Welcome Oliseh but…

By kayode OGUNDARE
@kaybaba99

The hashtag #WelcomeOliseh trended on Twitter all of last week to herald the arrival and contract signing of Sunday Oliseh as new Super Eagles manager. Such was the media interest that Femi Salawu, editor of online publication Entertainment Express, sought permission to republish my last piece: WHY THE NFF MUST SACK OLISEH NOW!

And talking about that article, it generated so much attention on www.isoccerng.com and other social medium that I think it is right for me to do a follow-up on the same subject so, beautiful folks, I want to look at the fall-outs from Oliseh’s signing, public presentation and other matters arising.

At his presentation, Oliseh made what was akin to a policy statement of intent and I would want to take him up on these.

Hear him: “Gone are the days when we have individual players playing. That’s what we have during my generation. If you’re not playing the first division in any league in the world you will not make the team, and also we need hungry and motivated player.”

Oliseh’s statement above is at once ambitious, nerve-calming, hope-inspiring and also pregnant with meanings. As a matter of fact, I’m pleased with what he has said but alarmed at what he’s NOT saying.

When Oliseh said first team shirt in a first division team in any league in the world is a first pre-requisite for making the new Super Eagles team under his watch, invariably, he’s instigating questions for us to ask of him.

One, it is trite knowledge that now, more than at any other time in our footballing history, we are faced with the severest challenge of availability of quality players at our disposal. You can count on one hand of five fingers, and still have a few to spare, the number of Nigerian players renowned for playing in any of Europe’s top leagues. Where you find such, I’m sure, you will need a calendar and calculator to determine the last time he’s featured prominently for his club.

Two, in reality, there was no time ever that the national team had been made up exclusively of first division players, particularly during the golden era of Clemens Westerhof as manager from 1989-94. In that epoch, generally regarded as Nigeria’s finest, there were a lot of players who plied their trade in lower divisions in Europe. Yet, we all agree that the team did us proud even when there were some of them who played in lesser leagues in the 10-year period between 1989 and 1999.

Therefore, in my opinion, it will be fallacious to limit membership of the new Super Eagles to those playing in first divisions alone and I will set out my reasons in the next few paragraphs.

Of the 22 players that went to USA 94, stand-in captain Austin Eguavoen was with Kortrijk in the Belgian second division, Emmanuel Amuneke and Thompson Oliha were still based in Africa with Zamalek and Africa Sports respectively. Mike Emenalo, current Chelsea FC Director, was playing in the fifth-tier of German football with Eintracht Trier while the late Uche Okafor played Bundesliga 2 football with Hannover 96.

The late Wilfred Agbonavbare was relegated with Rayo Vallecano in 1994 while ‘Destroyer’ Emeka Ezeugo played in the ‘lower’ Hungarian league with Honved. Of the remainder, only Uche Okechukwu (Fenerbahce), Chidi Nwanu (Anderlecht), Finidi George (Ajax), Daniel Amokachie (Club Brugge) and Samson Siasia (Nantes) played with a team that finished in the first six positions in their leagues.

By 1996, Kingsley obiekwu’s Go Ahead Eagles were already playing in the second division, Nigeria’s Dosu Joseph and Emmanuel Babayaro were home-based, and even the mercurial Jay-Jay Okocha was struggling in mid-table obscurity with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga yet this did not detract from the quality of their contribution to Nigeria’s historic gold medal-winning effort at the Olympics.

Two years later at the World cup in France, Mobi Oparaku had descended to less glamorous Royal Kapellen FC in the Belgian second division, Benedict Iroha was at Segunda B side Elche, Rashidi Yekini and Baruwa were in Switzerland while the tripod on which the team rested Uche Okechukwu, Daniel Amokachi and Okocha played in the then less-fancied Turkish league.

The point of this analysis, I daresay, is to point out that sometimes good players could be lurking in some quality second division leagues and it is the duty of the manager to strengthen his scouting network to find them and see how and where they could fit in to his game rather than a blanket ban of any player not playing in a first division league.

It further begs the question that, going by the manager’s logic, a player in the Vietnamese or Tajikistan first division would get an invite to the Super Eagles ahead of the one in the English Championship. That is, in my considered opinion, setting an early agenda for failure and a road Oliseh should consider not to travel.

