STATIONERY STORES RETURNS !, JAY JAY AND THE THRILLING NO. 10s

RETURN OF STATIONERY STORES FC

If not for the fact that the news appeared in the Guardian newspaper I would have found it difficult to beleive.But for the first time in a real long while I felt the adrenaline surge through my veins like it used to many many years ago - the darling club of Lagos, Stationery Stores F.C.(a.k.a Super Stores,Stationary Stores,Adebajo Babes,Flaming Flamingoes,etc etc) would return to the Nigerian soccer scene TODAY ! Ol' boy wahala dey oh !!!!!!!!

I felt the tragedy of Stores' long sabatical when I observed most of the young chaps in my office just staring at me worriedly as I lept all over the place with pages of the newspaper in my hand and shouting 'up super,up super, up flaming !'.Abi oga don kolo !

For the benefit of the under-25s, let me explain it this way:The frenzy around the Nigerian league in the 1970s and 80s could be likened to that of the English Premiership today. Rangers International F.C. of Enugu was the forerunner of today's Chelsea.Their football was direct,business-like (trust the Ibos) and devoid of fantasies.With a 'chairman' like Christian Chukwu who could spray precise through balls 40 yards across the field, what did they need midfielders for?Dribblers like Stanley Okoronkwo,Ogidi Ibeabuchi and Okechuckwu Obiora ('agarimojo') were pure nuisance to the fold ! As you would expect,Rangers won so many trophies both locally and on the African scene.

IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan on the other hand were like Man U. They had a little bit of everything; flair (Segun Odegbami,Kunle Awesu),Steel (Taiwo Ogunjobi,Ademola Adeshina) and precision (Muda Lawal with passes,Moses Otolorin with long throws).They won the first continental trophy for Nigeria.

Now you would ask, what of 'Arsenal' ? Which team provided Nigerian soccer fans with 100% guaranteed entertainment;no fakes,no pretensions ? For the answer you only need come to lagos - aka las gidi- and meet the great team with the cross-striped yelow/maroon shirt and white hankerchiefs flying everywhere :Super Stores, the legacy of the late Israel Adebajo,the pride of Lagos !

Now, unlike Rangers and Sooting (sorry,Shooting), Stores didn't win that many national trophies after dominating the late 60s,but their reputation for 'good football' just kept soaring.Only very few teams achieved their mastery of the smooth 'Brazilian' flair,and these were all temporary:Ismaila Mabo's Mighty Jets of Jos and Josiah Dobraye's Sharks of Port Harcourt in the 70s,the massive Felix Agbonifo - led Bendel Insurance of Benin, Isong Isang - marshalled Calabar Rovers team between 1983 - 87,and of course more recently the star-studded Leventis United where Wole Odegbami and James Etokebe knew no rules or restrictions when it came to dribbling.

Stores was not a rich club,but she produced many of the most gifted and reknowned flair players in Nigerian football.Haruna Ilerika of course remains the most popular,but Sani Mohammed,Yakubu Mabo,Olumide Banjo,Tarila Okoronwanta,Yisa Alabi,Arthur Moses and so many others were household names.In fact the reputation of Stores was such that even average talents became overnight superstars when they played for Stores:Remember Godwin Obiyan and the funny-looking lad called Idi-Isho ('yansh like nail') ?!

Unfortunately a long-arranged engagement will not permit me go to Onikan today,but I'm sure with a soccer-loving Governor like Babatunde Fashola (BRF) and unity among the Adebajo family,the long-elusive dream of reviving the Stores brand and by implication the glory days of football in Lagos will soon be realised.

JAY JAY AND THE THRILLING NO. 10s

Shame on the NFA.I say shame on you NFA.After serving this country meritoriously for so many years ,mid-field maestro Austin 'Jay Jay' Okocha announced his intention to retire from international football since about four years ago and eventually hanged his boots two years later.All the NFA did was to keep prodding the guy to continue playing as if his body is a machine,and till date they didn't deem it worthwhile to honour the man who raised the profile of Nigerian football through his individual displays in the top leaques across Europe - Germany,Turkey,France and England.It had to take the efforts of a Nollywood actress,Tricia Esiegbe to bring world class footballers to Nigeria to honour Jay Jay;and even at that, the NFA top brass did not deem it fit to attend.Shame on you NFA:Shame on you !!!

