football man

Spain v. The Netherlands

2010-07-08T13:58:00.000-07:00

The 2010 World Cup final will go down as only the 3rd of those rare finals over the past 60 years lacking the presence of either Brazil or Germany. The first such final in the modern era was in 1978; followed 28 years later by the Italy v. France final of 2006. Hopefully we are on the cusp of a global trend in modern football departing from the hegemony of the duo who between them have annexed the World Cup 8 times, representing 8 wins out of 13 World Cup championship games in which they have featured.

This match up between Spain and Holland --2 teams neither of which has ever won the World Cup-- promises to be an exhilarating technical and tactical extravaganza which will probably set a new benchmark for what positive football means.

No other team in the world plays with Spain's unique and elegant mixture of possession and positioning. Nobody moves with or without the ball in quite the same way as Spain. Spain are today the foremost exponents of the 4-3-3 style which, ironically, has its roots essentially in the Ajax Total Football academy and was transplanted to Spain in 1974 via Barcelona and the two Johans, Cruyff and Neeskens. Cruyff continues to powerfully influence coaching selections and consequently, tactical decisions, at Barcelona, who to this day remain religiously faithful to this Holy Grail of 4-3-3, which has similarly transferred on to Spain itself who play the same elegant, possession + positioning style as Barcelona. It is advantageous to the execution of the style that the heart of Spain's defense and midfield are, respectively, the Barca duo of Gerard Pique and Carles Puyol, and the Barca duo of Andres Iniesta and Xavi.

But their 4-3-3 is a flexible formation -- in reality they attack and defend as one.

Holland for their part, having parted ways with avowed Cruyff tactical disciple Marco van Basten, have departed significantly from the vicarious influence of Johan Cruyff and the Ajax method and style of 4-3-3. Under Bert van Marwijk whose entire career as a player was spent with sides like Go Ahead Eagles, MVV Maastricht, Fortuna Sittard and AZ 67 Alkmaar, hardly the cream of Dutch football in a country and a long era dominated by Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord, they're plowing a new furrow. In fact van Marwijk only won one cap for Holland, and his management career has been spent with Fortuna Sittard, Feyenoord --the antithesis of Ajax-- and the German side Borussia Dortmund. Relatively modest credentials, those, and far removed from the exploits and associations of a Rinus Michels, or a Louis van Gaal, or even, indeed, a Guus Hiddink.

So the bottom line is that this final which will throw up a new World Champion whatever the outcome, will be a test of superiority between Cruyff's beliefs --which earned Holland 2 successive World Cup final defeats and an European Championship victory in the span of 14 years-- and the style espoused by van Marwijk --which has met with success at club level and now has brought Holland to a third World Cup final in a tournament wherein it remains the only undefeated side.

It may be to Holland's advantage that Wesley Sneijder was in the Inter Milan side which destroyed Barcelona in last season's European Champions League, as he will know from experience that what was required for Inter to neutralize Barca is also what is required to neutralize Spain. There are also the superstitions about the third itme being lucky. That will not matter.

Spain have the advantage. Spain have the ability to keep possession for as long as it takes to break down the Dutch --or any-- defense. If the formidable Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique maintain their rock-solid form at the heart of defense, if the coruscating pair of Xavi and Andres Iniesta are at the races, if the incisive David Villa's finishing boots are on, Holland will not be able to contain Spain.

Oranje are a well-balanced side along the lines of Germany, Uruguay, Ghana. That is to say, they possess some world class performers, but their style is not remarkable, unlike Spain. So in terms of their quality, they have the ability to inflict damage on Spain. The keys will be how much possession they are able to wrest and maintain; and how profligate Spain are in front of goal -- if the Spain attack that misfired so spectacularly against Switzerland shows up, the trophy is heading back to Amsterdam.

What the Dutch do have going for them is something better known as fighting spirit -- vechtlust --which has ensured their 100% record over the past 4 weeks of ruthless competition. But that's hardly an advantage, because Spain has that in abundance as well.

All things being equal, the World Cup is going to Madrid for the first time in its history.

2010 World Cup Semi-Finals Predictions

2010-07-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

A resounding defeat for Uruguay has to be on the cards. After that despicable handball on the line, it is no less than they deserve although one must question Asamoah Gyan's intestinal fortitude for planting an easy penalty against the crossbar instead of, as he'd done consistently in 2 prior matches, the back of the net.

I am forecasting a Holland advance to the final. Mark van Bommel's distribution and the offensive acuity of van Persie, Robben and Sneijder are quite simply irresistible, and with the industry of Kuyt and the direct running of the young newcomer Eljero Elia available to call on, Uruguay will find the going quite difficult.

As for Germany versus Spain, this is a harder game to call but perhaps this is the year Spain can go all the way. A great deal depends on how well Spain's back-line is able to handle the powerful and creative running of the rampant German forwards. While Spain keeps it tight at the back, they have not encountered a team boasting the pace and power of the German offense. This one is a bit too dicey to call.

Tradition dictates that Germany must win this match, but tradition is not certainty, and I will be joining the purists in rooting for a Spain win to see a Spain v. Holland final --and another break from the Brazil or Germany championship game hegemony.

Nigeria v. Greece

2010-06-18T08:11:00.000-07:00

We left Pretoria at 8 in the morning to keep an appointment in the South African border town of Ficksburg in the Free State province with a couple of ladies from Lesotho --an aunt and a grandma--- who came to pick their nephew and grandson up and take him to his Mom in Lesotho. The Lesothan town of Maputsoe where the ladies live is in clear view of Ficksburg, and we met at the edge of South Africa, with Lesotho just across the street separated from South Africa by a barbed wire fence topped with concertina wire.

After dropping my friend Sunday Ogunronbi’s 5-year-old son with his auntie and grandma, we made a slight detour along the road to Bloemfontein (South Africa’s judicial capital) to take in Maseru, capital of Lesotho, from a distance of 100 yards from the South African side border post. The Free State landscape was reminiscent of the West Texas landscape as you traveled from Big Spring to Lubbock. Parts of it were similar to Big Bend National Park in Texas which is separated from Mexico by the Rio Grande river. With Asanda Katshwa interpreting and Kabelo Moloi contributing a native's views from time to time, Sunday held fort on the language and culture of the area as well as the history. The former Black African “homeland” of Bophuthatswana, last ruled by Lucas Mangope (who is now a pensioner resident in the town of Zeerust in South Africa's NorthWest Province) before the independence of South Africa from the racist, apartheid machine, is within the Free State province. We drove through parts of the former Bop and I could only wonder what life must have been like for Bophuthatswanans during that dark apartheid era. Not that bad, actually, I was informed -- "Bop" was one of the progressive “homelands” --in comparison with Transkei, Ciskei, Gazankulu, Venda andKwaZulu for example. Those Africans who could, emigrated from other "Bantustans" to "Bop" where there was a better quality of life and relative racial harmony, with racial intermarriage legal. Indeed, mixed race couples routinely fled South Africa for Bop where they could marry --something which was illegal under the apartheid laws-- and live in peace --something which they could never hope to do in the racist society constructed in South Africa by the virulently racist National Party government.

We spent 15 minutes looking for parking in a mall close to the stadium and proceeded directly there, a matter of walking 5 minutes from the mall to the stadium which was directly outside … then finding our seats with the game already 18 minutes old and Nigeria nursing a 1-0 lead courtesy of an Uche Kalu header.

What was there to see? My view of our half was obscured by a phalanx of Greek supporters who insisted on standing throughout the match. At first, they stood on the floor, but after they equalized, they stood on their seats and made a nuisance of themselves for other spectators. Time and again, I was politely requested by punters behind me to park my butt on my seat and regretfully pointed out the unfeasibility of the request to my interlocutor, who would then have to stand, and the action was repeated row after pissed-off row… the intervention of stewards had no effect. Eventually the stewards called in the police, who ordered the Greeks to get off the seats, which they did much to everyone’s relief. Except that as soon as the South African police officers departed, the Greeks were back standing on the seats again. It was quite maddening... "...bring me my machine gun ..."

*Umshini wami mshini wami
khawuleth'umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth'umshini wami
Umshini wami mshini wami,
khawuleth'umshini wami
khawuleth'umshini wami
Wen'uyang'ibambezela
umshini wami, khawuleth'umshini wami

Watching Nigeria v. Argentina and Ghana v. Serbia, the crowd only ever got up to do the Mexican wave or for penalty area action.

From the little I was able to observe in the circumstances, Nigeria played well in all areas except for lack of consistent offensive penetration either down the flanks or through the middle. It was a game in which we were screaming for Obasi Ogbuke to come in on the other flank for Uche because the duo of Osaze and himself on both flanks frankly possess the variety, creativity and nous to tear the Greek defense apart whatever flank you put them in, and keep the Greeks absolutely honest.

No offense whatsoever to Kalu Uche but in my book he is more the kind of player who is at home in a central midfield role behind the offense where his shooting would have made the world of difference. For that reason, I would have sacrificed Sani Kaita, left Dickson Etuhu on to shoulder the defensive midfield load in a formation reminiscent of some of the tightest World Cup defenses in living memory --Italy’s during almost every World Cup finals tournament, and England’s backline during the 1982 World Cup finals when Ray Wilkins was stationed in front of Mick Mills, Phil Thompson, Terry Butcher and Kenny Sansom. But I am not Lars Lagerback.

Lagerback is opting for a conservative, defensive-minded Nigeria formation in the deployment of Etuhu AND Kaita. This recognizes the truism that defense wins championships. But defense doesn’t win championships if it is at the expense of offensive firepower. Seen in this light, Kaita’s sending off for a petulant kick on a Greek player appears to be a blessing in disguise --Lagerback can’t pick him any more and MUST move to a more attack-minded formation for our final group game against South Korea. I’m not Lars Lagerback but in his position I know what my first choice lineup would be.

In terms of the outcome, Kaita’s dismissal was a tragedy because with him on the field, it was a contest of 11 v. 11. We needed our complement of players on the pitch because the Greeks were committed to all-out attack, posing a potent threat down the flanks from where they launched cross after cross betting on their superior height advantage. Their strategy was assembled on a policy of eschewing the middle --effectively plugged by Etuhu and Kaita-- and going through the flanks from where a series of dangerous crosses could be sent in. These crosses were pretty well handled by Enyeama, Odiah, Yobo, Shittu and Taiwo, but undoubtedly put us under pressure, which encouraged the Greeks to continue along those lines.

Both goals they scored were avoidable in my book. Quite simply, we gifted Greece 2 goals --one a deflection after a failed closing-down, the other a result of the formidable Enyeama for once being unable to smother a shot --the rebound gave the Greek scorer the rub of the green, and he buried it.

If truth be told, we are well and truly out of these World Cup finals. We may not be mathematically out at this point and a 4-0 win over South Korea may not be outside the realm of possibility. Our fate is not in our hands -- in order to move on to the next round, we need two things to happen:
1. Argentina to beat Greece; and
2. Us to beat South Korea comprehensively.

The third need of course is to end the round with a plus goal difference superior to both Greece and South Korea. Without that, we are out.

This leads to the final point I would like to make: the Nigerian Football Federation needs to decide if it will go with a foreign coach or a local coach after these World Cup finals. The man may or may not be Lars Lagerback. He may or may not be Samson Siasia or Stephen Keshi. What is clear is that he must be a coach with pedigree and a commitment to the attacking principles upon which Nigerian football is traditionally built, and the NFF must be committed to a long-range strategy with this coach which covers the next 4 to 5 years. It is clear from our historical experience with Bora Milutinovic, Festus Onigbinde, and now Lars Lagerback, that short-termism is fraught with more drawbacks than benefits. In my next note I will probably discuss the characteristics for identifying a new coach for Nigeria. But for now, I wish Lars Lagerback and the Eagles luck against South Korea -- they are going to need luck in oodles and gobs.

*My machine my machine
Please bring my machine
My machine my machine
Please bring my machine
My machine my machine
Please bring my machine
Please bring my machine
You're pulling me back
My machine , please bring my machine

Goalkeeper Blunders Latest

2010-06-18T06:07:00.000-07:00

Algeria’s Faouzi Chaouichi gifted Slovenia a 1-0 win with a howler the other day but he can take a degree of comfort, even if scant, in the knowledge that he was not alone in the butter fingered goalkeeper stakes. England’s Robert Green’s equally catastrophic blunder allowed the USA to claw back from a 1-goal deficit to snatch a draw. The blunder was catastrophic from a professional standpoint although the consequences in terms of points lost may not have been as bad as they were for Algeria. And although Green pulled off some quite outstanding saves during the game, notably his one-handed reflex parry to deflect the ball for a corner when Jozy Altidore had the beating of Jamie Carragher for pace, the reaction in certain quarters will be that as a World Cup goalkeeper, that is what he is expected to do. Green will not be permitted to forget this singular howler and already the wags and jokesmiths have piled in.

Here is a sampling, credit to Let’s Go 2010, an AVUSA Media Group (publishers of Sunday Times, The Times, The Herald, Sunday World, Daily Dispatch and Sowetan) publication.

* If only John Terry lived next door to Robert Green’s missus

* Why is Robert Green like ITV? They both switch off at the crucial moment.

* At least that’s one British spillage the Americans won’t be moaning about.

* What’s the difference between Robert Green and teenage heartthrob Justin Bieber? Robert Green knows how to drop his balls.

* Kermit was right. It’s not easy being Green.

* The England lads had a get-together after the match and bought Robert Green a drink to commiserate with him. He dropped it!

* Steven Gerrard said “The whole team is behind Robert Green”. In hindsight that’s a good place to stand!

* Robert Green -- a joke even the Americans can understand!

* Yesterday at the London Zoo, one of the staff let a Central American howler monkey slip out of his grasp. So Robert Green’s not the only English keeper to drop a howler.

* My computer’s got Robert Green virus. It can’t save anything.

* I’m Robert Green and cleaning windows is my next idea.

* All those Robert Green jokes are getting out of hand. In fact they’re crossing the line.

Had enough? I have. And I’m sure both Robert Green and Faouzi Chaouichi have had it up to here as well.

I’m certain Green will rebound from this calamity because as a goalkeeper he cannot afford to have anything but a short memory. The best goalkeepers in the world are not immune from the occasional blunder. Peter Taylor, Brian Clough’s managerial partner during a trophy-littered career, was a goalkeeper in his playing days and claimed that in order to be a goalkeeper, you had to be crazy.

In fact an aspect of this craziness appears to be an incredibly limited memory storage capacity and capability when it comes to blunders. It is in their interest not to dwell on their errors because such thinking will be at the prohibitive cost of their confidence.

Meanwhile here’s a look at some quite memorable goalkeeping howlers of the past 50 years.

1. The Leeds United and Wales goalkeeper Gary Sprake infamously threw the ball into his own net during a Liverpool v. Leeds fixture at Anfield, prompting a welcoming chorus of “Careless Hands” from the enraptured Kop when the teams walked back in for the second half. Sprake would later explain he was aiming for a teammate but when he spotted a Liverpool player closing down on him, simply attempted to find a different target …

2. Gary Sprake again … his blunder in the 1970 FA Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley allowed the Londoners to equalize. Peter Houseman’s tame shot from 22 yards out carried no threat yet Sprake allowed the ball to trickle under his flopping body and into the goal.

3. Peter Shilton’s against Italy in the 1990 World Cup 3rd place classification match when, after making a routine save, he was caught unawares by Roberto Baggio who was lurking behind him as he steered the ball to the edge of the penalty area preparatory to picking it up to clear upfield. Baggio duly sneaked in from behind to rob Shilts and bury the ball in the net to hand the match to Italy.

4. Raymond King’s against Zamalek in the return leg of the 1984 African Cup of Champions Clubs final between Nigeria’s IICC Shooting Stars of Ibadan and Zamalek of Egypt. Already chasing a 0-2 deficit from the first leg in Cairo, IICC were undone by King’s mad dash off his line to intercept a long pass at the top of the 18-yard box only to have his center-half Ogbein Fawole --who had last seen him on his line and was screaming at him to stay there-- head it over him and into his own net. What was King thinking?!

5. David Seaman’s against Brazil during the 2002 World Cup finals in Japan when Ronaldinho’s free kick from the right sideline about 40 yards from goal lofted over his head and into the top far corner. In his defense, Seaman claimed to have been expecting a ball into the penalty area.

7. Rene Higuita’s against Cameroon when he attempted to dribble Cameroon’s Roger Milla only to be robbed by the 40 something-year-old striker to take Cameroon into the quarter finals of Italia 90 and send Colombia home early.

8. Paul Robinson’s against Croatia when he swiped clear air instead of Gary Neville’s back pass, which proceeded to bounce unhindered into the net. Own goal to Red Nev!

9. Scott Carson’s against Croatia when a hopeful long range shot bounced off his gloves, went above his shoulder and traveled into the net.

10. Carlos’s against Uruguay when playing for Brazil during the 1970 World Cup in Mexico when a tame right flank attempt flew above his head and between his upraised arms to snuggle in the net.

Feel free to add your own howlers ...