I’m aware that Oliseh has a mandate to develop a five-year development plan for the team and I would be happy if he takes the following into consideration in drawing up is plan. And, in case he already has a plan in place, he might want to add these suggestions as a footnote to his roadmap.

To have a lasting solution to the perennial manpower shortage in the senior national team, there’s a need to build a stronger domestic league which can serve as a nursery bed for the production of budding talents. Luckily, I’m happy to note, the NFF, through the League Management Committee (LMC) appear to be finally getting their acts together in the administration of the league though I’ll want to be cautiously optimistic that the improvements we have seen will not be pyrrhic and fleeting.

One simple yet effective way of identifying quality players from the local league, and I boldly state here that there are fantastic players based at home, is a bold idea I read many years ago from veteran journalist Paul Bassey which I think is worth given more than a passing thought.

It is something like this: when club A (Rangers) play against club B (Enyimba), the NFF will pass out a form to each of the coaches of the two teams to identify three players from the opposing team who’d caught the eye. For example, the Rangers coach would be asked to pencil down three players from the Enyimba team who’d had a good game and the Enyimba coach will also do the same for Rangers team.

This way, you rule out the issue of nepotism and favouritism against either coach and the forms are submitted to the match commissioner who is also given a similar form to fill. With 10 games played on an average match-week, there would be about 40 games to consider at the end of every month when the forms are evaluated by the technical crew.

Definitely there would be some players whose names would crop up regularly despite who the opposition is and Oliseh and his backroom staff could then go ahead to see such players in action in the following month while the spotting and identifying of talents continue by the club coaches.

The added advantage of the Super Eagles’ manager been in the stadium will definitely be to ginger the players to add an extra percentage to their games knowing that Oliseh (or any of his staff) is watching from the stands.

This brilliant idea sits well with me on so many levels. One, it does not require any extra expenditure from the NFF. Two, the league coaches will be integrated into the national team building process and thus a synergy between them and the Eagles’ handlers will be created. Three, the players are confident they can make the national team on merit because the process of identification and shortlisting of players is no longer subject to the whims and caprices of one man. This, for me, is a win-win for everybody concerned.

Furthermore, the scouting network for talent-spotting for the Eagles has, for long been porous and a sham. It is an open secret how many of those claiming to be national team players today got to that position in the first place and this is best identified by the Gabriel Okechukwu saga which eventually nailed ex-manager Stephen Keshi.

Where the process is less transparent, it is subject to abuse from unscrupulous elements who care more for personal immediate gains than long-term national interest. So Oliseh will do his reputation and those who stuck out their neck for him to get the job a whole world of good if he finds a way to build personal relationships with many of the club managers in Europe to facilitate the release of his players, build a network of contacts among the press community overseas which would be helpful in identifying Nigerian players in their various leagues and endeavor to see players live (or via video) rather than take the words of football agents that a particular player is good before inviting such a player to camp.

Invitation to camp should sensibly come after a player must have satisfied all of the conditions which you have set including but not limited to the fact that Oliseh (or his lieutenants) would have seen him play live (after watching his video), identify areas of need (if the player would be valuable in a particular position) rather than speed to invite players and, I beg of Oliseh in the name of God, avoid the temptation to be induced by material things in considering who merits a place in your team. This failure to curb avarice has led many a manager to an untimely career death and it would be a sad day in Nigerian football if Oliseh’s name is linked (with verifiable proof) to any underhand dealings.

Like I said last week, let me repeat again, that: “I would appreciate it if Oliseh understands the enormity of the task for which he’s signed up. Oliseh appears to be a fresh breath of air with his undoubted intellectual ability and eloquence which is a radical departure from the era of bland and barely literate managers who cover their ignorance and educational disability with poor American accents. After the ‘failure’ of Chukwu, Eguavoen, Siasia and Keshi, Oliseh holds the remaining beacon of light and bastion of hope for all those who have long advocated the engagement of ex-internationals and Nigerian-born coaches to handle the Super Eagles. His success will be a ringing endorsement for other ex-internationals and local coaches while a failure will sound the death knell for their ambitions.”

God bless Nigeria.