Well my own way of honouring Jay Jay is to recap on some of the other 'Jay Jay's we've had in Nigerian football.In my opinion and based on observation over the years,I think any team aspiring to be 'great' should have the following ;an instinctive and ruthless striker, a good goalkeeper,an intelligent central defender who can organise the rest of the team,and most importantly a skillful midfielder with immaculate dribbling skills,vision and passing ability - the ultimate crowd pleaser,the one worthy of the special jersey no. 10 - Pele's number.Unfortunately that last quality is what most 'good' teams lack,and which stands between them and greatness:Greatness meaning Brazil with Pele,Holland with Gullit,Man U with C.Ronaldo,and Arsenal with Fabregas.

Nigeria's football folklore is replete with stories of Peter 'Baby' Anieke,but I've never watched
him play.With Haruna Ilerika however I was luckier.Barely out of secondary school,he anchored The National Team,Green Eagles to victory in the All Africa Games in 1972. A very tiny frame,he had a magical left foot and popularised several tricks such as 'window' which was the act of putting the ball in between the marker's two legs and invariably leaving the marker sprawling shamefully on the turf, and 'heighting' ,where the ball is knocked over the marker's head and controlled !Josiah Dombraye who played for Port Harcourt's Sharks was very similar in style but sometimes played to the gallery.

Ilerika was a product of the highly coveted Principal's Cup in lagos which produced so many stars for Nigeria.One of the most astonishing dribblers out of that competition was Adokie Amesiamaka.He was well-read and intelligent,and that made him even more dangerous on the field.He would dribble his markers,calmly take his time to review the situation and then dribble them again and again until he was sure that his striker was properly positioned to score.Adokie didn't waste passes at all.

The most popular product of the Principal's Cup however was Henry Nwosu,one of the rare players who could dribble perfectly with both legs.His unique quality was the overhead kick ('zangalo'),and with Taiwo Afinih,Stephen Keshi et al he made St Finbarrs College the team of the early 80s.

John Mastoroudes built a very efficient team in Leventis United of Ibadan.But for the fans they will always remember the team's wingers who dribbled almost with reckless abandon .Wole Odegbami operated from the right,while James Etokebe had the left wing.Both also played for the Green Eagles.They were dribblers per excellence and always had the stadia packed full
of ecstatic supporters.

Despite the direct style of Rangers,they still produced some very exciting players. Stanley Okoronkwo was one.Johnny Egbuonu was another.Christian Madu was Rangers' most exciting player of all time.

Very few teams can boast of having no less than three dribbling masters at the same time.We know Brazil of 1970 and 1982.We also know of the great Bendel Insurance when Felix Agbonifo,Sam Okpodu,Henry Ogboe,Lawrence Akpokona,and the Egharevba brothers raved in the 80s.Calabar Rovers also matched that feat a few years later when Isong Isang,Uwem Ikono and James Etokebe propelled a scintillating display of champaigne soccer in 1983 - 86.Isong Isang was the terror-in chief,but Rovers' greatest ever player was an Oron Boys High School product named Etim Esin.Many that watched him in Nigeria and Europe saw in him the same qualities in Diego Maradona.Not surprisingly Etim was a multi millionaire long before his 20th birthday,but unfortunately the rest of his story,riddled with gunshots,rape framing,drug allegations,etc is history.

Etim however inspired a lot of Nigerian footballers,one of which was a junior brother to one of his international teammates Emma 'Jay Jay' Okocha.That kid was Austin Okocha,who not only adopted his senior brother's nickname,but also the skills and style of his idol,Etim.Little wonder then that football scouts in Europe quickly spotted him and ferried him to Europe even before Nigerians knew about him.

Local scouts however did not miss the preceous talent in Nwankwo Kanu.The gangling teenager,about 15 years old announced his arrival with a man-of-the match performance for Iwuanyanwu Nationale at the Onikan Stadium in Lagos.The rest of his story you all know more than I do.

Female football has also produced some exciting players since it officially became a national
vocation in the 90s.Florence Omagbemi is undoubtedly Nigeria's most accomplished,but when it comes to raw skill,giving the fans what they want to see ,the lady to watch was Nkiru Okosieme.She obviously took after her brother Ndubuisi who,together with Mike Obiku,Samson Siasia et al made Warri's Flash Flamengoes a delight to watch.

