironically via the short message service (SMS), “and I think other management of teams in the Nigeria Premier League should take a cue from Warri Wolves.
“Warri Wolves makes a lot of money from players’ transfer and that is why the team has not complained of money to run its affairs in the NPL. Imaging signing Jude Aneke for 12 Million Naira and they are so sure that they will make so much from the transfer of that guy in less than six months from now when the guy would head back to Europe for trials with European,” he added.
I totally agree with Michael on this score because this is the same sentiments expressed by Mr. Banji Oladapo, the immediate past Secretary General of Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) when he spoke with me on the state of Nigerian football in 2008.
“We no longer celebrate the talents in our local league, “noted Oladapo who initiated the now rested Bournvita Soccer Awards under his tenure as a Brand Manager at Cadbury in the 1990s. “Spectatorship used to be a very big thing in the past when we had teams like Stationery stores, IICC(now 3SC) of Ibadan, Abiola Babes, Leventis United(both defunct), Rangers International and a host of others, but we cannot say the same today.
“The spectatorship for all the foreign leagues is now on the increase and it would get to a point when nobody would be at the stadium to watch our domestic league and that would be very unfortunate.”
Oladapo’s undoubtedly are prophetic words and it is on this premise that I would wish that Aneke tarry awhile before joining the train in search of a club in Europe. It is not every day that we see a player on the domestic league totting up goals like telephone numbers like Aneke did last season-hence it took two decades before curtain was drawn on Jatau’s 17-goal record.
By staying a little longer on the domestic league, Aneke would invariably prepare himself well for the task ahead when he eventually join the legion of Nigerians playing in Europe- as well as having the chance to join a bigger club rather than the rigmarole of going far field to places like Moldova and Vietnam all in the name of playing abroad! And for scoring on his debut for WW, Aneke has partly justified that his last season’s effort is not a fluke and his long stay on the scene would further entrench him in the minds of the public and press.
“I have decided to start a new chapter in my career after the recent disappointment over my Belgian move and I feel so excited to have joined Warri Wolves, Aneke reportedly said, “my personal ambition is to do very well with the club and to score as many goals as possible and with the calibre of players and the expertise of the coaches, we can go far in all the competitions.”
That WWFC is a model to follow is there for all to see not minding the fact that they are still a property of Delta State government like many other teams in the Premier League.
Unlike what obtains in Europe, clubs in Nigeria are still tied to the aprons of state governments but how many can boast of accountability and corporate governance like WWFC? How many have put solid institutional structure in place like WWFC? How many have good welfare packages like WWFC? How many makes available flight tickets when their players are called for national assignment? These are some of the things that have made WWFC streets ahead of their contemporaries and I think it is not late in the day for others to emulate some of these positives.
Birthed from the ashes of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Football Club who were relegated after the 200/2006 season, WWFC gained promotion to the Premier League in 2009 after emerging champions from the National Division IB and they have been waxing stronger coming sixth in the 2009/10 season They played in the CAF Confederations Cup in 2010 but lost out in the first round. Last year, they came close to winning the domestic league but finished in third position to earn a slot to campaign for the CAF Confederation Cup.
Of course, Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan for sparing little in making WWFC a prototypical for other Nigerian clubs. Apart of a handsome annual budget to the club, Dr. Uduaghan demonstrated his love to the club when he doled out buses to the club, its supporters as well as the Delta State Chapter of the Nigeria Football Supporters Club ‘to ease their transportation problem.’
Yet the management of the club is not ignorant of the fact that the responsibility of managing WWFC lies squarely on their shoulders. Winston Churchill, American Statesman stated that ‘the price of greatness is responsibility’ and those saddled with the task of managing WWFC know they cannot rest on their oars. Last December, the management of WWFC presented a satisfactory end-of-the-season report card to the chairman of Delta State Sports Commission, Mr. Pinnick Amaju who incidentally doubles as the chairman of WWFC.
“We have an enormous task in 2012,”noted Amaju, “the last time you played in the CAF competition, you came through the back door but this time around, and I want to say that hard work gave you the ticket to participate in this year’s CAF Confederation Cup.
“I want to say the government played their role to the end which accounted for this great success. Warri Wolves was born 35 years ago but appeared on the scene strongly three years ago and has become house hold name in Nigeria football community. The governor is happy about the achievement so far, we are ready to do everything to make sure Warri Wolves would remain house hold name in the country.”