Brazil to Win the 2010 World Cup

2010-06-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Brazil and Germany have consistently made the World Cup Championship game since 1950 bar Argentina’s cheating effort to reach the 1978 edition’s final at Brazil’s expense. It is thus a no-brainer to suggest that one or both of these teams will make the final in South Africa this year.

Germany has begun like a house on fire with a comprehensive 4-0 crushing of Australia which brings to mind their rip-roaring 4-0 start to the 1990 World Cup finals which saw them beat Argentina 1-0 in the final on a penalty by their left-back Andreas Brehme. But as that particular competition progressed, the Germans began playing percentage football, doing just enough to beat whoever came in front of them, including the late Sir Bobby Robson’s powerful England on penalties in the semi-finals.

Under the current Louw-Bierhoff dispensation, it is difficult to conceive of the Germans playing percentage football -- they are conditioned to go all out for the duration and to score as many goals as possible. On the evidence of their defensive performance against a relatively puny Australia attack, it is hard to see them conceding too many goals particularly with man mountain Per Mertesacker marshalling the defense through the middle and the consistent Phillip Lahm providing leadership. Germany do not appear also to miss the influential Michael Ballack, with the young Turk Mesut Ozil stepping into the playmaker’s role and Bastian Schweinsteiger playing behind Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski.

As for Brazil, all that can be written about them has been written, there is nothing more to add but I will make these points all the same.

In Paulo Cesar, they have probably one of the top 5 goalkeepers in the world, if not the top one. The age-old Brazilian complaint of average goalkeepers which was cruelly highlighted during the 1970 and 1982 World Cup finals with Carlos and Waldir Peres Arruda has been a thing of the past since Paulo Taffarel’s exploits in 1994 set a new benchmark for Brazilian goalkeepers. Center-half and skipper Lucio is a defensively solid and inspirational leader with the ball contol ability of a forward, and need anyone say more about the duo of Douglas Maicon and Dani Alves? Or, in midfield, the talismanic Kaka and the cultured Robinho? But for me, the key to Brazil’s success lies in the finishing prowess of the lethal Luis Fabiano whose ruthless attitude to his task is reminiscent for me as a Leeds United fan, of one of the greatest English goalscorers of all time, the pencil-slim, single-minded, ice-cold Allan “Sniffer” Clarke, so nicknamed because it was said he could smell goals like a pig sniffing for truffles. The muscular Fabiano’s nose for goals is non pareil, his mean streak as he bears into the penalty area, his mischievous intent to meet the ball and finish the move, is unmistakable. If Luis Fabiano is on song, nobody will be able to live with Brazil.

I am going for Brazil to win this tournament for another reason: tradition. Brazli were the first non-European country to win the World Cup on European soil in 1958. They were the first team to win the World Cup on Asian soil. They can be the first team to win the World Cup on African soil. They have the tendency and the tradition.

There will be those who put forward the arguments of Holland, Spain and Argentina. I think the two European teams are genuine contenders for a top 4 finish, and the success of Holland in particular will depend a great deal on midfield general Marc van Bommel without whom Holland’s formidable frontline simply will not click as efficiently as it can.

As for Spain, the short-passing, defense-confounding combination of the two diminutive ball-juggling metronomes Andres Iniesta and Xavi will confound anybody in the world, and allied to the long range strike capabilities which Xavi Alonso brings to the table in additon to the firepower supplied by Fernando Torres, David Villa and David Silva, Spain can be an intimidating proposition for anyone who meets them when they are on song. But they have to be on song, and Carles Puyol has to be at the top of his game.

As for Argentina, apart from Lionel Messi the little I say about them the better. In my book they are the dirtiest national side in the world and not a model for youths aspiring to be sportsmen. Their World Cup wins of 1978 and 1986 were both blighted by cheating, diving and conning referees, and this malaise has not left their system.

Of the African teams, South Africa seem to have come good at just the right time while Cameroon, Nigeria and Algeria will need to get their acts together if they are to make an impact at all. Ghana have struck the first blow for Africa with a poised and confident win over a stodgy Serbia and can go into the remainder of the round with no shortage of confidence, while Ivory Coast with their surfeit of top class performers will be there or thereabouts but must find a solution to Kolo Toure's injury problems.

Some Thoughts on Nigeria v. Argentina

2010-06-15T11:40:00.000-07:00

Taiye Taiwo goes off after doing the right thing: shooting!

Nigeria applied insufficient pressure in the attacking third when Argentina were bringing the ball out of defense. We let them string too many passes together when we could and should have been in and among them making their passing lives difficult, denying them space, closing them down --the same spoiling tactics Ghana applied on Radomir Antic's Serbia.

Nigeria also suffered nerves in front of goal, evidenced by:
1. Obasi’s snatching at a shot after he had the thorough beating of his marker and could and should have settled it, advanced, and placed his shot.
2. Kalu’s effort which went over the bar from a right wing cross that left Argentina’s defense all at sea with Osaze remonstrating.

We gave too much room and respect to Messi which allowed him to cause trouble in our backline. We were also NOT paying particular attention to Veron, which was odd considering that we had 2 holding midfielders in Sani Kaita and Dickson Etuhu, but their instructions appeared to be to occupy real estate and let the ball do the work as opposed to marking out specific players.

Kaita and Etuhu are essentially defensive midfielders, not wide midfield men, which made for a dysfunctional midfield combo with the gifted Haruna Lukman when we were going forward. Probably one solution to playing Etuhu and Kaita together would be if their instructions were to play box-to-box like Emmanuel Petit and Patrick Vieira in their Arsenal heyday or, a more current example, the England central duo of Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard. The key ingredient in this being a successful formula is the ability of both men to spoil, create and finish with more or less equal facility.

I missed the start of the second half, but noted immediately the introduction of Osaze Odemwingie, which improved our offensive performance markedly BUT not in the way of penetration to score goals. I thought this was to some extent indicative of a need for more urgency and better communication and link-up play between the offense and midfield. An example of this was when Haruna played a pass directly to Obafemi Martins’ feet. Martins had already swivelled towards Argentina's goal with no defenders in sight between him and goal, and was about to turn on the jets because he was anticipating a pass behind the Argentine defense. He would have made a meal of the opportunity --such chances are meat and drink to Martins.

The established orthodoxy or theory of central offensive play is that there is a physically imposing central spearhead whose job it is to receive the ball in the middle or at the point of the offense either facing forward or with his back to goal, and this player was then expected to respond as the circumstances suggested to him. Nigeria’s offensive play was consistently constructed along those lines until Rashidi Yekini retired,and then sporadically whilst Victor Agali and Michael Eneramo were in the frame. We no longer execute using this theory, due to the physical features of current offensive personnel --we are blessed with a generation of “fantastically powerful forwards” with genuine pace, all of whom are of the relatively diminutive persuasion, not per se but only in relation to a Yekini or an Eneramo. The successful teams of recent years have built their offensive armories along these lines.

In winning the World Cup in 1994 with Romario and Bebeto, Brazil however showed that the 2 diminutive forwards model can be successfully applied, however certain elements must be present, in particular a 4-man midfield which provides cover to the backline through one dedicated defensive player (Dunga), and 2 hard-working wide players not shy to track back and provide cover for the flank defenders; with an attack-minded player in the hole behind the front 2. This is clearly not the model Nigeria is following at the moment however.

It will be interesting to see whether and how the Eagles will adapt tactics for the next game. What is clear though is that Osaze Odemwingie, the thinking man's footballer, must start.

Izzy Clarke in a Deluge, Immunizations and Marcel Desailly

2010-06-13T04:29:00.000-07:00

Poster at Oliver Tambo Int'l, Jo'burg

Menlyn in Pretoria, close to where I'm staying

The heavens at long last showed they actually meant business when they finally let the dogs and cats out after a long day of “bark worse than bite” sprinklings here and there interspersed by periods of intense sunshine on our way to and back from Aburi, which is a 2 Cedi 40 Pesewa bus ride about an hour and a half from Accra. The cab Johnson Mahama and I caught to get to the airport from the GNAD offices on Barnes Road, Adabraka Accra (opposite the Ghana National Museum) took an hour and a half to negotiate the approximately 7-mile distance, such was the intensity of the rush-hour downpour. A combo of rush hour traffic; low visibility; the rapidly gathering darkness; bumper-to-bumper combat at a roundabout; and high water made for slow going. We left the GNAD offices at approximately 6 PM and arrived at Kotoka close to 7:30 PM. The fare was 5 Cedi.

You can easily divine by observation that there is a rule that cabs in Accra carry on both front sides, a decal bearing their registration information, permit number, passenger capacity and name and address of owner. In the slow going to Kotoka, it was possible to zero in on individual cabs as we passed them (or they passed us). And along a 1-mile stretch, 5 cabs passed us by, all owned by one and the same man, Izzy Clarke. Isaiah Clarke? Ezekiel Clarke? No matter. Izzy Clarke had 5 cabs operating on the same stretch of road in Accra, Ghana, smack dab in the middle of an evening rush hour deluge, and I wondered just how many more cabs Izzy Clarke had operating throughout this city of several million souls. More power to you, Izzy Clarke!

And this heavy downpour of dogs, cats and kitchen sinks was partly why the scheduled departure of our Air Namibia flight was delayed 2 hours to 11:30 PM --too many travelers delayed by rain, including yours truly.

If you are coming to South Africa anytime soon for whatever reason, ensure that you bring your yellow immunization records with you. In my case, I forgot to do so which led to a 45-minute detour to the on-site immunization clinic, an unbudgeted outlay of 600 Rand, and 2 chance encounters with a former World Cup hero and winner of several medals with AC Milan and Chelsea -- the great Marcel Desailly.

Now a little bit on Desailly. He is originally from Ghana, a product of Ga parentage who, as a baby, was found abandoned in a refuse dump somewhere in Accra. He was subsequently adopted by the consul at the Embassy of France in Accra, a man named Marcel Desailly, christened Marcel Desailly, and brought up by Marcel Desailly. Desailly would go on to become a midfield lynchpin for the AC Milan side that ruled Europe before making a big-money move to Chelsea where his tackling acuity dictated a move to center-half and his overall quality of play saw him develop into the greatest center-half in the world -- labeling I’ve found subjective to the dictates of the Western-dominated media. The greatest center-half in the world could very well be a saffron-clad monk in Lhasa whose involvement is limited to kick abouts, a Malian goat-herder, or a butcher somewhere in Aba who “taps amateur leda” --the difference being opportunity for discovery and advancement.

Desailly was unaccompanied, bereft of the trappings of stardom. Desailly stood silent in the immigration line with the hoi polloi, the masses of ordinary folks, minding his own business, drawing no attention to himself whatsoever, just waiting for his turn with whatever officious Immigration official called him up. Marcel was casually clad in blue jeans, white sneakers and a black corduroy jacket under which he had on a dark shirt of indeterminate material. Marcel looked very much like a person who did not wish to be noticed. Desailly hadn’t reckoned with me, I guess.

I left my place in the line to go back and meet the former world class footballer. I asked or rather quite facetiously declared the obvious, if he was Marcel Desailly. He confirmed to me as much. I thought it was a waste he'd played for 2 clubs I revile during his career --AC Milan and Chelsea-- or I would have asked for his autograph and possibly taken a picture or two. He offered me his hand, and we shook hands, his not seeming to be that large for a football giant of a man standing 6 feet 4 inches --but his grip was firm-- and he asked how I was. All through the encounter, he was unsmiling, but he wasn‘t cold either. He was just as anyone would be with a stranger. Although it could be said that world-famous sportsmen need to respond differently towards their ...umm... adoring public. I told him I was fine. The African brother went back to minding his own sweet business.

Such is the way of talented, quintessential sportsmen like the Eson brothers Osifo and Osagie, the former Commonwealth champion sprinter Mary Akinyemi who cooked and cleaned in my Mom's kitchen during a visit, Henry Nwosu, Paul Reaney, Peter Rufai. And Marcel Desailly. And the many more international footballers I met in my days as a student at OAU Ile-Ife who were themselves students while playing their game for college, club and country --the likes of Victor Ezekwesili, Tosin Adebambo, Wasiu Adebayo, Nosa Osadolor, Chinedu Odiari. As opposed to publicity-seeking, attention-grabbing, limelight-hogging, self-marketing merchandise objects calling themselves “footballers” whose only distinguishing feature is an ability to larrup a long ball into the penalty area which hits their man's head (also called an accurate cross) or shank a free kick over a wall.

Lest I forget: it is absolutely wonderful to be back in South Africa! I really cannot wait to meet my old law school buddy Sunday Ogunronbi and my friend Asanda Katshwa, my host and hostess!!!

How to Make a Silk Purse Out of a Sow's Ear

2010-06-12T15:57:00.000-07:00

The Accra coastal plain seen en route to Aburi The Presidential Lodge, Aburi

Johnson Mahama Numeri One of the prime characters in Aburi's carving business

An Air Namibia bird. Crewed by nice folks. Finally takes off!

Air Namibia is a nice, friendly airline saddled with Mickey Mouse administration (apologies to said rodent)! That at least is my conclusion after the proverbial "nightmare flight" from the US to South Africa for the World Cup finals.

At 7:30 am on June 7 2010, I arrived to large displays of the traditional Akan greeting of Akwaaba (Welcome) in the cozy and friendly Kotoka International Airport (KIA) in Accra, Ghana abroad a Delta flight from JFK by way of Dulles anticipating a 2-hour wait before emplaning for the onward trip to Johannesburg, South Africa sometime within the next hour and a half. The friendly immigration person who would later decide to take me as a temporary surrogate brother, duly informed me that the flight had been postponed 11 hours 30 minutes to 9:30 PM the same evening.

Thus it was with not a little bit of annoyance that I hunkered down for the long wait. Between wandering about the departure lounge observing the various specimens of humanity going about their business, leaving the airport building to explore the surrounds, attempting to recharge my BlackBerry, and reading, I busied myself mentally making plans for when I got “there“. Finally, at about 4 pm, I’d had enough of doing the same thing over and over again, and marched, luggage trolley leading the way, directly to the Air Namibia office to ascertain the actual departure time. Where the lone, bored stiff at the desk duly informed me as if it really was no skin off his nose, old chap, that the flight had been moved again to the next day at 9:00 PM.

Now I was already annoyed at having spent all that time seated reading a Robert Ludlum novel on terra firma. Nothing against Ludlum whom I find to be one of the most humorous spy thriller writers, but I could just as easily have been doing the same thing 30,000 feet upstairs whilst traveling at just over 500 mph!

So there I was, stranded in Ghana.

Thank you ever so much, Air Namibia! Tongue firmly in cheek!

I would eventually leave the next day, not at 9:00 PM as indicated, but at a little after 11:00 PM. The 2-hour difference is a story for another day. I can just commend the Air Namibia flight staff for their courtesy and efficiency. They reminded me of Rommel’s perhaps apocryphal declaration to the massed ranks of British POWs after the Allied surrender at El Alamein, and this is a bit of World War II history I’ll have to crosscheck, that “you have fought like lions but been led by donkeys”. It doesn’t take too much to be efficient.

So how did I make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear??!

With a little bit of my persuasive skills, such as they are, I convinced the Air Namibia desk man of the wisdom of making a phone call for me. Plus --and this went unstated-- it would provide him with a break from the monotony of doing nothying I could see and doubtless alleviate his obvious boredom. He thus with a grave look on his face contacted Mr. Ebenezer Asamoah, the venerable 69-year-old who is the Executive Director of the Ghana National Association of the Deaf (GNAD). Mr. Asamoah couldn’t believe his ears --’Bunmi Aina in Ghana?! Taking it to be a prank call, old Ebenezer hung up, then turned round and growled at the GNAD’s Secretary Johnson Mahama “You knew 'Bunmi was coming to Ghana all along and didn’t bother to tell me!”

“Eh?!” a confused Johnson shot back ...

The second call to Mr. Asamoah cleared up the confusion. And I became the grateful guest of the GNAD for the next 24 hours. This experience included meeting and greeting new and old faces, some not seen since 2009, many not since 2005, learning from Johnson about the various advocacy initiatives, outreach projects and national and international collabrative efforts initiated by GNAD, learning about grant projects on the pipeline, and being shown around their new pride and joy, a Nissan SUV. There are, of course, philosophical differences among members on the issue of running an inclusive organization or a pristine one whose membership and leadership compositions reflect its name. But other than that, the association is doing well, making strides and bettering lives.

The flourish on the silk purse was a journey the next morning up the plateau to Aburi, a village in the Akwapim (or Akuapem) area of Greater Accra Region whose name resonates with Nigerians of a certain age. There are various reasons for making Aburi part of your itinerary if you are ever in Ghana. The view up or down as you make the serpentine drive up the plateau is terrific. Aburi Gardens are by themselves worth a trip even if they're out of your way. The Presidential lodge, built during Kwame Nkrumah's time and site of the failed (Nigeria-Biafra) Aburi Accord is right in your way and to your left as you go up the plateau. If it matters to you, Rita, the widow of the late Reggae master Bob Marley, lives in Aburi and her house is right off the highway through the village --you can't miss it. The Aburi carvers and craftsmen were the main draw for me personally however and they are highly recommended for anyone wanting to decorate their home or office in a west African motif.