Many have however been asking for the knew Jay Jay.Well, there will not be another Jay Jay,just like Jay Jay himself did not replicate an Etim or Ilerika.But I see an Ikechukwu Uche already displaying the qualities of a great no. 10.I see Emmanuel Ekpo with plenty of skills to offer;and I still see in John Mikel Obi the potential to be a truly great no. 10.

SUPER EAGLES:HERE WE GO AGAIN !

I thought the events of the last couple of years would have changed us - Nigerian soccer critics that is ,but how wrong I was.The local media in the last one week has been so full of severe criticicsm for the National Team that you would think the whole bunch (coaches and players) know next to nothing about the game or have so much embarassed the country by their performance.


The trend started in a subtle form after the team's first game ,a friendly against Austria,became temporarily muted after an emphatic win against South Africa,only to rise to a crescendo after the games in Sierra Leone and Equitorial Guinea.What are the all-knowing critics saying?


First, that Nigeria is in the weakest group,and so should stroll through in majestic manner whether playing home or away.The defenders,and not the attackers are scoring all the goals.There is no wing-play,no cohession,no pattern,no 'sexy' football.And Nigeria was only lucky against Sierra Leone,they should have lost by a basket!And how on earth we could only score one goal against Equitorial Guinea,when we should have whipped them silly?If we are playing so badly against these 'underdogs',how are we going to win the Word Cup in 2010?And so on,and so on (it seems we have even forgotten that we could not even qualify for the World Cup the last time around!).

And I can't help asking myself if these guys are living in this same planet.With what we have all seen with our 'korokoro' eyes in the last few years,even right up to the current World/Nations Cup qualifiers,we still believe there are minnows or whipping boys in soccer,particularly in Africa?Do we forget so soon that it's barely 3 months' ago that this same team crashed to their lowest rating ever at the last Nations Cup - even with a 'world class coach' in tow?.The new coach who was appointed only about a month ago is expected to have transformed the team into world champions overnight.

Of course it's only in Nigeria that these warped expectations exist,and mostly when an indegenous coach is in charge.That was why the team was disbanded and Adegboye Onigbinde mandated to build a new National Team barely four months to the World Cup finals in 2002 - the consequenses of which we are yet to fully recover from till date.I do not recall anytime during Berti Vogt's run up to the last Nations Cup when the outpour was this bad.People only criticised the guy for choosing to do his job from outside the country.

Any team that wins a football game deserves some praise at the very least.A team that wins three World Cup qualifying matches in a row definitely deserves to be respected.And when a team wins two matches away from home at a stretch,there's no way it could be as bad and rotten as our super critics will want us to beleive.In any case I do think that we are grossly over-estimating our current football strengths.This is 2008, not 1994 when Nigeria had by far the largest contingent of TOP-CLASS African players in Europe.With all due respect I think what we have now is quantity with very little quality.

Having decided to dispense with the services of Berti Vogts,the NFA did absolutely the right thing in hiring coach Amodu Shaibu.The timing of the World/Nations cup qualifiers presented no opportunities for taking blind risks.So the NFA wisely opted for a coach who understands African soccer inside out (exam or no exam).The coach in turn did the smart thing by retaining the core team,try to help the players regain their self-confidence,and thereby build a platform for short term success (which is what the team needs at this time).

Of course I wont pretend not to know where all these venomous criticisms are heading:Sooner or later,the current Super Eagles will experience their first loss (which team ever won for ever?), then the knives will be sharpened.Their will be a massive outcry for a 'world class' foreign coach,and the whole circus will start all over.

My advice is for the NFA to learn from the past,and not rush into any irrational decisions.The current team (coaches and players) is good enough,and should be fully supported,even when they lose a game.I saw character in the team that rallied from the first half onslaught from the Sierra Leonians to seize the innitiative and go on to win (football is played over 90 minutes,not 45).Sexy football will come naturally over time - look how many years it took Van Basten to mould the Dutch team.

A LESSON FOR ABRAMOVICH

Don't ask me why I'm blogging about England's Chelsea Football Club.You ought to know. Chelsea has perhaps the largest number of Aftrican first team players among the elite clubs in Europe,and this includes Nigeria's brightest star - John Mikel Obi,and as happened with Arsenal in the heydays of 'king' Kanu,Chelsea is embraced as an african team by most Africans.