That indeed could be an understatement given their past resolve and support to the cause of WWFC.
Not too far away in the scheme of things is Heartland Football Club (HFC) of Owerri, now under the astute management of foremost sports journalist, Mr. Fan Ndubuoke.
Less than two years after taking the charge of HFC, the Owerri-based Naze millionaires broke their duck by winning a trophy after 18 years after handling a 1-0 defeat to battle-hardened Enyimba International Football Club of Aba in the Federation Cup- the Challenge Cup.
It actually looked like a big challenge when Ndubuoke took over but he has shown that he indeed ‘has the confidence to roll the dice.’ Initially, criticisms trailed him like bees after honey with some detractors quoted as saying that ‘he was making the wrong decisions’ not thinking the opposite as espoused by Paul Arden that ‘he was making the right decisions.’ He sacked under-performing players as well as coaches by appointing a certain Dutch coach, Lodewijk de Kruif as technical adviser and the gamble paid off:
“Leading the club to win her first major trophy in 18 years was great and I want to consolidate on that feat in 2012,” Ndubuoke regarded by critics as a Machiavellian, stated matter-of-factly.
“My dream is to turn Heartland into a big brand. A team that is financially viable and I are looking at a Heartland that would be as cost effective as Arsenal with a winning mentality of Manchester United. Yes, we want to win trophies, but that won’t be our focus alone. We will try to prove with Heartland that football is truly a big business.”
Nigerian football is truly on the way to self discovery if every club managers on the domestic scene adopt the business-like approach that has turned the once bankrupt WWFC and HFC to a club of choice today.
Between NFA and NFF  |
| February 2010: Story on NFF |
So many things have been said and written since last Friday’s injunction by an Abuja High court over the status of the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) and Nigeria Premier League(NPL).
Yet, I don’t think the court is saying anything new. The court’s verdict is similar to an exclusively report published in the February, 14 2010 edition of National LIFE following an enquiry from FIFA, the world soccer’s governing body under a banner headline: NFF IN IDENTITY MESS (FIFA Yet To Ratify Changes In Status).
For the avoidance of doubt, below is the concise reply to my mail: “Thank you for your enquiry. FIFA does recognise the NFF as the Association organising football in Nigeria and Sani Abdullahi (Lulu) as its President. Please see below the FIFA.com link referring to the NFF: http://www.fifa.com/associations/association=nga/index.html,” FIFA noted via an exclusive electronic mail.
“FIFA was not officially informed of the changes. We have asked to be officially notified about the changes and we will update the information accordingly. We are currently waiting for the NFF logo to be replaced on FIFA.com.”
The change in nomenclature was made during the association’ s General Assembly in Makurdi, Benue State in July 2008 and some of the people who are kicking today were part of those who endorsed the decision. Between then and now, the Glass House have been making efforts at addressing this obvious anomaly so that National Assembly can pass the NFF bill.
Though we can’t excuse the federation from blame for not fast-tracking the changes, we can’t equally exonerate the rabble rousers whose stock in trade was to rush to civil court at the drop of a hat. This problematical issue today as well as in life generally, is a pointer to the fact that there are no permanent friends but permanent interest.
How Good Do You Want To Be?
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| 2008: The Arsenal exclusive |
Not too sure now the person who once said that ‘a journalist is as good as the number of exclusives stories written under his by line.’
Still, Keir Radnedge, the immediate past editor of World Magazine and chairman of AIPS Football Commission equally stated that ‘exclusive story is the story nobody except you wanted.’
I think in the middle of the two extremes, lays the wisdom that you are as good as your last by line consequently permit me blow my own trumpet today. Long before everyone was chasing the story about the planned visit by English Premier League side, Arsenal to Nigeria in the summer, I actually broke the story that DanJan Sports in conjunction with Inter-Projects Associates (the team that brought Manchester United and Portsmouth to Abuja in 2008) are desirous in bringing Arsenal on a playing tour of Nigeria.
That story was not published in 2011. Not in 2010. Not in 2009 but in the Sunday edition of National LIFE of July 20, 2008: Arsenal to Storm Nigeria after Man U (see bromide).
Paul Arden (I’m never tired of this savvy author) noted: “All of us want to be good at our jobs, but how good do we really want to be? Quite good .Good. Very good. The best in our field or the best in the world?” Your guess is as good as mine.
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