Prelude to Beijing Olympics: Focus on Samson Siasia

2008-07-11T11:55:00.000-07:00

On June 26 2005, I wrote at http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=39527&highlight= as follows:

(Quote )

Today, I watched the Flying Eagles for the 3rd time in their U-20 experience. Having already attempted without much success to watch --and implicit in my use of this word, is comprehension-- the DVD of their march to the AYC title in Benin Republic, I had very little in the way of a coherent concept of their style and approach to the game. Remarkably, I eventually managed to understand parts of their game while in a drunken haze occasioned by a few drops of Grey Goose. My earlier failure wasn't for want of trying, but because of the atrocious cameramanship of the Benin Republic TV weenies. Perhaps the whole lot of them were drunk on the job. Consistent with the theory that "it takes one to know one", the average punter had to be drunk in order to make head or tail of the Benin Republic guys' camerawork.

In the run-up to the WYC, we witnessed and commented on Samson Siasia's spats with the football house. The N7 million Bayelsa donation was a case in point. The bungled preparation, the 3-month plan that went down the drain, Siasia endured those things. He spoke his mind, took actions which portrayed him as an individual of ramrod character who brooked no nonsense from any quarter whatsoever --least of all any nonsense which interfered with his intentions or ambitions.

As a player, Siasia was noted by one of the reporters in The Guardian stable as a hothead who could lose his temper and lash out at anyone. Age may have mellowed that trait, but, as the NFA must have noted, his ability to lash out is still very much evident. This combination of ramrod character and high ambition means he is, and ever will be, the undisputed lord of all he surveys. His players, no matter how big they are or may become, will cross him at their own peril.

From the games I've watched so far, Samson Siasia is coming across as a coach of emphatic tactical nous. He appears endowed with a clear strategic vision. This vision provided the framework for the team he wanted to build. He had a vision of how the game should be played, and appears to have worked assidously towards actualizing that:

1. a fast, solid, athletic backline covered by, supported by, supporting and linked to

2. an inventive, combative, fast and mobile midfield supplying, supporting and being supplied and supported by

3. an offense brimming with explosive power.

Whether this Flying Eagles side is similar in style to the touchstone 1994 WC team is a separate point deserving examination all on its own. Clearly, this side are a TEAM. They are well-drilled. They know where each one belongs on the field, and play with the discipline such awareness necessarily imposes. They play with unity of purpose. They eschew dilly-dallying and showboating. This TEAM exudes synergy, a belief that it is greater than the sum of its parts. The side which Siasia's Flying Eagles team reminds me the most of is the late Bob Paisley's rampant Liverpool --slick, composed, purposeful.

I laughed when I read Pa Festus Onigbinde and Kashimawo Laloko's criticism of Siasia after our reverse to South Korea. They pointed to Siasia's "inexperience" and the substitution mistakes he made. The point can be made that, "inexperience" or not, Korea could well have been satisfied with a draw. Their winner was the ultimate outcome of 2 defensive mistakes: first, in allowing the forward to receive the ball, turn, and shoot. It is a basic tenet of central defensive technique that defenders do not allow strikers receiving the ball with their backs to goal to turn. Yet this happened. Mistake number 1. Mistake number 2 occurred when Kennedy Chinwo, who should have been running back to clean up spills, stopped to admire Vanzekin's agile parry instead, leaving an unchallenged striker to bury the winner.

True to his words that ".. we pride ourselves in not making the same mistake twice...", Nigeria have not made those mistakes since.

Both Laloko and Pa Festus, if motivated by sincere considerations in their criticism of Siasia's substitutions, would have taken on board Sir Alf Ramsey's substitution of Bobby Charlton for Norman Hunter with England 2-0 up at the 1970 World Cup finals -- a mistake which enabled West Germany to take the quarter-final game 3-2. Closer to home, Clemens Westerhof's substitution of JJ Okocha for Nduka Ugbade against Zambia nearly undid our title aspirations at Tunisia '94. These examples amply demonstrate that "inexperience" alone doesn't wash. You can claim that those substitutions were ill-considered tactical moves which backfired. Again, true to his word, Siasia has not repeated this mistake.

If this man continues learning from his mistakes and NOT repeating them, continues studying the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents and neutralizing and capitalizing on them, the sky can be the limit. Not only has Samson Siasia set new standards of expectation in terms of the way a side drilled by a Nigerian coach must play: he will, in addition, be setting a new standard of expectation in the Nigerian coaching echelons.

All things being equal -- Siasia continuing his upward progression-- I think we can entertain some optimism about our footballing future, particularly in regards to the coaching side. (Unquote)

Now the Beijing Olympics approach. Siasia has already taken an experimental team to win a tournament in Malaysia, emerging with a declaration that approximately 8 of that squad would make the final Olympic squad. I continue to be confident in my expectation that the angle of Siasia's upward trajectory as an accomplished coach, will only become steeper. I think the Olympics will provide a fresh look at Nigerian football and underline its future potential.

The Arbitrators' Complete Award

2008-05-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

Below, the complete transcript of the Arbitrators' award in the matter of Leeds United v The Football League.

It is reproduced herein sans commentary.

The pdf document is available at http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk/staticFiles/4c/ec/0,,10794~126028,00.pdf

IN THE MATTER OF AN FA RULE K ARBITRATION BETWEEN:
(1) LEEDS UNITED 2007 LIMITED
(2) THE ROTHERHAM UNITED FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED

(acting by its administrator) Claimants -And – THE FOOTBALL LEAGUE LIMITED Respondents THE AWARD INTRODUCTION
1. This is an Arbitration pursuant to Regulation K of The Rules of The Football Association Ltd.
2. The Parties are:

Leeds United 2007 Limited – ‘Claimant’ The Football League Limited – ‘Respondents’. The Rotherham United Football Club Limited is seeking to join in the Arbitration as a Claimant.
3. The Claimant seeks a Declaration that the imposition of 15 points deduction for the 2007-8 season in League One (L1) was unlawful, void and of no effect.

BACKGROUND
4. On 4 May 2007, the day before the last weekend of the League football season 2006/7, Leeds United (the Club) went into administration and KPMG LLP were appointed Administrators. On the same day KPMG hived down the assets of the Club to Leeds 2007
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and agreed to sell the entire issued share capital of Leeds 2007 (‘Leeds OldCo’) to a new company, Leeds United Football Club Limited (‘Leeds NewCo’).
5. When a Club goes into administration the Football League’s Articles, Regulations and Insolvency Policy are engaged. The Insolvency Policy enables the Football League to establish a degree of control over the situation. The Policy’s primary purpose is to protect the integrity of its competition and the image of the League by pursuing three basic objectives:
(1) Survival of the club in membership of the League, where possible;
(2) Satisfaction of the Football Creditors, by preventing the Club defaulting on their contractual obligations to their players even in insolvency;
(3) Protecting the interests of other creditors, giving them the opportunity to determine their own financial settlement, by requiring the approval of creditors to a formal CVA or Scheme of Arrangement, save in the most exceptional circumstances.

Thus the protection of unsecured creditors by the requirement of a CVA is very important to the public perception and credibility of the League.
6. The Administrators proposed a Company Voluntary Agreement (‘CVA’). At the Creditors meeting held on 1 June 2007 Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) an unsecured creditor and the League (the Respondent) voted against the CVA. However, the meeting approved the CVA by the required majority.
7. On 3 July 2007 (the last day for the commencement of such proceedings) HMRC commenced proceedings in the Leeds District Registry of the High Court of Justice challenging the approval of the CVA. The challenge was based on the decision of the Chairman of the creditor’s meeting as to the voting rights of three creditors, Astor Investment Holdings Ltd, Mark Taylor and Co. and Yorkshire Radio Ltd (‘the Claims’).
8. Directions were given for the determination of the proceedings. The substantive hearing was fixed for hearing on 3 September 2007 for five days. The Administrators decided to bring the CVA to an end on 6 July 2007 notwithstanding the approval of the creditors for the following reasons:
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“*The listing of the trial+ was three weeks after the 2007/2008 football season commences and our expectation was that the judgment might not be handed down until late September / early October 2007 and could be subject to appeal. The challenge by HMRC meant the Club could not complete the existing CVA given the constraints of time and funding. In essence, the Administrators were not confident that sufficient funding could be generated from the sale of players to trade the Club through to a conclusion of the Court process. Therefore the Administrators concluded that embarking on such a process which would put realisations available for creditors at risk, was not appropriate.”
9. The Administrators also indicated that it would not be appropriate to propose another CVA – for reasons which are not relevant to these proceedings. On the same day (Friday) the Administrators re-offered the business of Leeds OldCo for sale on an unconditional basis with a deadline for offers and proof of funding by 5p.m. on 9 July 2007 (Monday). The reasons given for the short timescale included that a substantial offer for the business from one potential purchaser (the ‘Bates Consortium’ led by Mr Ken Bates) was due to expire by 5p.m. on 9 July 2007, and that the majority of the Leeds players had not been paid since June 2007.
10. The Administrators received a number of enquiries from potential purchasers. Four offers were received. The respective potential dividend that each offer would make available to the creditors were: Leeds United Football Club Ltd (the Claimants, i.e. the ‘Bates Consortium’) increased that offer to 52.9p (in the £); Offer ‘B’ 26.7p; Offer ‘C’ 32.3p; Offer D 15.0p.
11. KPMG in a letter stated:

“in the absence of any certainty as to whether the League would agree to the transfer of the football share without a CVA, the Administrators accepted the offer for the sale on an unconditional basis to [Leeds NewCo] of the issued share capital of [Leeds OldCo]. (Emphasis added)
12. Thus, on 11 July 2007 the contract entered into on 4 May 2007 was varied to provide for the sale to Leeds NewCo of the issued capital of Leeds OldCo on an unconditional basis.
13. The Football League was faced with a novel situation: how to protect the interests of the unsecured creditors in the absence of a CVA? The completion of a CVA is not an absolute requirement of the Football League. The Board retained the discretion to waive
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the requirement in exceptional circumstances and to fashion a situation to preserve the integrity of the competition, to protect Football Creditors, without letting down unsecured creditors. In doing so it had to be astute not to set a precedent that put the principle underlying the Insolvency Policy at risk.
14. Normally Regulation 11 requires that a new Member (i.e. Leeds NewCo) should start the following season in a lower League (here L2). Leeds NewCo wanted to avoid this ‘relegation’ and to ensure Leeds stayed in L1 it was prepared to pay a price to achieve this. The Football League was receptive to the idea and indicated that it might be prepared to exercise its discretion to permit this to happen.
15. On 27 July 2007, at an extraordinary meeting of the Board of the Football League it was decided that:
(i) Efforts should continue to achieve a CVA or equivalent to satisfy the requirements of the Football League’s Insolvency Policy; BUT
(ii) If notwithstanding those efforts, the Board should conclude that a CVA was not a feasible option, the Board would exercise its discretion to agree to a transfer of the ‘League Share’ to Leeds NewCo, so that Leeds NewCo could start the 2007-8 season in League 1, on various terms and conditions to be accepted by Leeds NewCo, including the Condition that Leeds NewCo would be deducted 15 points from the commencement of the next season.
16. On 31 July 2007 a meeting was held between representatives of the League, Leeds NewCo (Mr Shaun Harvey, Chief Executive and Mr Mark Taylor) and the Administrators of Leeds OldCo to explain the Board’s decision, including the proposed 15 point deduction. Mr Mark Taylor, a Director of the Claimant, enquired whether Leeds NewCo could make written representations to the Football League about the level of points deduction and this was agreed to.
17. Mr Nicholas Craig, the League’s in-house Solicitor, later spoke to Mr Shaun Harvey and specifically mentioned that in the absence of a CVA or other method of demonstrating the agreement of secured creditors, the League would be imposing a deduction of 15 points as a condition of the transfer of the League Share to NewCo.
18. Mr Ken Bates telephoned Lord Mawhinney expressing his surprise and concern about the idea of points deduction ‘in blunt and direct terms’. Lord Mawhinney’s response was
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that the waiver of the CVA requirement was exceptional and ‘therefore might come with strings attached’.
19. On 2 August 2007 the Administrators informed the Club that there was no prospect of the CVA proceeding and that they intended to abort the CVA and resign their positions. Mr Taylor wrote to the Football League but did not mention the points deduction nor make any representations as to why it should be varied or waived. Mr Bates rang Lord Mawhinney. We accept Lord Mawhinney’s account that Mr Bates asked that if the 15 point deduction was imposed he could appeal against it. Lord Mawhinney suggested that he would be prepared to recommend that to the Board but the appeal should be to the member clubs because it was the member clubs that the Board was supposed to be representing. Mr Bates agreed to this suggestion and Lord Mawhinney agreed to put his proposal to the Board which he did on the following day.
20. On 3 August 2007 a Board meeting was held when the 15 point deduction was confirmed and an appeal to the League was agreed to. Later that day Mr Taylor wrote to the Football League objecting to the points deduction on the basis that it was outside the powers of the Board or was an improper exercise of its discretion. However Mr Bates by telephone informed the Football League that this letter had been sent without his authority and that it should be withdrawn. Mr Taylor wrote a second letter acknowledging the receipt of the proposed Agreement (which included Clause 4) asking that his earlier letter should be disregarded and confirming that:

“the conditions set out in your letter are acceptable to *the Claimants+ save that the Company will appeal against the 15 point deduction ... with a view to the penalty being either withdrawn or reduced.” He told us that he wrote the second letter because it did not accurately reflect what had been agreed.
21. Later that day Mr Taylor signed the Agreement on behalf of the Claimants. What did he put his signature to?

THE COMPROMISE AGREEMENT
22. This was a carefully drafted and formal legal document (a copy is attached). The Recitals set the scene and describe the scope of the Agreement. Recitals ‘E’ and ‘F’ refer to the
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Board’s discretion. Recital ‘G’ records that the Board had agreed to facilitate a transfer under ‘Option Three’ (as distinct from ‘Option Two’, a L2 start under Regulation II),’ subject to the terms of this agreement, including the conditions (emphasis added).
23. Under the heading ‘Acknowledgement and Agreement’ Clauses 1.1.1 and 1.1.2 Leeds NewCo recognised that the requirement of a CVA was “a reasonable and proportionate requirement of the Insolvency Policy having regard to the public perception of the League, the credit worthiness if the member clubs, the credibility of the League and the integrity of the League’s competition and that no approval of the unsecured creditors had been secured.” In Clauses 1.1.3, 1.1.4 and 1.1.5 Leeds NewCo expressly confirmed the Board’s absolute discretion under Articles 4 and 6 to refuse or accept the transfer to Leeds NewCo.
24. Clause 1 concludes with Leeds NewCo acknowledging and agreeing the crucial Condition which is central to this Arbitration:

“The Board has determined that the appropriate sanction should be the imposition of a penalty points deduction of fifteen championship points in Season 2007/8 subject to an appeal to the member clubs of the League as outlined in Clause 3 below”.
25. Clause 4 is headed “Waiver of Claims” and provides as follows:

“4.1 Leeds hereby release the League, any of its directors, officers, employees and any member club of the League (past, present or future) (the “Released Parties”) from all claims, whether known or unknown to Leeds, which Leeds has or may have against the Released Parties arising out of or connected, whether directly or indirectly with the service of the Notice, the conduct of the League with regards to OldCo, the Conditions and the imposition of the sanction or, if passed, the Appeal Sanction (the “Claims”). 4.2 Except for the obligations created by this Agreement Leeds hereby covenants that it shall not, and will procure that its directors, associated companies ..., shareholders, officers or other employees shall not commence, or threaten to commence, any proceedings in any jurisdiction before any court, arbitration panel or other similar judicial body against the Released Parties (including by way of third party claims in any other action) arising out of or connected, whether directly or indirectly with any of the Claims.”
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26. Mr David Philips QC on behalf of the Claimants submitted that the Clause should be construed strictly against the League. Furthermore the Clause is invalid as its effect is to oust the jurisdiction of the Courts and therefore contrary to public policy.
27. The Tribunal is unable to understand or accede to the Claimants argument that the condition should be strictly construed against the League. No alternative more benign construction has been suggested. This was a commercial bargain, at arms length between a powerful and rich Consortium of businessmen and a responsible professional Sports Governing Body. No authority has been cited to support the proposition that special rules of interpretation apply to general release or waiver clauses.
28. The Tribunal is not persuaded that the Clause is an ouster clause. As already stated this was a commercial agreement; it contained legitimate release and waiver provisions. The Football League consists of its Member Clubs and is the Governing Body. The agreement was between an Applicant and the League in respect of a dispute between them. The compromise was reached in order to resolve the parties’ differences without resorting to the Courts. Such a negotiated settlement does not oust the jurisdiction of the Courts. Either party can seek to enforce the other party’s obligations before the Courts or by Arbitration. In short, the agreement is not a procedural bar. Contrary to the Claimants contention public policy is firmly in favour of enforcing compromises and releases in the interests of avoiding or minimising litigation.
29. Leading Counsel also contended that the resort to arbitration is simply ‘to enforce the obligations created by the Agreement’. These words merely mean that Leeds can enforce the Compromise Agreement should the League default (which it has not). They do not mean that Leeds can impugn the Agreement or its Conditions. Moreover the parties expressly provide in Clause 3.1 that:

“The Club shall have a right to appeal against the *15 point Condition] in accordance with the terms of this Clause 3, but not otherwise. (Emphasis added) We reject this contention.
30. In reaching our conclusion on the meaning and effect of this Agreement and in particular Clause 4 we have taken account of the circumstances in which the Compromise Agreement came into existence. Leeds OldCo went into administration. In accordance with its undisputed powers the League issued a Compulsory Transfer Notice
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in respect of the League Share (which entitles it to membership of the League) in the name of Leeds OldCo requiring it to transfer the League Share at par value to the Secretary of the League. Leeds NewCo wished to succeed Leeds OldCo as owner of Leeds United FC, by becoming a Member Club and securing a transfer of the League share to enable them to do so. By Regulation 11, a new Member Club is required to leave League 1 (L1) and start the following season in League 2 (L2). Leeds NewCo wished the League to exercise its discretion so that it could succeed as new owners with the Club playing in L1 from the start of the 2007-8 season.
31. The Board was receptive to the idea. Article 4 and the Insolvency Policy allowed the Board to agree to withdraw the CTN and to register a transfer free of the CTN in circumstances, including on such terms as the Board “in its absolute discretion determines.”
32. As already described Leeds NewCo (and in particular Mr Bates and Mr Mark Taylor) were well aware that in order to secure this indulgence the Board was stipulating that in order to remain in L1 the Club would have to start the new season with a 15 point deficit. This had been agreed by Mr Bates on behalf of the consortium, as the price which had to be paid for the indulgence and they were prepared to pay it – subject only to an Appeal to the League.
33. We are satisfied that Mr Taylor, in his capacity of Director of Leeds NewCo and their solicitor, was fully aware of the content and effect of what he was signing. Earlier that day he had received a letter from Mr Craig in which he had stated there was to be ‘a legally binding agreement’ in which the Claimants would undertake to observe and perform each of the conditions set out, and “waive any and all claims against the League regarding the sanction of matters arising out of the administration generally.” Mr Craig told us that it was not standard practice for him to include release and waiver clauses in agreements between the League and insolvent Member Clubs. He consulted the League Solicitors, and included Clauses 4.1 and 4.2 because the Board had made it clear in its 27 July meeting that the terms of the agreement with Leeds NewCo had to “obviate anyone taking legal action once the process had been completed,” and the Board re-affirmed at its 3 August meeting that they required “an assurance by the club that it would accept the decision of the meeting as final.” As he put it:
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“it was a crucial part of the deal that Leeds NewCo accept the points deduction and not seek to challenge it or have it overturned other than by means of the appeal to its fellow Member Clubs, as permitted by Clause 3.”
34. We conclude that it is inherently improbable that Mr Taylor, as a solicitor of longstanding experience, would have put his signature to the document if he had intended to reserve the position that it is now adopted by the Claimants that the points deduction was outside the powers of the Board or was an improper exercise of its discretion. A simple ‘save as to the legality of the Condition’ phrase could have been proposed. We are satisfied that if he had attempted to do so, it would undoubtedly have been rejected by the Board, the deal would have been aborted and, in all probability the Club would have gone into liquidation, or at best, been relegated to League 2.
35. Finally, returning to Clause 4 the operative parts for our consideration are:

“4.1 Leeds hereby release the League ... from all claims, whether known or unknown to Leeds, which Leeds has or may have against [the League] arising out of or connected, whether directly or indirectly with ... the conduct of the League with regards to OldCo, the Conditions and the imposition of the sanction or, if passed, the Appeal Sanction (the “Claims”). (Emphasis added) 4.2 Except for the obligations created by this Agreement Leeds hereby covenants that it shall not ... commence, or threaten to commence any proceedings in any jurisdiction before any court, arbitration body ... against [the League] ... arising out of or connected, whether directly or indirectly with any of the Claims”. (Emphasis added) The effect of this Clause is that Leeds NewCo agreed to release the League from the claims now advanced and waived any right to do so. They also covenanted not to bring the claims it now seeks to bring. CONCLUSION
36. We are satisfied that the Claimants case begins and ends with the Compromise Agreement which clearly embodied the intention of both parties. Taking the Agreement as a whole and in particular Clause 4 Leeds NewCo agreed to the imposition of the 15 points and to release the League from the claims which have now been advanced and to waive any rights to do so. Leeds NewCo specifically covenanted
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not to bring the claims it has now sought to assert and there is no basis to allow it not to honour that covenant.

The Tribunal dismisses the Claim on this ground alone. DELAY AND THE EFFECT ON OTHER CLUBS
A. Delay between 9 August and 12 February 2008
37. Even if the Claimants could avoid the effect of the release and waiver they still faced a formidable obstacle. On 9 August 2007, the League’s member clubs by the requisite majority dismissed NewCo’s Appeal and confirmed the Board’s decision to transfer of the League membership to the First Claimant with the Condition.
38. The First Claimant first tried to get The Football Association (FA) to hold an inquiry into the validity of the League’s decision to impose the Condition. The Football Association declined to hold an inquiry based (among other things) on its clear view that the imposition of the Condition as a condition of consent to transfer of membership to the First Claimant was within the League’s powers and was a proportionate exercise of those powers. Correspondence covered the period 30 August and 5 December 2007. Even so, Leeds NewCo filed a Football Association Rule K arbitration proceedings purporting to challenge the legality of The FA’s decision not to hold such an inquiry.
39. Subsequently, on 4 February 2008, the League received from Mark Taylor, the solicitor acting for the First Claimant, what purported to be a letter before action in the High Court on behalf of the First Claimant in relation to the Condition. That letter did not meet the requirements of the CPR and the Football League directors rejected the letter on that ground.
B. Delay in the High Court Proceedings
40. On 12 February 2008, proceedings were issued in the High Court on behalf of the First Claimant and Barnsley Football Club 2002 Limited against the League. The Claim Form and Particulars of Claim were deemed served on Bird & Bird (FL’s solicitors) on 13 February 2008. The covering letter accompanying these documents asked the League to consent to an application for an expedited hearing.
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41. On 20 February 2008, Bird & Bird wrote to Mark Taylor & Co., pointing out that the parties were subject to a valid pre-existing agreement to submit any disputes between them to arbitration and therefore asking them to agree to a stay of the proceedings in favour of a FA Rule K arbitration. No reply was received to that letter by the stated deadline and therefore Bird & Bird sent a chaser letter on the evening of 25 February 2008.
42. In response, NewCo’s solicitor accepted that the dispute was covered by FA Rule K, and, despite some delay, signed a Consent Order on behalf of the First Claimant, providing for the mandatory stay of the proceedings in favour of a FA Rule K arbitration. Mark Taylor agreed to conduct the arbitration on an expedited basis, because of the potential impact on 2007/08 final League standings. The full hearing on the merits was therefore provisionally scheduled for 16-18 April 2008.
43. However, no such agreement was forthcoming on behalf of Barnsley. Instead, it became apparent that Mark Taylor did not have authority to act on behalf of Barnsley. On 25 February 2008, the League received a letter by fax from Brabners Chaffe Street LLP, acting “on behalf of Barnsley Football Club Limited”. The letter states:

“... We understand that our client has telephoned your Lord Mawhinney to inform you that our client did not agree to lend its name to the above proceedings and that it had not approved the Particulars of Claim before they were filed at Court (or indeed since). We are investigating the position on behalf of our client but wish to set the record straight at this earliest opportunity ...”
44. On 25 February 2008, Bird & Bird sent a letter by fax asking Mark Taylor for his urgent comments on the suggestion in Brabners’ letter that the proceedings had been brought without Barnsley’s authority. No such comments were received. Over the following days, Bird & Bird sought (without success) clarification on the position of Barnsley from Mark Taylor.
45. On 7 March Bird & Bird called Mark Taylor to clarify, as a matter of urgency, whether or not he was authorised to act for Barnsley in relation to the proceedings.
46. On 11 March Bird & Bird received an email sent on behalf of Mark Taylor attaching a copy of the Notice of Discontinuance signed on behalf of Barnsley. On the same day Bird
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& Bird filed at Court the signed Consent Order and a copy of the Notice of Discontinuance.
47. Thus there was a delay of about 5 weeks primarily due to the misconceived High Court proceedings commenced by NewCo’s solicitors and their conduct of them.
C. Delay in the Arbitration Proceedings
48. On 4 March 2008, Bird & Bird sent Mark Taylor a letter by fax confirming that the League agreed to the First Claimant’s request that Arbitration be conducted in an expedited manner and set out some practical measures for achieving this. They included that (i) the First Claimant serve a Notice of Arbitration, as required pursuant to FA Rule K2(a)(i), in order to commence the Arbitration proceedings; and (ii) Leeds serve a Points of Claim in order to assist the tribunal to define and identify the true issues for the tribunal. The letter invited Mark Taylor to serve the Points of Claim by 10 March 2008.
49. On 7 March 2008, Bird & Bird received a letter from Mark Taylor sent by fax, in which he agreed to serve a Notice of Arbitration but stated that the Points of Claim would consist of the Particulars of Claim issued in the High Court.
50. On Saturday 8 March, Jonathan Taylor of Bird & Bird sent a letter by email to Mark Taylor requesting (among other things) that the Notice of Arbitration be served during the morning of 10 March 2008 at the latest and that a hearing of the tribunal be convened at short notice for the purpose of making directions on 11, 12 or 13 March 2008.
51. On 9 March 2008, Jonathan Taylor received an email from Mark Taylor confirming that the Notice of Arbitration would be served on 10 March 2008. In fact, the Notice of Arbitration was not served until 19 March 2008. Thereafter there may have been some dilatoriness on behalf of the Claimant but we do not regard it as critical or significant.
52. Leeds NewCo has neither tendered a credible explanation nor convincing excuse for their delay.

CONCLUSION
53. It is inescapable that if the appropriate Arbitration proceedings had been commenced in August or September or even October 2007 they would have been capable of resolution
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before the end of 2007. Given the date when these proceedings were started (19 March) and the first day of the Hearing before this Tribunal (16 April) it is obvious that our decision could have been given comfortably before the end of 2007.
54. With this history of events we are satisfied that there has been unreasonable and inexcusable delay on the part of Leeds NewCo. It is plain that Leeds NewCo was in the same position in August as it was in March when it finally got around to commencing these Arbitral Proceedings. It was imperative that the appropriate action was taken expeditiously. When the High Court proceedings were commenced they were in breach of the Arbitration Clause in the Regulations. Even before the arbitration proceedings were finally commenced, the Claimants were dilatory in initiating them.
55. There was no reason, if Leeds NewCo were genuinely concerned and disgruntled with the outcome of the League Members decision on 9 July, why they should not or could not commence Regulation K arbitration proceedings soon thereafter. This step could have been taken simultaneously with the Regulation K proceedings against the Football Association. They then held back and commenced the misconceived and abortive High Court proceedings. By delaying seven months before commencing these proceedings (August – March) they were in danger of prejudicing the other Clubs in League 1 who were also fighting for promotion.
56. The resolution of this present challenge has been left to the eleventh hour. If the points were now to be restored a number of clubs eligible for automatic promotion and the play off positions might have been affected. As at 5 April 2008 there were two clubs entitled to automatic promotion and four other clubs entitled to a place in the play-off for the third promotion spot, with Leeds in sixth position. On 1 May the position is still the same.
57. If the 15 points were now to be restored it would place Leeds comfortably in second position (88 points) and with assured promotion. This would prejudice the second placed Club (currently Doncaster) by depriving it of its automatic promotion place, forcing it to compete for promotion through the play off process. This situation is worthy of our particular and sympathetic consideration. Thus the delayed restoration of points would, inevitably, and fundamentally alter the rights that would otherwise accrue to another club.
58. We have no doubt that if this dispute had been promptly and properly brought, then the other clubs vying for promotion might have addressed their season in a different way.
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Until 19 March they will have proceeded on the legitimate assumption that there was to be no challenge and that the 15 points would not be restored. This late challenge brought uncertainty to the League near the end of the season at a time when other clubs had an understandable hope and expectation that they would enjoy automatic promotion, or the opportunity to compete for promotion through the play-off. In Stevenage Borough Football Club v The Football League Ltd CH [1996] 5 No 3043 Carnwath J was dealing with a similar case of delay and dismissed the proceedings. We see no reason to depart from his approach and apply it to the instant case.
59. We also dismiss the Claimant’s Claim on the ground of Leeds NewCo’s unreasonable and inexcusable delay in bringing the claim to this Arbitration.

THE CLAIMANT’S ALTERNATIVE CASE
60. As the Tribunal has already decided to dismiss the Claim on the two grounds specified above it is not necessary to undertake a detailed analysis of the alternative Case. We merely record in summary form what our conclusions would have been.
61. Mr David Phillips QC submitted that Clause 4 of the Compromise Agreement was entered into under a mutual mistake of law common to both parties and is consequently ‘void ab initio’. The parties were mistaken as to the League’s power to impose the 15 point Condition. It was a penalty which the League had no power to impose.
62. We are satisfied that by virtue of Article 41, Article 4 and Article 6 the Board had all the requisite authority to exercise its powers and discretion to impose a Condition of a 15 point deduction. Moreover, the Insolvency Policy (in particular G5), properly construed, did not prevent the Board imposing the Condition. The assertion that the Board lacked the power to impose the Condition is unsustainable.
63. Mr Phillips also contended that the Board and the League in reaching their decisions acted unfairly and unreasonably. We have no hesitation in rejecting this argument. The Board came to the conclusion that the point’s deduction should be made a Condition of consent to the Cancellation of Withdrawal and Transfer as the most reasonable and proportionate way of protecting the legitimate needs underlying the Insolvency Policy. In doing so it rejected the other options open to the Board which included
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(i) Simply expelling Leeds OldCo, so that Leeds United FC ceased to exist;
(ii) Allowing Leeds NewCo to join the Football League in L2, pursuant to regulation 11.
64. Given the absolute discretion afforded to the Board in this respect by the Memorandum, Articles of Association and the Insolvency Policy and having regard to the margin of appreciation afforded to a sport’s governing body, the Claimant would have failed to establish that the Board’s decision (or the League’s) to include the points Condition was a decision that no rational decision maker in their position could make. As to the amount of points deducted it carefully carried out a balancing exercise between 0 to 20 and arrived at a decision that, in all the circumstances of this particular case (which we do not need to recite) was well within the range of decision reasonably open to it to make.

ROTHERHAM
65. The position of Rotherham can be dealt with summarily. This Club was also insolvent and went into Administration on 18 March 2008. It is likely that it will not be able to exit administration via a CVA and the Administrators will be obliged to sell the Club. The Club fears that if the League’s decision to deduct 15 points from Leeds is a precedent, then the same condition will be applied to them. They therefore wish to support the Claimant’s case and seek similar declaratory relief.
66. Mr Stephen Davies QC on behalf of the League submitted that Rotherham has no status (locus) in these proceedings. There is no dispute between Rotherham and the League. Rotherham cannot attempt to support Leeds in its challenge to the Compromise Agreement in an attempt to get round the fact Leeds NewCo has compromised its Claim.
67. The tribunal considered that the answer is to be found in Rule K which provides that the jurisdiction of the Arbitration Tribunal is confined to:

“any dispute or difference between any two or more participants ... shall be referred to arbitration and finally resolved by arbitration under these Rules.”
The only dispute is between Leeds NewCo and the League. There is no dispute between Rotherham and the League. The fear that they may be deducted 15 (or indeed, any)
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points is not sufficient to amount to a ‘dispute’. The League has not yet reached a determination of its case in the light of all the relevant circumstances.
68. Thus Rotherham have no right to declaratory relief in respect of the claim to such relief by Leeds, nor in respect of a decision which has not yet been, and might not even be, taken against Rotherham itself.
69. Accordingly the Tribunal has declined jurisdiction and dismissed Rotherham’s purported claim.

THE AWARD The Award of the Tribunal is that the Claims of both Claimants are dismissed. Sir Philip Otton Chairman .................................... Peter Leaver QC Arbitrator ................................... Peter Cadman Arbitrator ...................................
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POSTSCRIPT
1. During the four days of the Hearing we heard other evidence, arguments, submissions from both parties and certain ideas and suggestions were exchanged between Counsel and the Tribunal. In view of the two principle decisions in the Award it is not necessary to take such matters further.
2. However these proceedings have brought to light the necessity for a review of the Insolvency Policy. We were told that there are 40 or more current or anticipated insolvencies. In many cases (e.g. Rotherham, Luton Town and Bournemouth?) it will prove impossible to exit Administration via a CVA. The League in the course of the Hearing appeared to recognise the need to amend the Policy to make specific provisions where there is no CVA. It is to be hoped that this can be achieved during the coming close season. The Clubs should be entitled to clear guidelines, objectives and procedures.
3. The Board should be astute not to think in terms of ‘penalty’ or a ‘norm’ as a starting point of whatever Condition is to be imposed. We are concerned that the Condition was described by the Board as a ‘penalty’ and was understandably perceived to be so.
4. We accept that the imposition of the 15 points in the instant case was not (and was not intended to be) a precedent, i.e. an automatic sanction in the absence of a CVA. Each case has to be assessed by the League having regard to the Club’s individual circumstances leading up to and of the insolvency itself. Such Conditions as the League considers are required will reflect these circumstances and any merits the Club can establish.
5. We feel obliged to record that we consider an Appeal to Members of the League to be unsatisfactory. Some Clubs in the same League may not readily agree to reduce a points sanction in the understandable self-interest of their Clubs. We recommend:
1. That there should be an appeal to an Independent Tribunal;
2. In order to reduce uncertainty for the Club and other Clubs the Appeal process should be determined without delay. We suggest an Appeal should be lodged within 7 days of the decision and the decision of the Appeal body should be given within 21 days thereafter.
6. We hope that these suggestions will be helpful to all concerned.
Sir Philip Otton Chairman ....................................
Peter Leaver QC Arbitrator ...................................
Peter Cadman Arbitrator ...................................