You can then imagine how proud we Africans were in the last three years when Chelsea upturned the formbooks to wrest the dominance of English football from Manchester United and Arsenal.You can now further imagine how deeply dissappointed most of us were when in the first few weeks of the outgoing season,the club decided to sack Jose Mourinho,the 'special one',the manager who led the new revolution in English football.

Well, rich people think differently from ordinary folks,but Abramovich's decision to offload Mourinho beggars explanation.I mean here was a coach that came with a pedigree of success,and achieved instant success.What then was the reason?Failure to win the Champions Leaque?The fact that Liverpool,with only modest domestic success in recent years could be so successful in Europe should confirm that European success is not necessarily a yardstick to measure the strength of any team:Otherwise Man U would not have waited for 9 years to lift the trophy.In any case if Chelsea could get to the semi-finals twice , victory surely could not have been too far away.

Or was it the lure of the so-called attractive football?Did we forget so soon that the original masters, Brazil , have long ago jettisoned the samba game for a more direct,result oriented style?In any case a neutral review of English football in the last 3 seasons would reveal that some of the most exciting games involved Chelsea.Rewind to the gruelling duels with Man U in 2006,and the epic UEFA battle with Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, for instance.

Was it then the string of drawn matches at the beginning of the season?I'm sure Abramovich is not so ignorant about football.Look at where all the teams that were top 4 at that same period ended the season;for example Arsenal's run in the last three months of the season was by
comparison a disaster.In fact if all team proprietors acted like Abramovich,Sir Alex Ferguson would have been sacked at least 3 times in the last 9 years.I would not even want to talk about the effect that Drogba and Lampard's injuries had on the team.

Abramovich had the rare luck of employing a winner as Manager,then took the resultant success for granted.He failed to realise that what differentiates Sir Alex and Arsene Wenger from other good coaches is the winning mentality.Mourinho was not necessarily better at coaching than Ruud Gullit,but he brought a winning mentality to Chelsea.

And most unfortunately,that was the missing attribute in his successor,Avram Grant ( although I wouldn't want to join other Chelsea supporters in renaming him 'Average Grant' because I actually think he is a good coach ).Under Mourinho Chelsea soared when the big occassion beckoned; under Grant they crumbled like water mellon.Take a closer look at the final premiership game against Bolton, and the closing stages of the Champions Leaque in Moscow.

I started to have serious doubts about Avram Grant's mental strength and Chelsea's likely run in the season, in January when the English press started to brandish statistics showing how Grant had won so many matches since taking over from Mourinho.Grant appeared to revel in those glowing,but absolutely meaningless publicity.In the next two months Chelsea were bundled out of both the Leaque Cup and the FA Cup - the two easiest competitions of the season.

Yet the deceptive ovation continued;from how Grant had taken Chelsea to touching distance of the Premiership title,to how he 'surpassed' Mourinho in reaching the Champions Leaque final.Now Grant could not hold back:He demanded to be recognised as the real 'special one'.Yet both battles were still in progress.He had won nothing.

In the end he won nothing.More succintly, Chelsea Football Club,for the first time in 3 years ended a season without a single trophy.Her proprietor,Roman Abramovich would reflect on that calamity,and realise that it was all down to one irrational,perhaps reckless decision he took at the beginning of the season.

27 QUESTIONS FOR SANI LULU

Having been duly authorised by the supreme court of public opinion, I representing 100 million soccer-crazy Naijas hereby put forward the following (potentially dangerous) questions to you:

Are you the chairman of the NFA?

Is the NFA which you head,the Nigeria Football Association or the No Future Ambition?

Are you aware that football provides the strongest bond that unites all Nigerians,irrespective of tribe,economic status,or whether fine or ugly?

Do you therefore agree that those people enpowered to run our football should do so with utmost dilligence and sense of patriotism?

What is your assessment of Nigeria's performance at the just-concluded (oh sorry on-going,wihout Nigeria) Africa Cup of Nations?

Are you aware that there exists a bitter rivalry between Nigeria and Ghana in football?

Do you know that Nigerians have been plunged into acute depression since Nigeria lost to Ghana on sunday?

Did you watch the match between Nigeria and Ghana in Accra on February 3 ?

Did you notice that the Eagles took a deserved lead after dominating the Ghanaians in the first half?

Did you notice that the referee awarded Nigeria a (deserved) penalty and (also justifiably) sent off the Ghanaian captain in the game?