Leeds United's -15-Point Saga - What You Should Know.

2008-04-28T20:20:00.000-07:00

Arbitration is a well-established and widely used alternative to the courts for the settlement of disputes between parties. There are 2 conditions precedent to the beginning of an arbitration process. First, the parties select (an) impartial, independent third (party or) parties, called (an arbitrator) arbitrators; and second, they agree to be bound by the arbitrator’s award. Thereafter, the hearing begins, and both sides present their testimony.
While the arbitrator’s responsibilities are a function of the provisions of the arbitration agreement, certain duties nonetheless lie on the arbitrator, including impartiality.
In a binding arbitration, the arbitrator’s award is usually final and is rarely subject to judicial reexamination.

This background is germane for the purposes of
(a) deconstructing the circumstances surrounding the ongoing arbitration involving Leeds United Football Club and the Football League;
(b) fostering a better understanding of the arbitration process and its possible outcomes; and
(c) thereby understanding the arbitration process from the standpoint of Leeds United.

The facts of the case are as follows:

Towards the tail end of the 2006-07 season, Leeds United, burdened by insurmountable debts and facing imminent relegation to the third tier of the English league for the first time in their history, entered administration. According to the Football League rules in force at the time, a football club which entered administration received an automatic punishment of a 10-point deduction. Thus the sanction was duly applied without much ado, and Leeds United, already several points adrift of safety, were relegated. At the time, the club were owned by a Swiss-based corporation, Forward Sports Fund, whose representative was Ken Bates, Chairman of Leeds United.

Subsequently administrators for the Football Club were appointed, in the shape of the internationally-renowned accounting and consultancy outfit KPMG. On its website (http://www.kpmg.com/About/), KPMG describes itself in these words: KPMG is a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services.

Over the summer of 2007, KPMG attempted to bring Leeds United out of administration through a Company Voluntary Agreement (CVA) as mandatorily prescribed by the rules of the Football League. A football club cannot, in other words, exit administration sans CVA under the Football League’s somewhat limited rules. There were several consortia in the fray with bids to buy the Elland Road club, but the winning bid was the one presented by Leeds United 2007 Ltd, a consortium led by the aforementioned Ken Bates.

Under the terms of the Football League’s rules for exiting administration, certain debts, known as “football debts” were to be settled in full. Football debts include player remuneration and fees owed to other football clubs for the purchase of players. Individuals and entities in this category were therefore secured creditors. Conversely, non-football debts were debts which were owed to individuals or entities such as businesses providing say, catering services or stadium security, and these were non-secured creditors. Now here was the rub: non-football debts also, under the new rules introduced by the Football League, now ominously included those owed to Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In other words, the Taxman was considered pari passu with caterers and sundry tradesmen providing services to a football club for the purposes of debt-settlement in administration proceedings.

Needless to say, HMRC were exceedingly unhappy with this state of affairs. When the CVA from a consortium called Leeds United 2007 Ltd led by the aforementioned Ken Bates was accepted and subsequently received endorsement of 75.1% of creditors by value, HMRC opposed it. Interestingly enough, the Football League also opposed it, for its own reasons, even though the CVA per se was in compliance with its regulations. Nonetheless with the aforementioned approval of 75.1% of creditors by value, the CVA passed and Leeds United reverted to the ownership of a new entity called Leeds United 2007 Ltd., with Ken Bates at its helm as chairman. Thereafter HMRC, as expected, filed a High Court writ opposing the CVA whereby Leeds United Football Club passed to the ownership of Leeds United 2007. Whilst paying secured creditors in full, the CVA would have paid unsecured creditors, including HMRC, 1 penny in the pound. HMRC, owed £7 million, therefore stood to come away with only a paltry £70,000.

One of the prime functions of the administrator was to guide the club successfully out of administration and into solvency through sale of the football club to a consortium which in its professional judgment and after due diligence stood the best chance of guaranteeing that club’s financial solvency into the foreseeable future. Somehow, through the administration process, the consortium which had taken the Football Club into administration was the same one –howbeit under a different name—which was deemed the best of all bidders available.

HMRC’s subsequent judicial challenge of the CVA surprised nobody. The crux of their challenge was the rules of the Football League under which they were second class citizens, as distinct from the CVA per se. With this challenge, the club could not exit administration, creating an onerous burden for the administrators to source for funds to keep the club in business until it could be disposed of through a CVA; sell the club outright; or go into winding-up.

The administrators solved this problem by rescinding the CVA and then making an outright sale of Leeds United Football Club to the highest bidder in a closed process–in this case, once more, Ken Bates and his Leeds United 2007 Ltd. This sale by KPMG was, of course, in breach of the Football League’s own rules that clubs must exit administration via a CVA.

Without a CVA, Leeds United 2007 Ltd. now needed the Football League’s approval to get back its Golden Share without which it could not conduct business as a member of the Football League. The club sought such reinstatement under the League’s Exceptional Circumstances clause. As the Elland Road club had exited administration sans the League-mandated CVA, the league decided to impose a 15-point penalty on Leeds to begin the 2007-08 season as a condition precedent to returning United’s Golden share. It was a decision which Leeds, understandably, appealed.

League chairman Brian Mawhinney turned the disposition of the appeal over to the other Football League clubs. In one of the most brazen displays of conflict of interest, “an overwhelming majority” of the clubs, including those within the 3rd tier of the Football League, voted overwhelmingly in favor of the unprecedented sanction. These incidents occurred during a period of roughly over 3 months from May-August 2007.

Beginning in late August 2007, Leeds requested an independent review of both the initial decision and the subsequent adverse decision of the rival clubs made on appeal. This request was turned down summarily by the Football League. Similarly, subsequent representations to the Football Association for a review of the Football League’s actions were dismissed. In the end, irrespective of having signed an undertaking not to litigate any adverse decision reached by the Football League prior to the return of the club’s Golden Share, Leeds United were compelled to, in February 2007, issue a writ in the High Court against the Football League, whose chairman Mawhinney loudly and brashly pledged a “robust defense” of the League’s position.

Learned counsel for Leeds United stated that the undertaking was a nullity given the fact that at the time the club signed it, they had labored under a misapprehension that the Football League indeed had the powers it purported to be exercising when, in fact, it did not.

After Mawhinney’s “robust defense” boasts, it was something of a letdown when the Football League, on the very last day it had to respond to the Elland Road club's writ, suddenly turned round and offered arbitration. Which, when you think about it, was what Leeds had been asking for from the very beginning.

The composition of the arbitration panel, which finally commenced 4 days of hearings on Wednesday April 23 2008, comprises of retired High Court judge Sir Philip Otton who will chair the proceedings; former Premier League chief executive Peter Leaver; and Peter Cadman, a lawyer who has chaired past Premier League disciplinary commissions.

And so here we are now: Argument and presentation of evidence ended on Monday April 28. The arbitrators expect to announce their decision at the very latest on Thursday May 1. The league season ends on Saturday May 3.

At this point in time, the arguments advanced by Leeds United may or may not be built on these issues:

1. Whether Leeds had broken a Football League rule in exiting administration; and if so, what was the rule? In this case, KPMG sold Leeds United to the highest bidder outright in the exceptional circumstances created by HMRC’s challenge of what was essentially the Football League’s reduction of the Taxman to a mere tradesman. Leeds United did not sell itself to itself. So, in those circumstances, what rule did Leeds United Football Club break?

2. Whether it is proper to visit sanction on the affected football club in the event that Football League rules concerning procedures for exiting administration conflict with Tax laws thus preventing the club from abiding by Football League rules. In this case, HMRC judicially challenged the CVA which had satisfied FL rules, thereby placing KPMG in a quandary and exposing the flaws of the CVA-only stipulation.

3. Whether or not it was promoting a conflict of interest for the Football League to invite other League 1 clubs –rivals of Leeds United for advantage in the standings—to vote on an issue from whose outcome they might derive a pecuniary advantage.

Speculation is rife regarding Leeds getting some points back. From my position however, it seems a relatively narrow case: either Leeds have broken a rule or some rules, or they have not. If they have broken some rules, then the sanction may be deemed proper depending on whether or not its harshness and the involvement of other self-interested clubs in its confirmation was made an issue. If however it is held that Leeds had broken no rules, then the correct action in equity will be the return of all 15 points rightfully earned by Leeds this season.

At this point, Leeds lie 6th in the League table with 73 points, 16 points behind leaders Swansea City, with 1 game to go. This is the last play-off position. The return of the 15 points will catapult Leeds to 2nd with 88 points, push Doncaster Rovers, Nottingham Forest, Carlisle United and Southend United into 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th respectively, and leave Swansea City needing to win its final game to secure the 3rd division championship. Of course, as a Leeds fan, I am hoping we get our 15 points back, win our last game, see Swansea City lose theirs, and carry the title. That will bring some much-needed respite to long suffering Leeds fans buffeted by the vagaries and tragedies of the past 4 years.

In the end, there can be no denying that the Football League acted improperly and less than honorably in the disposition of the Leeds United case. As more clubs enter administration –which will continue to be a recurring phenomenon until the Football League imposes caps on salaries and borrowing—HMRC will judicially oppose all CVAs where it is an unsecured creditor, putting these clubs in the position of tasting the same medicine they dished out to Leeds.

This is a self-defeating state of affairs. Because the fiscal soundness of clubs is in the Football League’s own best interest (it earns revenue from the clubs), it is hardly far fetched to propose that the Football League should revisit its rules; review the CVA-only stipulation; and consider other ways to support and revive clubs which enter administration outside of merely docking them 10 points. And 15 points for when their administrators are compelled to take them out of administration without a CVA.

No Longer at Ease.

2008-01-29T12:40:00.000-08:00

So much for the blind optimism exuded in my preview. I must however point out that I have always expressed little confidence in Berti Vogts's coaching ability. In this respect, my prognostications are just that—prognostications are, after all, made not on the basis of some scientific or methodical analysis but on auguries. In this case, it was a combination of some wistful timeline augury and faith in what the players were capable of achieving in spite of the coach. In reality, there is only so much that these players can do. The rest is a function of proper tactical preparation and unless they are getting that, they can never live up to their true potential as a team.

Nigeria beat the Republic of Benin Squirrels 2-0 in the final group game to edge through into the quarter finals of the ongoing CAN in Ghana. A modest success which maintains our record of progressing beyond the first round in all CAN finals we have been at since 1976 bar the Libya ’82 edition. Unfortunately, we were never masters of our own fate from the moment we were defeated 1-0 by what, to many sound judges, is the current best team in Africa, Ivory Coast, and then could only muster a sterile draw with the Eagles of Mali who frankly carried more threat and paraded an offense which appeared more potent than ours. Our immediate fate rested eventually on whether Mali and Ivory Coast would come to a Francophone accord, with both teams guaranteed a quarter final placing with a draw of any sort. In this respect, Ivory Coast’s comprehensive 3-0 dismissal of Mali allied to our much-needed 2-0 win over Benin has seen us qualify –by the skin of our teeth –through a back door somebody forgot to lock.

Given our shambolic performances since the tournament began –overawed by Ivory Coast, outfinessed and outhustled by Mali—we do not look like the imperious, dominating Nigeria which fans of African football have grown accustomed to. In his first two games, the mundane, defensive-minded approach which was simultaneously bereft of high-level organization, which Vogts has became all too apparent. Obi’s deployment as a shield for the defense means that we lack the creative flair upfield that is a prerequisite for slicing open defenses, and Obi emphasized this by burying a header and then carving Benin open for Aiyegbeni to score the winner. On that evidence, I would deploy Obi in a more forward role and place the robust Olofinjana, all-action Etuhu or cultured Eromoigbe in the holding role. But I’m not Vogts.

The Mali midfield ran us ragged in the opening exchanges, showing a level of commitment and athleticism which initially befuddled us. They drew us into their harum-scarum game plan when a past Nigeria would have put their collective foot on the ball and knocked it about to knock the stuffing out of them. Some of our players appeared to be playing scared: scared to be caught in possession, scared to take risks, scared to make the purposeful and intentional attacking passes, opting too often for the hopeful ball upfield to Yakubu Aiyegbeni and Obafemi Martins, both of whom disappointed to varying degrees. Martins’ first touch has never been top class, and as I’ve noted time and again, he is at his best in the hand-to-hand combat of the penalty area rather than fielding long passes and holding the ball up, which the heavily criticized Makinwa is better physically capable of. Unfortunately our attack has not been constructed to play to their strengths, nor has Makinwa ever appeared to have received instructions to stay central and hold the ball up. As for Aiyegbeni, in the beginning, he was the only player with the confidence to hold the ball and run at Mali’s defense, and this arrogant quality is a must for all strikers. Unfortunately his decision making wasn’t always the best. As the game progressed, Obinna Nsofor and Osaze Odemwingie also came into their own with their willingness to hold the ball and run at the Malians. When Nsofor and Odemwingie were inexplicably substituted, our attack sputtered to a halt.

High level organization for me means that the side has a collective awareness of teammate positioning and passing outlets under pressure. I can bang the ball upfield to so-and-so and know how he wants it to land and exactly which side he wants it—think of Leeds United in their glory days under Don Revie, with their center-forwards Mick Jones and supersub Joe Jordan creating outlets for their defense from pressure; then juxtapose that to the aimless long balls which were immediately claimed by the Mali defense to launch fresh attacks. As a defender, I can make a tackle and clear the ball somewhere and know that a teammate will be in the vicinity to claim or challenge for the ball –think of Louis van Gaal’s disciplined Ajax Amsterdam combination of the early to mid 1990’s; and juxtapose that to Yobo’s clearance that led to Kalou’s winner. I can come under pressure and know that there is an opening for me to pass the ball forward through to a teammate who has dropped back to receive it –think of France under Henri Michel at the 1986 World Cup; and juxtapose that with the countless unconstructive clearances from our defense. In short, none of these qualities were apparent in any of the games we’ve played in this first round.

For me, there is no quality Nigeria team right now. We have some good players, first class players, first rate players and some up-and-coming youngsters with promise. But that’s about it. We will have a team in my eyes when we can play as a collective applying the individual talent of each player to the common group task and objective; and defense, midfield and offense interlock seamlessly, with smooth transitions and players can turn deep defense into sudden penetrating attack with one killing pass.

In my eyes, a top quality team properly so-called is one wherein the players:
(a) are deployed in the positions wherein their skills can best be maximized;
(b) are constantly on the move within assigned spheres of offensive and defensive responsibilities with license to roam for support play;
(c) have a common ethos of possession being nine-tenths of the law –put your foot on the ball, control it, and pass it around however the circumstances of the game and your talent dictate;
(d) create and finish a plethora of scoring openings;
(e) keep it tight at the back.

Nigeria under Vogts doesn’t qualify under these standards.

It all begins with the defense: Yobo is a solid defender, but his first instinct is to play the long ball rather than the constructive pass characteristic of the likes of Stephen Keshi, Uche Okechukwu, Chidi Nwanu and Uche Okafor before him. If the pass can be made, and it is not being made, we must know why. If it is not being made because it cannot be made, then we must also know why.

Actually there are so many “why”s. From the Mali game alone, these questions were asked:

Why is right-back Nwaneri constantly drawn central, leaving a huge gap on the flanks?
Why was there nobody to cover for Nwaneri whenever he went upfield?
Why was the midfield unable to create chances for the offense over 2 games?
Why did Taiwo elect not to have a go at goal throughout the Mali match?
Why were Nigeria overawed by Ivory Coast at all?
Why is Obi wasted sitting in front of the backline when his passing talent can tear open defenses?

Berti Vogts knows what Berti Vogts thinks. At least Berti has a sense of self-preservation as the relatively attacking deployment against Benin showed.

On to the quarter finals, where we meet hosts Ghana in Accra. Ghana have ridden on a tidal wave of frenzied home support to amass 9 points from 3 games, and the Black Stars will be confident coming from their 2-0 win in their last group match over one of the pre-tournament favorites, now-eliminated Morocco.