Chairman Sir,did you notice that soon after the red card which conferred the Eagles with a numerical advantage, our team surprisingly lost control of the game ?

Do you agree that the Eagles were thoroughly humiliated in that match?

Did you notice that the Eagles struggled all through their previous matches in that tournament?

Did you notice that,unlike what happened with other teams,most of the substitutions made by the Eagles' coach failed to improve our game?

Did you observe that the Eagles played an ackward and ineffective style which lacked the traditional flair that Nigerian football is noted for?

Do you agree that AFRICON 2008 was Nigeria's worst ever?

Did you notice that the team previously known and addressed as Super Eagles is now commonly called Super Chickens ?

Do you therefore agree that the manager,Berti Voghts failed woefully on this assignment?

Are you aware that the trend worldwide is to sack coaches that have failed in their assignments?

Are you aware that even there in Ghana 2008,some coaches with intergrity have honorably resigned their positions without waiting to be sacked?

Do you remember that not too long ago,Nigeria lost the World Cup qualification ticket to lowly-rated Angola?

Do you therefore agree that there is a major crisis in Nigerian football?

Do you agree that given our pedigree, qualification to the World Cup finals should be our birthright?

Should Nigeria gamble with her chances of qualifying for SA 2010 , the first World Cup to be hosted in Africa?

Sir, do you know what a "slave contract" is ?

Did the NFA sign a slave contract with Berti Voghts?

When will the NFA sack Berti Voghts ?

Thank you, Sir, and to show that I'm not one of your enemies I wish to congratulate you on Nigeria's victory at the last FIFA under-17 tournament.It's my fervent wish that we share more of such happy moments together, and less of the Ghana 2008 type.

NIGERIA VS GHANA: NOW THE SHOW BEGINS

Come sunday 3rd February,one of the greatest rivalries in football will be re-enacted in the African Nations Cup, when Nigeria's Super(?) Eagles square up to hosts Ghana's Black Stars.Since I started following football actively in the 70s,there are certain fixtures that I don't joke with: Super Stores v NEPA in Lagos,Brazil v Argentina, Man U v Liverpool in England,Milan v Juve in Italy,and of course Nigeria v Ghana.The atmosphere that envelopes these matches is pure fantasy - indescribable!

In the early years,I think Ghana used to have the upper hand,and truly the Black Stars played sexy,champaigne football which made many to dub them the "Brazilians of African soccer".But that was until one cool evening when a coach Onigbinde - tutored Eagles made nonsense of bookmakers' predictions by thrashing the Stars right on their home soil.The star of the Nigerian team that day was a youngster by the name Chibuzor Ehilegbu.Can the Super Eagles repeat that feat on sunday?

WILL SUPER EAGLES WIN NATIONS CUP ?

Is Berti Vogt's army good enough to give Nigeria it's third Nations Cup trophy ? As a patriot the answer will always be yes,but I have my fears.I witnessed our triumphs in 1980 and 1994, and still remember vividly that the feeling of an imminent victory was palpable even before those tournaments kicked off.That does not existt in this case.Why?

In 1980 we had a solid team on ground long before the tournament.Every single position from 1 to 11 had an estalished custodian whom Nigerians had come to have confidence in: Ema Okala in goal,Chairman Chukwu at the heart of the defence, Mathematical Odegbami and Chief Justice Adokie on the wings.Even the players on the bench were good enough to play whenever the need arose,which was why coach Otto Gloria could mesmerise the Algerians in the final with a novelty combination of two natural left-wingers Adokie and Felix Owolabi.

Tunisia 94 was no different.Clemence Westerhoff's four-year team construction had matured.Amunike,Amokachi,Okechukwu,Yekini,Finidi and the rest were already feared as a deadly bunch throughout the continent before Nations Cup began,so winning the trophy was only a confirmation of their supremacy.

With Vogts army nobody has a clue of the character of the team.The man most likely to lead the attack,Yakubu,as recent as two months ago did not even seem to feature in the coach's plans.The entire defence,minus Yobo,is indeterminate. Obi Mikel the only recognised world class act based on current form, has yet to put up a convincing performance for the team.So where does this leave us?

I know many will say naija fighting spirit.Okay that's cool;at least fighting spirit gave us the olympic gold in Atlanta.So good luck boys !