Although we have held the Indian sign over Ghana for about 10 years now, the Black Stars routed a makeshift Nigeria side 4-1 in a friendly in Brentford last year, and are definitely a side on the rise with top class performers amongst Europe’s top sides, including the formidable Michael Essien. In Essien, Sulley Muntari and Asamoah Gyan, they have probably the midfield of the African moment. Vogts looks set to be the first Nigeria coach since Otto Gloria and Gottlieb Goller in 1982 not to reach the semi-finals. At least he can claim to have gone one better than the duo by qualifying for the quarter finals. Nonetheless, given the criticism of the AKE Trio (that is, Shaibu Amodu, Stephen Keshi and Joe Erico), Christian Chukwu and Austin Eguavoen for only achieving 3rd place classifications in successive tournaments, a mere quarter final finish by Vogts will qualify as an unmitigated failure.

With their rising profile, an attack that is clicking; the massive home support and high expectations, a Ghana win will be on the cards, but there is an old saying, as old as the beautiful game itself: Football is not mathematics.

Third Cup of African Nations Triumph for Nigeria.

2008-01-16T19:18:00.000-08:00

New Kids on the Block

The Nigeria Football Association (NFA) announced the Nigeria squad for the Cup of African Nations (CAN) finals, Ghana 2008, on Friday January 11 2008. The complement of the squad includes 8 debutants, namely:

Rabiu “Robocop” Afolabi, a controlling center-half who skippered Nigeria’s ill-starred U-19 World Cup team of 1999.

Danny Shittu, experienced powerhouse center-half who has spent the bulk of his career in the Championship in England with QPR and Watford.

Onyekachi Apam, center-half in Samson Siasia’s World Youth Cup team of 2005 who is equally comfortable as a flank defender and could step into the breach created by Chidi Odiah’s injury.

Ifeanyi Emeghara, flank defender with former European Champions Steaua Bucharest (Romania) who looks set to fill in for the injured Chidi Odiah.

Richard Eromoigbe, the Levski Sofia midfielder who was part of the Nigeria U-17 side beaten in the final of the Trinidad and Tobago tournament in 2001.

Onyekachi Okonkwo, a midfielder who was the creative force behind Enyimba of Aba’s two consecutive African Champions League (formerly the African Cup of Champion Clubs) triumphs.
Dickson Etuhu, the former Preston central midfielder who is a robust and aggressive box to box player, now with Sunderland, whom David Platt attempted to persuade to play for England, thereby delaying his Nigeria cap until the emergence of Vogts.

Ikechukwu Uche, a striker with Spain’s Recreativo Huelva.

There are no players in the final selection who are from Nigeria’s domestic league, or, for that matter –and a preposterous suggestion in my book—from Nigeria’s 2007 U-17 world champions. The names often touted from that cadet side are those of striker Chrysanthus Macaulay and midfield general Rabiu Ibrahim.

Superstitions and Auguries
2 years ago, in the lead-up to the World Cup Finals in Germany, I speculated on the possibilities of the champion emerging from one of these 3 nations: Germany, Brazil and Italy.
Germany and Brazil, because, although they have met in the final only once –2002—either nation has been involved in every final since 1950 bar Argentina ’78 –an event wherein Brazil’s involvement in the final was foiled by host nation Argentina’s suspicious and convenient 6-0 defeat of Peru which precipitated a FIFA rule change; Italy because they had developed a habit of making the final every dozen years since 1970. See http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=69356&highlight=; http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=66148&highlight=; and http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=68938&highlight=.

Before I proceed to discuss the Nigeria squad, I’d like to express wonder as to whether Nigeria is beginning to fall into an Italy-style pattern. Our first serious involvement with the CAN tourney began in 1976 in Ethiopia when a side coached by the Yugoslav Jelisavic Tihomir (aka Father Tiko) finished 3rd in the tourney. Our 1978 experience in Ghana –again with Coach Tiko in charge—ended with a similar 3rd place classification –abetted in part by the coruscating winger Adokiye Amesiamaka’s error in the semi-final against Uganda which gifted the Cranes the winner. Finally, in 1980, with the Brazilian Professor Otto Gloria in charge assisted by Raul Carlesco, we carried the maiden Unity Cup at home, defeating a young Algerian side which included the likes of Rabah Madjer, Lakhdar Belloumi, Djamel Menad and Ali Ferghani—3-0 in a classic final with a clinical brace from the Golden Boy, ‘Segun “Mathematical” Odegbami and a solid, well-walloped finish from Aloysius “Blockbuster” Atuegbu’s thunder boots.

Presaging Nigeria’s second CAN victory, was a string of second and third place finishes –2nd to Cameroon in Ivory Coast 1984 and Morocco 1988; 2nd to Algeria in Algeria 1990; 3rd place beating Cameroon in Senegal ’92 before annexing the trophy in 1994 in Tunisia with what is widely acknowledged as the touchstone team, Clemens Westerhof’s 1994 Eagles iteration. Exactly 14 years had elapsed between it and the 1980 triumph.

14 years on from 1994, Nigeria kicks off its campaign on January 21 in Sekondi against a powerful Ivory Coast –which 2 years ago in Egypt needed a suspiciously offside-looking goal from Didier Drogba to eliminate Nigeria in the semi-finals. In the intervening period, Nigeria has finished 2nd (2000 in Nigeria-Ghana) to Cameroon; 3rd in 2002, beating Mali; 3rd in 2004 again beating Mali; and 3rd in 2006.

Will Nigeria win this tourney to confirm the existence of a 14-year cycle? Will the form book stay true to form for the emergence of a champion from among the old guard? Or will a new champion emerge from the host of ambitious newcomers, audacious “smaller footballing nations”, emergent powerhouses, and traditional also-rans? Time will tell. What is certain from past trends is that Nigeria, an established and genuine African powerhouse, will be in the medal classifications when the last ball is kicked in anger. Anything less will qualify as an upset of monumental proportions.

The Nigeria squad

Name Role Club Country
Dele Aiyenugba Goalkeeper Bnei-Yehuda Israel
Austin Ejide Goalkeeper Bastia France
Vincent Enyeama Goalkeeper Hapoel Tel Aviv Israel
Rabiu Afolabi Defender Sochaux France
Onyekachi Apam Defender Nice France
Ifeanyi Emeghara Defender Steaua Bucharest Romania
Obinna Nwaneri Defender FC Sion Switzerland
Danny Shittu Defender Watford England
Taye Taiwo Defender Marseille France
Joseph Yobo Defender Everton England
Richard Eromoigbe Midfielder Levski Sofia Bulgaria
Dickson Etuhu Midfielder Sunderland England
Mikel Obi Midfielder Chelsea England
Onyekachi Okonkwo Midfielder FC Zurich Switzerland
Seyi Olofinjana Midfielder Wolves England
Yakubu Aiyegbeni Striker Everton England
Nwankwo Kanu Striker Portsmouth England
Ayodele Makinwa Striker Lazio Italy
Obafemi Martins Striker Newcastle England
Obinna Nsofor Striker Chievo Verona Italy
Osaze Odemwingie Striker Lokomotiv Moscow Russia
Ikechukwu Uche Striker Getafe Spain
John Utaka Striker Portsmouth England

What it all Means
The squad above is an interesting admixture of fresh newcomers and established stalwarts. Hopefully the newcomers will prove to be the audacious, irreverent variety with the mischievous intention and attendant self-belief necessary to destroy opponents, and the technical and tactical nous to cause such destruction.

custodians of our onion bag
For the first time since the formidable, granite-featured Peter Rufai in his prime displaced Alloy Agu and Wilfred Agbonavbare, we now have 3 solid goalkeepers in Vincent Enyeama, Austin Ejide and Dele Aiyenugba battling for the number one spot. Enyeama has the advantage in terms of experience, but both he and the sharp-reflexed Aiyenugba are old customers from their Enyimba glory days. Ejide comes into the frame with an impressive physique which is almost reminiscent of Morocco’s 1986 World Cup goalkeeper Badou Zaki and the concomitant potential to physically and psychologically dominate his penalty area. The competition should be intense, and will eliminate complacency.

I think the nod will go to Enyeama.

our defensive line
Of the seven defenders listed, four –Yobo, Nwaneri, Afolabi and Shittu—are center-halves, while Apam, Emeghara and Taiwo provide flank coverage. We are afforded the luxury of a good mix in the choice of our central defensive pairing –and my preference would be for a pairing of the solid, astute but error-prone Yobo and Nwaneri, a player of stylish authority who is Enyimba’s greatest ever captain; Yobo and the controlling Afolabi; or Afolabi and Nwaneri. The muscular Shittu has been a powerful contributor for Watford the past couple of years, and weighed in with more than his fair share of goals from set pieces this season; however the odds of a player who has made most of his career in the division below the Premiership in England having a little bit of trouble adjusting to the trickery of African international football players in the continent’s showpiece tourney, are not remote. I’d like to be proved wrong.

Where we appear to be somewhat thin on the ground is on Taiwo’s left flank. We have more than enough coverage on the right, with Yobo also capable of filling in at right-back, a position wherein he has appeared for Nigeria in the early 2000’s, including the 2002 World Cup finals. While there is no direct replacement, it is possible that the forced exclusion of Taiwo might compel Vogts to adopt a 3-5-2 formation to compensate.

In a 4-man defense, I think the selection will be, from right to left: Apam, Yobo, Nwaneri and Taiwo. Nwaneri could be displaced by Afolabi or Shittu. Apam may make way for Emeghara. The only certainties to play appear to be skipper Yobo and Taiwo.

our engine room
Nigeria goes to the CAN finals with 5 genuine midfield players, not a significant departure from past practice. In the past tournaments which we have successfully prosecuted, we have approached squad selection with 8 complementary midfielders in mind. The implications of this selection are interesting. To start with, we have brought Dickson Etuhu and Seyi Olofinjana into the frame, two players of similar hard-tackling style and central tendencies. Although Olofinjana weighs in with goals, and Etuhu is a box-to-box type of player, neither has the creative ability or range of passing that would elevate the midfield to a different plane of quality. In Mikel Obi, we of course have one of the finest passers in the African and world game, a player with the ability to take the game by the scruff of the neck and orchestrate affairs, spraying incisive passes from the middle to all corners of the pitch, spreading it about and sowing confusion in defenses. Like Gunter Netzer. Like Fernando Redondo. Like Ghana’s Abdul Razak, a man of Nigerian origins. But this young man is not the new Netzer, not the new Redondo, not the new Abdul Razak. He is John Mikel Obi.

As water-carriers –a term dismissively applied to France’s future World Cup winner Didier Deschamps by Eric Cantona—either Olofinjana or Etuhu –but not both—would complement Obi, fetching and carrying the ball for him, tackling, disrupting the opposition’s rhythm and flow.

Paired with Obi, Okonkwo has the flair to render Nigeria’s midfield creatively murderous. With two midfielders of panache, we can include a “water carrier” –or a “destroyer”, as Clemens Westerhof preferred to describe the role—to anchor the midfield and provide a shield for the defense, and one player behind the front two.

The alternative might be two combative central midfielders –Etuhu and Olofinjana—complemented by 2 flair players out wide who would in turn be supported by flank defenders on the overlap. The limitation of this approach is the limitation of Etuhu and Olofinjana –their passing is hardly world class. Etuhu is in his first ever season in the Premiership with Sunderland. Olofinjana has spent his entire career in England with Championship side Wolves.

Since coming into notice as a promising midfielder who came from deep to shoot –waywardly—from distance during the 2001 U-17 World Cup finals in Trinidad and Tobago, Richard Eromoigbe has matured with perennial Bulgarian powerhouse Levski Sofia into a perceptive passer with the ability to provide defensive coverage. He may add a different sort of value to the combination, especially with his Champions League experience, which Etuhu, for instance, doesn’t bring to the table.

Of course, if all else fails, there is always the option of deploying a workmanlike midfield –Etuhu, Olofinjana, Eromoigbe—leaving the job of orchestrating our attacks to the full-backs and wide players on the flanks, possibly in a 3-5-2 deployment. The chances of this happening are exceedingly remote.

In a 4-4-2 formation, we will certainly see Obi in the frame, and the cultured Eromoigbe should, I think, get the nod ahead of the England-based duo of Olofinjana and Etuhu, with Okonkwo there as well. The fourth man will come from among the striker corps.

our firepower
We go to Ghana with an arsenal of eight strikers: Nsofor, Odemwingie, Utaka, Kanu, Martins, Makinwa, Uche and Aiyegbeni.

I expect to see Nsofor deployed to a left flank position, wherein he has played creditably for us in the past even though he is not a true winger. I see a similar outcome for John Utaka and Osaze Odemwingie, both of whom will be in direct competition for a position out on the right flank. As between the two, although Utaka has scored a few goals for Portsmouth this season versus Osaze who has hit a dry patch since his relocation from France to Russia, Osaze in my opinion makes a more significant cerebral contribution. His reading and anticipation and his ability to dart into space to intercept passes are at a premium for supporting the defense and turning defense into sudden attack. Conversely, the offensively dangerous Utaka has still got to totally overcome the tendency to ball-watch when we are defending.

I think Kanu will either come on from the bench or play in the hole behind the strikers. I expect to see Martins starting, despite the troubles at Newcastle United which have impacted his confidence. For me, Martins is Nigeria’s answer to Gerd Muller. And his ruthless finishing ability harks back to the zenith of Monday Odiaka’s powers. Odiaka was a deadly finisher of renown in Nigeria with the now defunct African Continental Bank (ACB) of Lagos, and his goals won Nigeria 3rd place in the 1985 U-19 World Cup finals in Russia. Deliver the ball to Martins in the penalty area, the penalty box, and he will make the opposition pay. Although he has shown an aptitude for scoring from distance, a player of his size and build is best suited to the calculating, close-quarter, lightning-quick-reflexed, instinctive, stiletto-stabbing, sudden death action of the penalty box. Martins is a jewel of a forward, a player with plyometric potential –the potential to inflict damage with sudden, explosive bursts of speed and power over short distances.

Aiyegbeni reminds me of Amokachi in his bustling style, but has developed into a better finisher than Amo ever was. In his similarity to Amokachi, he is not a true spearhead, but a supporting striker. The one whose physique and style is most closely akin to a spearhead is Lazio’s Ayodele Makinwa. Unfortunately Makinwa has yet to develop the touch and the sense of direction that would reward his industry with goals.

As for Ike Uche, he is poised to be our surprise package. His impressive showing against Mexico underlined his ability, and he comes to the tourney a debutant, potentially a relatively unknown quantity to the rest of the field.

The possible striking permutations are limited to Martins, Makinwa, Uche and Aiyegbeni. Kanu will come on from the bench or fulfill an advanced midfield role. Nsofor will be deployed wide left in midfield; Utaka or Osaze will be out wide right in midfield. This will of course influence the choice of midfield personnel to play alongside Obi.

Three Derbies for Nigeria
Group B

Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Mali, Benin

1/21/08 (Sekondi) Nigeria v Ivory Coast
1/25/08 (Sekondi) Nigeria v Mali
1/29/08 (Sekondi)Nigeria v Benin

Nigeria finds itself in a veritable ECOWAS group, with each and every group match a West African derby. The derby element would, of course, be more pronounced if the Ghana Black Stars were in our group, but they are not. Rather, we find ourselves the lone Anglophone nation among Francophones. And although it is not my intention to predict the outcome of individual group games, because football is a game of uncertainty where tactical deployments, preparations and on-field and off-field decisions and developments have the potential to upset the form book, it is, on paper, apparent that the 2 countries which will make their way out of the group are Nigeria and Ivory Coast, while Mali have genuine potential to cause an upset and progress into the next stage at the expense of either of the big two.

The twin cities site (Sekondi-Takoradi) favors the Ivoriens more than most in the group, it being near the Ivorien border thus affording them strong cross-border support. Nonetheless Sekondi-Takoradi is a happy place for Nigerian sides, the now defunct New Nigerian Bank (NNB) of Benin having annexed the West African Football Union (WAFU) Cup there in a matchup with the powerful local Hasaacas outfit the spine of which, at the time, included Isaac Essuman in goal, Isaac Acquaye and the captain of Ghana, Isaac Paha in central defense, and Edzig, a reserve striker for the Black Stars, at spearhead. Furthermore, the sizeable Nigerian community in Ghana –a phenomenon attributable to the two countries being the major Anglophone brother nations in a largely Francophone sub-region—can provide the Nigerian side with the 12th man effect of fanatical support which neither the Beninoise nor the Malians will have.

Mali's Eagles are a quickly re-emergent force seeking to reprise the glory days of Salif Keita in the sixties and seventies, and Armand Coulibaly in the nineties. They boast the dangerous Frederic Kanoute spearheading their attack and a formidable midfield which includes Seydou Keita, Mahamadou Diarra and Mommo Sissoko. However they lack the group experience of Nigeria and Ivory Coast. The Republic of Benin Squirrels are an interesting proposition, with a couple of Nigerians in their line-up including striker Razak Omotoyosi, formerly with Nigerian club Sunshine Stars of Akure whose defection from the Nigerian game was precipitated by an unjust 5-year ban for an incident where the referee was attacked. Omotoyosi’s drive will be vengeance against a country that has treated him unfairly, not the best of motivations. Outside of him and the first eleven however, the Beninoise do not have strength in depth in terms of quality and experience to damage the aspirations of the group’s big boys.

Mali pose the biggest threat to the big two. Ivory Coast’s human battering ram Didier Drogba will be entering the tournament which starts on the 21st of January after undergoing knee surgery only in December. This runs the risk of compromising their firepower. However if you remove Fredric Kanoute from the Malian lineup, they have no replacements of similar quality, unlike the Ivoriens who also have Aruna Dindane, Arouna Kone and Salomon Kalou, and the Nigerians with their surfeit of top class strikers and a striker struggling to find his footing in Makinwa.

For Nigeria, the only choice before Berti Vogts is to win. This is his task, in order to assuage the long-suffering of Nigeria's massed fans nostalgic for successes akin to all those triumphs of too long ago.

Nigeria’s CAN record since 1976:
Year Venue Classification Coach
1976 Ethiopia 3rd Jelisavic Tihomir (Father Tiko)
1978 Ghana 3rd Jelisavic Tihomir (Father Tiko)
1980 Nigeria Champions Otto Gloria
1982 Libya 1st round exit Otto Gloria; Gottlieb Goller
1984 Ivory Coast 2nd Festus Adegboye Onigbinde; James Sulaiman Peters
1986 Egypt Did not qualify
1988 Morocco 2nd Manfred Hoener; Paul Hamilton
1990 Algeria 2nd Clemens Westerhof
1992 Senegal 3rd Clemens Westerhof
1994 Tunisia Champions Clemens Westerhof
1996 South Africa Boycotted
1998 Burkina Faso Banned
2000 Nigeria-Ghana 2nd Johannes Bonfrere
2002 Mali 3rd Shaibu Amodu; Stephen Keshi; and Joe Erico (The AKE Trio)
2004 Tunisia 3rd Christian Chukwu
2006 Egypt 3rd Austin Eguavoen
2008 Ghana ?? Berti Vogts

Prospective Route to the Final
Going back to my crystal ball, and looking at all 16 teams in the tourney, here are my selections for progress. Victors in bold.

group stages
Group A: Ghana, Morocco to qualify. Guinea and Namibia: first round exits.
Group B: Nigeria, Ivory Coast to qualify. Mali and Benin Republic: first round exits
Group C: Cameroon, Egypt to qualify. Sudan and Zambia: first round exits.
Group D: Senegal, Angola to qualify. South Africa and Tunisia: first round exits.

quarter-finals
Ghana v Ivory Coast
Nigeria v Morocco
Cameroon v Angola
Senegal v Egypt

semi-finals
Ghana v Senegal
Nigeria v Cameroon

third place classification match
Senegal v Cameroon

final
Ghana v Nigeria

Busy Window to Key Upturn in Fortunes?

2008-01-04T13:00:00.001-08:00

It’s the transfer window and it’s been a busy time for Leeds United manager Dennis Wise, keen to rebound from a disappointing return of 1 point from a possible 9 during the festive period.
Wise has seen his Leeds side decimated by a combination of injuries -to Jonathan Douglas (out for the season), Jonathan Howson, Mark deVries (loan spell abbreviated; returned to Leicester), Radostin Kishishev and Leon Constantine- suspensions -of Alan Thompson and Matt Heath- and an international call up to the Cup of African Nations (CAN) finals for Angola defender Manuel Rui Marques, and the side’s dire straits particularly in midfield were exacerbated by the recent refusal of midfielder Shaun Derry to return early from a loan spell at Crystal Palace to help resolve the midfield crisis which eventually compelled Wise to field a half-fit Radostin Kishishev against Oldham.

Wise has laid out his stall in no uncertain terms to acquire players who are, firstly, at a certain point in the age spectrum, and secondly, clearly better than the ones currently at Elland Road. His intention is clear: he intends to drag Leeds out of their current slump and reignite the momentum to drive the club forward to the Championship this May.

The past few days have seen the arrivals -and impending arrivals- of a slew of promising young players and internationals. The signing of Finnish U-21 right winger Sebastian Sorsa who has been described as having a good football brain to go with his ability underlines Wise’s intention to feed his strikers with quality deliveries from the flanks. Wise intends to complement Sorsa’s signing with the addition of Bradley Johnson, a promising 20-year-old winger currently playing for our opponents tomorrow, Northampton Town, who will, if he signs, probably play on the opposite flank to Sorsa. These signings will address the issue of a noticeable lack of offensive width which has been a talking point since the beginning of this season.

Apart from Sorsa, already signed also, is Birmingham City’s Australian international midfielder Neil Kilkenny, a player who has what it takes to boss the midfield, pull the strings and play short, accurate passes to feet. While skipper Alan Thompson has fulfilled that role on occasion, at 34 he is now over the hill and cannot reasonably be expected to do this week-in-week-out in a highly physical League 1. The 22-year-old Kilkenny is a premiership class player who began his career at Arsenal and he can infuse a new freshness and dynamism into our attacking approach.

Wise's other targets include Jason Puncheon of Barnet, Daniel Fox of Walsall, Bolton Wanderers' Lubomir Michalik and Luton Town’s Dean Morgan.

Puncheon however is a winger, and it is possible that the signing of Johnson will render the need for him moot. Barnet recently rejected a quarter million pound offer to take Puncheon off their hands, and, in the event that Johnson doesn't sign, Leeds may return with an improved offer for the player.

Walsall’s Fox is a left-back who couldn't come in at a better time: youngster Ben Parker is out with an injury and Andrew Hughes is a right-footed midfielder who has uncomplainingly filled in in a strange position, left-back, and is therefore not a long-term solution. Fox will be out of contract this summer, enabling him to leave Walsall more or less on his own terms although because the former Everton youngster is still only 21, Walsall would be entitled to compensation to be determined by a tribunal. Having rejected improved contract offers from Walsall, he clearly intends to depart for pastures new and Walsall must be keen to cash in. They rejected an initial offer from United for Fox and depending on their overall strategy, Leeds may make an improved offer during this window or take him when his contract expires. Leeds and England legend Allan "Sniffer" Clarke's old club Walsall are definitely between a rock and a hard place.

Dean Morgan, who tormented a pale shadow of Leeds United caretaker-managed by John Carver in a 5-1 Luton win last season, is another player Wise admires and his mobility, pace and trickery could add a new dimension to United’s array of offensive weaponry. However opinion is divided on what this inconsistent forward can offer Leeds that the likes of 15-goal Jermaine Beckford, Tresor Kandol (8 goals) and Tore Andre Flo (3 goals) don't already bring to the table.

As for the Slovakian Michalik, Lubo was on loan at Leeds at the tail end of last season and was instrumental in our unbeaten home form. He is currently playing regularly in the Premiership for Bolton, so his coming to Leeds is doubtful.

Perhaps potentially the most interesting development of this transfer window is the impending arrival at Elland Road next week of two Argentinean internationals from San Lorenzo, a club with which Leeds United has reportedly been in recent negotiations with a view to developing a as-yet-publicly-undefined long-term connection. 23-year-old Jonathan Bottinelli is an international center-half who made his full debut for Argentina last April. 20-year-old Nicolas Bianchi, an U-20 international, is equally comfortable at center-half and left-back. Although both players are only going to be at Leeds United's Thorp Arch facility for trials, Dennis Wise has the option of offering them short-term contracts –9-month ones, according to the Yorkshire Evening Post (YEP) —if they impress. Certainly a central-defensive pairing which includes either of the two plus the division's current best central defender in my book, Manuel Rui Marques, or indeed a defense which includes all three, is an attractive proposition and would, in addition to rendering our defense virtually impregnable, enable us to :
(a) eschew lumping the ball upfield from defense; and
(b) play our way out of this division and the Championship from the back.

Amid all the excitement sparked by the possible capture of these Argentinean players, the Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano affairs are a cautionary tale about the differences in player ownership rules and realities between England (and probably much of the rest of the world) on one hand and South America -particularly Argentina- on the other and the avoidable misunderstandings and messes these differences occasion. Finally I am still trying to figure out the motivations for a relationship between an Argentine Copa Libertadores participant and an English League 1 club which would benefit the English club in terms of an influx of Argentinean players. If you have any ideas, I'd love to read them.

In conclusion, it appears to me that Dennis Wise has made every attempt to implement his intention to bring to Leeds United, a better class and quality of player than he already has. This can only bode well for the Elland Road club’s promotion aspirations. And it bodes ill for every other League 1 club and manager.

Nigerian Football: The Way Forward

2008-01-03T20:04:00.000-08:00

The write-up below was produced in large part by Football Man with contributions from the signatories during the summer of 2000 after the CAN finals in Ghana-Nigeria and the 2000 Olympics in Australia. Although particulars of the article may be dated, the substance remains relevant today.

Special memo to the Nigerian Football Association, Sports Ministry and the Presidency

Kudos needs to go to Cameroon on their recent victories. Their achievement in cleaning us out at home in the CAN finals was no mean feat, but following in our footsteps and emerging winners in the recent Olympic soccer tournament must awaken all Nigerians of ordinary prudence and common sense to the sheer reality that Nigerian football’s pre-eminence in Africa is now under serious challenge from a legitimate foe, a foe which also boasts something akin to Nigeria’s charisma.

We have always maintained that it is the joint responsibility of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and the Ministry of Sports to ensure the existence of an enabling environment for both the domestic game and the national team, allowing both to thrive and achieve their full potential. That it is the Cameroonians who are now showing the benefits of reasonably competent administration ought to be a pointer to anyone within both the Ministry of Sports and the NFA with a head on his shoulders that the time has come to get our act together. The days when it was said of our team "they succeeded in spite of poor administration" are still with us after so many years, but increasingly our players are finding success difficult to come by. The time for administrators to become visibly and consistently proactive enablers in the creation of this success has arrived.

It appears apposite to digress at this point and mention the recent plea by the NFA Secretary-General, Dr. Tijani Yusuf, for cooperation with the football house on the part of sections of the Nigerian public. The suggestion was that the general impression of the current NFA was negative. Be that as it may, it is sufficient to view Yusuf’s plea in the light of the Latin legal maxim “Res ipsa loquitur” [The thing speaks for itself]. Six years ago, Nigeria reached the zenith with the highest-ever FIFA official ranking of Number 5 in the world. Today, Nigeria has slipped to the lower reaches of the rankings, and lies within the forties region. One of the most difficult things for a self-respecting individual to do is to extend a hand of cooperation to a body that has been adjudged grossly incompetent by most rational organizational evaluation standards. That body and its functionaries must undergo a process of reorganization, recreation and reengineering which must not only be successful but also be seen to be successful.

Returning to the subject at hand, the Cameroonian approach now is somewhat reminiscent to the Nigerian approach under Clemens Westerhof. The higher profile of their opposition is what however draws attention thereto, whereas in Nigeria's case perhaps it has been easier for the not so discerning to overlook. The Eagles under Westerhof in his latter years were in 2 streams: the established Europe-based professionals, and the established local professionals with a sprinkling of neophyte Europe based professionals as well as those Europe-based professionals on the comeback trail. This latter combination destroyed Ethiopia 6-0 in a CAN qualifier in Lagos, with Peter Rufai making his return and Sunday Oliseh debuting.
While the former combination tended to handle the bigger World Cup matches, the latter combination prosecuted the CAN qualification campaigns.

Playing internationally had the salutary effect of exposing the established local professionals not only to the intricacies of international football, but also giving them the opportunity to showcase their ability to scouts. Finidi George is a notable beneficiary of the opportunities created by this type of arrangement. The coruscating Friday Ekpo was not as fortunate however [due largely to claims, legitimate or otherwise, that he was too slow ... but as the former Leeds United and England midfield general Tony Currie, also accused of being too slow, once said, "You can't play intelligent football at 100 mph".]

What our present situation calls for, in a nutshell, is a series of changes in Nigerian football that will affect all aspects of the game from the highest to the lowest echelons. These changes are summarized in a series of steps set out below.

THE CYBER EAGLES WAY FORWARD

In the enlightened, long-term interest of Nigerian football, the Ministry of Sports must be divested of power of control over the NFA that decree 101 donates to it. This naturally means outright abrogation of the decree, if not particular amendment. The legal effect of abrogating the Decree will be to end the Sports Ministry's actual control of the NFA. This control is exercised via the NFA secretary, who is a direct employee of the Sports Ministry and is the personage who wields actual executive power. He answers to the Permanent Secretary of the Sports Ministry and the Minister of Sports. He is not answerable to the NFA chairman, who is merely a figurehead. Thus the NFA Chairman is very conveniently placed for our poniards, whereas the functionary responsible for actual implementation is not.

The NFA chairman runs for that office on a platform of ideas, competes for votes to win and implement his ideas. He is however in an invidious position because the success of his tenure depends on a civil servant who does not answer to him but wields the actual power. This must change.

With these changes, will come a stoppage of annual fiscal flow from the coffers of the Federal Government, but football organization in Nigeria more than has the wherewithal to fend for itself comfortably with proper and visionary management.

In the enlightened interest of our football, the NFA must hold fresh elections. From all available indications, the reign of Dominic Oneya thus far has seen "business as usual", and the general opinion is one of sore dissatisfaction with the reaction to Jo Bonfrere's allegation that the reason behind the Eagles' inactivity in terms of exhibition matches and friendly internationals is a greedy official's demands for monetary "satisfaction".

The reconstituted NFA MUST as a matter of urgency conduct a needs assessment. What are the needs of the domestic game? What are the desiderata? Many things spring to mind. Improved pitch quality, better refereeing, better player management and remuneration, more effective revenue generation via hoard advertising, the sale of TV broadcast rights [terrestrial and satellite], club sponsorship via shirt advertising, establishment by clubs of proper corporate structures in line with their official status as Public or Private Limited Companies [plc] duly registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission; ownership of stadia by clubs or lease agreements between clubs and the owners of the stadiums. The list goes on.

Here in the USA, a market seems to exist for football programming from third world countries. Many subscribe to RAI, Football Chileano, Telemundo and a host of others which show football matches during the weekends. Starved as we are for information on the young up and coming stars of the Nigerian game, and considering the esteem with which Nigerian players are held outside that country, it seems that the prospect of TV revenue going to clubs, and ultimately players –thereby giving a healthy shot in the arm to the matter of players’ welfare—is hardly a chimera. With the hundreds of thousands of Nigerians resident in such cities as New York and Houston, a satellite television market is guaranteed.

Dish Network / WebTV for instance, is open to programming from countries such as Saudi Arabia, Tunisia, India, Egypt and various others [unlike, for example Directv which caters to what it considers a more demographically mainstream market]. The revenue flowing to both the clubs and the NFA from a TV deal involving an octopus of the size of DishNetwork or WebTV will more than compensate for the loss of central government revenue. A market also exists in Europe, with the large Nigerian community resident in England. Nigerians in the Diaspora are ready, willing and able to support Nigerian football in a variety of ways, including TV viewership.

The immediate benefits are as follows:
clubs will become less strapped for cash.
that being so, they will be better able to remunerate their players handsomely.
consequently, players will be more comfortable.
this will contribute to reducing the stampede of our best players abroad before they are ready.
furthermore, the clubs which apply their income wisely will be able to build up their infrastructure.
the possibilities opened up by this kind of opportunity will encourage clubs to explore other revenue-earning methods.
in the long run, privately-owned clubs will be expected to become self-sufficient, while state-owned clubs will also earn a measure of financial independence from the various government agencies to which they are attached.
The NFA, working closely with the clubs, MUST institute a 10-year development plan. This 10-year plan must be based on the outcomes gleaned from item 3 above. Each plan must be broken down into manageable component parts, thus permitting step by step progress assessment, fine-tuning, etc.

As far as professionalism in the league and its organizing body is concerned, all employees of both the NFA and the clubs must mandatorily attend biennial management training courses organized by a reputable management training organization of the NFA and clubs' choice.
Clubs should be expected to send their coaches on training courses in the top European soccer schools. In this regard, advocating a Dutch school is indicated chiefly because whereas our style originally was inherited from the British, our natural tendency is not towards the British style and we have developed a style of our own distinct therefrom. It is nowhere near the Italian catennacio, or the French flow or even the Spanish style, and our players lean towards flair rather than Germanic method, Nordic simplicity or Eastern European orthodoxy. The Dutch system appears to encourage a fusion of varying styles, and the Dutch influence on our game has been strong of late.

The NFA must create a full time position of Technical Director. The occupant of this position will be the chief architect of the tactical and technical development of Nigerian football. He will be responsible for ensuring that clubs organize viable feeder systems, coaching and scouting systems for youths, thereby exposing players at a very early age to the tactical and technical intricacies of the game. [This is important because, as a BASIC example: tackling is not a matter of technique only but also tactics. Take a player committing to a sliding tackle against a balanced opponent when he is the last man with only the goalkeeper to beat [technique] versus a player who, in the same situation, holds off until help has arrived before launching into his tackle [tactics plus technique]. If our young players can learn these kind of things at an early age, their level of tactical awareness as they mature will be superior to today’s current stars].

In other words, the Technical Director will attempt to influence the development, not of the league in terms of the tactics and techniques which each individual team chose to adopt, but rather of the players that enter the league even before they become Pro League professionals. This is the role the current Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier played within the French Football Federation, and the results have been a World Cup and European Championship victories. Giving credit only to Aime Jacquet and Roger Lemerre is thus ignoring the importance of Houllier's quiet background work over several years. The tactical nous and technical adeptness of the Anelkas, Vieiras, Petits, Desaillys and a host of others can be traced to the sterling work of Gerard Houllier in laying a general foundation for French football.
Imagine the impact on our league! And subsequently, on our national team! Such a person might be Chief Adegboye Onigbinde.

The rule should be established that all national age-grade selections MUST emanate from within the Nigerian league, YSFON and the secondary schools games. This will be a way to keep in line with FIFA's proposal to ban the sale of any player under the age of 18 years to another country. In fact if the rule is applied to ALL age grade selections, this age restriction will be increased to 21 years minimum.

We must encourage our young players to establish themselves in Nigeria first before they go abroad, for these reasons:

The trade in our young players is bad for our National team and football development in Nigeria because it leads to problems with call ups, creates a superiority complex amongst some players thereby causing disharmony, creates problems in player development, and is a factor in players’ exploitation by unscrupulous agents and clubs.

In order to fulfil the mandate to organize the local scene before soccer glory returns to Nigeria, we must recognise the importance of ensuring that our players have good grounding in the Nigerian league in the same way that the Keshis, Amunikes, Amokachis, Rufais, Shorunmus, Yekinis, Siasias and a host of others did before venturing abroad in pursuit of professional careers. It is noteworthy that even though we had mostly Europe-based professionals in our 1994 squads to the CAN and World Cup, most already had a good grounding at home before going professional overseas. Consider the goalkeepers and the entire back line during the 1994 World Cup finals: while all of them played professional soccer abroad they had made their mark at home.

It is recommended that only the full squad may be the exception to that rule.

The NFA must take steps, as the body responsible for the OVERALL organization of the Nigerian game [and not just the league], schoolboy football inclusive, to resuscitate the Principals' Cup competitions. We have all noted that the Principals' Cup is a veritable hunting ground for the best schoolboys, whom will in turn, hardened by serious inter-school, inter-local government and inter-state football, populate and drive the clubs, with the upper strata thereof wearing Nigeria’s colors eventually.

The Principals’ Cup has had a long and illustrious history, and the benefits accruing therefrom to Nigerian soccer have been innumerable. The likes of Sam Okpodu, Tarila Okorowanta, the star players of the Nwosu-Keshi era at St. Finbarrs, almost the entire complement of the late Christopher Udemezue’s Flying Eagles of 1983, the preponderance of whom would go on to win full honors for Nigeria: these are products of the Principals’ Cup. This competition must be brought back to life.

Our current football governing authorities need to get with the program. The issue at hand is a visionary overhauling of the administration, the creation of an efficient organization which will stimulate the proper development and deployment of talent.

Additionally, all those calling for Johannes Bonfrere’s head must tarry a while and reevaluate our situation with a critical, emotionless eye. Since 1994 when Clemens Westerhof left Nigeria after the World Cup finals, we have had the following succeed him:
Shuaibu Amodu
Carlos Alberto Torres
Johannes Bonfrere
Philippe Troussier
Bora Milutinovic
Thijs Libregts
Johannes Bonfrere (again). This high turnover of Technical Advisers has been in the space of less than 6 calendar years.

It is not arguable at all that stability as a factor in progress and development in all fields of human endeavor is a sine qua non. Thus, if the aim in Nigeria is to restore Nigerian soccer to its former preeminence in the African and world game, then a continuation of the Technical Advisership merry-go-round is hardly indicated.

The complaints against Bonfrere have been well-documented in headlines and stories by such reputable papers as The Comet, The Guardian and The Vanguard, chief of which includes:
Bonfrere’s glaring lack of respect for his employers; and
Bonfrere’s unrepentant refusal to cast his eye on the domestic league for international quality talent.

It appears that Bonfrere’s attitude should not be condoned, because, in the first place, nowhere in the world do employees dictate to employers; and secondly Bonfrere’s brief as contained in his employment contract includes the task of developing domestic talent, a task which Clemens Westerhof, for all the criticism he endured during his tenure and has endured since, performed with remarkable sedulousness.

It appears that the NFA must now revisit this contract with Bonfrere in some sort of mandatory evaluation meeting, which would remind all parties involved of each one’s responsibilities.

The way forward for Nigerian football is arduous and filled with many tough decisions, which require not only to be made, but also to be correctly made. However, provided that the guiding principle, the prime directive, remains the enlightened best interests of Nigerian football, the end results should see a pleasing renaissance of our domestic and international game profiles.
Being of the old school, a return to the Sunday Dankaro days when Nigerian teams stalked the African continent like Alpha wolves will be the realization of a dream.

(Signed.)

‘Gbenga Aina *Osheiza Abdulmalik *Adeolu Adejokun *Placidus Amama *Tajudeen M. Balogun *'Fisayo Fakunle *Peter Johnson *'Dele Kilanko *'Ladi Kukoyi *Rodney Lassiter *Hussein Mahmoud Wada *Lawrence Musa *Tokunbo Ojo *'Bode Olajumoke *'Femi Onibudo
*George Oti *James Temidara *Ejovi Ughwanogho

Football versus Gridiron

2007-12-28T22:55:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my opening salvo, the terminology for the beautiful game that we will use here is “football”. For the handball version played in the United States with helmets and armor, the referent “gridiron” will be used.

I have over the years tried to compare the physical and mental demands of both sports on its exponents. Many summers, we footballers had gridiron players join our kickabouts, and while we marveled at their superior physical shape, their rock hard bodies (I will never forget my sideways, hip-to-hip collision with a linebacker), in the overall endurance and stamina stakes, we pure footballers were miles ahead as they, the pure gridironers, were accustomed to playing their game in short bursts, called “plays”, versus the continuous dynamic and casual but always intentional movement associated with football. In short, we footballers usually left the gridiron players puffing and panting over the long haul. Playing football, we soon realized, was their way of getting in the levels of intense aerobic activity necessary to bring their stamina up to the next level.

The deft footwork required to control the ball, beat your man, pass it, and shoot accurately: the gridiron players made heavy weather of executing these elementary skills. To varying degrees, their skills were all over the map: some were passable, some were acceptable, some were middling. We never encountered a gridiron player who was mediocre at football.

Some years later, I would participate in a flag gridiron league, playing wide receiver, offensive and defensive lineman, linebacker and safety. The physical demands of each position were as challenging as they were different. As a receiver, you ran the risk of sustaining broken or dislocated fingers if the ball fell into your hands differently than you anticipated. The “egg” proved to be more awkward to catch than a football deliberately aimed straight to a goalkeeper ever was for any decent goalkeeper. The simple act of running forward and looking backwards to verify the ball’s trajectory so you could adjust your position to make the catch over your shoulders proved deceptively difficult. An entirely different set of skills was required to perform each function of the game, and each one by itself required wholly different abilities than the demands of football. And although I was never once left catching my breath, my experience made abundantly clear to me –irrespective of my relative success as a receiver—as someone playing gridiron for the first time, that my skills were decidedly less than practice squad.

Football and gridiron share similar theories of use of space: the objective is to create space—by passing the ball or by running with it—isolate defenders, and create chances for attackers to do the business, whether it is to score goals or touchdowns. How space is created in each sport is a function of what the rules allow and the nature of the sport. In football, anybody can create space for himself and his teammates with or without the ball, with or without any physical contact with an opponent. In gridiron, space is created by a combination of offensive linemen physically removing defensive linemen from it, receivers outrunning cornerbacks, safeties and linebackers, tight ends occupying space and blocking linebackers and cornerbacks from occupying other space of interest.

Both sports also share similarities in terms of possession being “nine-tenths of the law”, that is, possession usually translates to victory. The longer your team enjoys possession, the greater are your chances of success.

The dichotomy begins in terms of the kind and circumstance of permissible physical contact. The gloriously bone-jarring, concussion-causing big hits of gladiatorial gridiron are the early-bath fodder of football. Footballers know you can only tackle the man in possession. Gridiron players know you can hit –and topple—the man who’s in your or your teammate’s way.

The second and most important difference for me is in the unique characteristic rhythm of each sport which imparts its uniqueness and draws its adherents. The stop-start-stop-start chess-like repetitiveness of gridiron is unparalleled in any other sport, including rugby. The continuous, flowing symmetry of football is distinctive, and while other sports notably basketball and ice hockey have imitated this symmetry, neither one quite possesses the level of all-out flowing action in a field of the size associated with football, and basketball for instance with its point guard dribbling the ball up the floor doesn’t quite replicate the sheer beauty of a well-executed passing move from out of defense –as for instance a classic goal by Terry McDermott for Liverpool when all 11 Liverpool players touched the ball—or a quick attacking break, as for instance the move made by the then Red Star Belgrade midfielder Dejan Sevicevic for Yugoslavia when breaking out from deep against Argentina during the 1990 World Cup finals.

In the final analysis, each sport has its idiosyncrasies, its peculiar physical demands, and its distinctiveness. But I do think that there is no other sport anywhere in the world that has gridiron’s stop-start chess characteristic or football’s flowing symmetry.

Damir Desnica: King of Deaf Footballers.

2007-12-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

1978 was the year I first read about a Deaf footballer named Damir Desnica. Desnica, from the then Yugoslavia, was playing for a team called HKN Rijeka, located in the port city of the same name. Rijeka is, of course, in today’s Croatia. The occasion was the 1980 European Championship Qualifier.

Desnica, born Deaf, was that rare breed of Deaf person: a professional footballer. And here he was, a player for Yugoslav Cup winners, Rijeka, wearing the colors of Yugoslavia. Desnica enjoyed a decorated career, with Cup successes with a relatively small Rijeka football club battling the Big Four giants of the then Yugoslavia –Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade, Hajduk Split and Dinamo Zagreb—and, every now and then, putting them to the sword.

And here was the occasion: Romania 3 v Yugoslavia 2 (Petrovic, Desnica). Desnica was 22, and winning his first and only cap for the then Yugoslavia against Romania in Bucharest in October 1978, during the 1980 European Championship qualifiers. He came on as a second half substitute to score a 90th minute consolation. To fully appreciate the import of this match, Yugoslavia were replete with stars of the stature of Vladimir Petrovic, Safet Susic, Ivica “Ivo” Surjak as well as players who would later become familiar to fans of the English game –Petar Borota (Chelsea) and Dzemal Hadziabdic (Swansea City)—against a Romania side which included future manager Anghel Iordanescu, who was also on the scoresheet.

In those days, the sole source of information on football outside Nigeria and the British Isles was World Soccer. And so, a little under a year later, World Soccer brought me more on Desnica’s exploits. The year was 1979. The competition was the European Cup Winners’ Cup, a knife-edge, straight knockout competition, which has now been discontinued.

Rijeka 3 (Desnica (3)) v. Lokomotive Kosice (Czechoslovakia) 0. Kosice are a Slovak club nowadays, if that interests you. The first leg had seen Kosice whip Rijeka 2-0. The second leg saw Desnica –a winger—explode with goals in the 1st, 44th and 76th minutes to knock out the Czechs. And so, thanks to World Soccer, I knew just a little bit more about Damir Desnica, Deaf Yugoslavian international footballer of Croatian origin with one cap and one goal for his country and a decisive hat-trick for his club in a big European competition.

I would not read about Desnica’s exploits again until the 1985 UEFA Cup. After summarily disposing of Spanish side Valladolid 4-2 in the first round, Rijeka met Real Madrid in the second round, winning the first leg 3-1 at home, only to have their chances of progress scuppered by a Belgian referee named Schoeters, who sent Desnica off for 2 yellow cards. His first yellow had been for not stopping play when the whistle went; and his second yellow was for, I seem to remember, “insulting the referee”. I was interested in how Desnica had managed the latter considering he had been deaf since birth and communicated exclusively manually as opposed to orally. Had this Deaf Croatian player, unable since birth to voice, somehow managed to utter a grievous, punishable insult in Flemish or Walloon? At all events, the referee’s radical reduction of Rijeka to 8 players enabled Real to score 2 more goals to win the tie 3-0, and take the round 4-3 on aggregate --and progress to win the tourney.

The exploits of Damir Desnica, Deaf Footballer, raised for me the questions: have there been other Deaf footballers at a similar high-profile level, down the years? Are there any Deaf footballers currently playing high-level professional football today? The answers I found were rather interesting. Hunter Davies, in his seminal The Glory Game, which followed the fortunes of Tottenham Hotspur through the 1971-72 season, mentioned a Deaf player on Spurs’ books named Bobby Scarth –whose father had been a Spurs player in his day. Scarth was a very talented defender, but unlike Rijeka with Desnica, Spurs apparently considered Scarth’s deafness to be a hindrance, and he was released at the end of the 1971-72 season.

But what about Deaf players who actually made the grade? According to the British Deaf Football Association website, the Arsenal and England striker Cliff Bastin, who held Arsenal’s goalscoring record before Ian Wright broke it, was deaf. The “Clown Prince” of English football, Rodney Marsh –who played for QPR, Manchester City, Fulham and England, was also deaf. I have since discovered that Marsh is deaf in his left ear, the result of a collision with a defender and a goalpost early in his career. Jimmy Case whose thunderous shooting from deep in the rampant midfield of the powerful Liverpool team of the 70’s and 80’s struck fear into goalkeepers in his day, was also deaf—in one ear in his playing days, and now, in his 40’s, is experiencing progressive hearing loss in his other ear.

And so, from Bastin, to Marsh, to contemporaries Case and Desnica … Deaf individuals have played football professionally at the highest levels, including representative international football. The Croatian and former Yugoslavian coach Miroslav Blazevic famously said that if conditions were right, he would select a team of all-Deaf players – simply because the ones he had worked with, including Desnica, showed a level of concentration in action which was superior to what he had come to expect from his hearing players.

What about current Deaf professional footballers? At the moment and to the best of my knowledge, there is not a Deaf player doing the business at the highest levels of the game. However the ongoing FA Cup tournament in England has thrown up a striker with the potential to become a solid contributor at the Championship level. His name is Lee Farrell. He plays semi-professionally for Horsham of the Ryman Premier League. In the 2nd round of this season’s FA Cup, Horsham met Swansea City in Wales on December 10 2007, and were comprehensively beaten 6-2, but not before giving the Welsh outfit a scare with a brace from none other than Farrell.

Desnica is a hero still in Croatia today, but is relatively unknown elsewhere, playing as he did in an era before the advent of the information superhighway. Unlike the situation in the dark old pre-internet days, I will be following Farrell’s career from afar with keen interest.

It's Set to be a Festive Holiday Season for Leeds

2007-12-20T14:44:00.000-08:00

Dennis Wise has set his side the achievable target of being top of the table by the turn of the year. Personally my feeling is Leeds are well capable of gaining the maximum 9 points from the upcoming 3 fixtures –versus Hartlepools United, Swansea City and the New Year’s day visit of Oldham— and will be top of the table by the end of January 2008.

During the early stages of the season, Leeds beat all 3 sides (both Swansea and Hartlepools 2-0 at Elland Road and obdurate Oldham 1-0 at their Boundary Park arena) with the Kandol-Beckford partnership accounting for 3 of the goals, midfielders David Prutton and Ian Westlake chipping in with the winners against Swansea and Oldham respectively. In the case of Prutton’s winner, Beckford was involved in it’s engineering.

Our first game in the period is away to Hartlepool, a side which was predicted to be in the running for promotion to the Championship but which has slipped to 12th place in the table. Hartlepool under the former Nottingham Forest midfielder Danny Wilson are a neat, passing side who play the ball on the deck and like to knock it about. But a goal difference of only +3 and 9 defeats, including 2 at home to Brighton and rising Walsall suggests that they are beatable at home. Leeds United also has the advantage of having the division’s best strike force –Kandol and Beckford—as well as a tight defense anchored around the talents of Angolan international Manuel Rui Marques which has conceded only 14 goals, a record bettered at this stage only by Nottingham Forest’s backline with 12 conceded. I do not believe Hartlepool have the quality of strikers to consistently defeat the Leeds defense and win this game, and foresee Leeds taking all 3 points.

Swansea City are our second opponents during this period, and are currently at the head of the division, fulfilling, at least for now, their manager Roberto Martinez’s stated intention of staying above Leeds United. Thanks in part to the Spanish influence infused by manager Martinez, Swansea are probably playing some of the best football in this division, however they recently suffered the loss of Northern Ireland striker and former Leeds youngster Warren Feeney to an ankle injury which will keep him out of action for 7 weeks. Feeney is the Swans’ only real aerial threat, and his absence reduces the Swans offense to a one-dimensional game against a burgeoning Leeds side whose only significant absentee is the Republic of Ireland midfielder Jonathan Douglas, out until at least April with a knee injury. Douglas has developed into a solid contributor for Leeds this season and has already scored 3 goals, but in Andrew Hughes, Leeds have a capable replacement. Hughes is currently deployed as a makeshift left-back, but a switch to Douglas’s position in midfield will open the way up for the emerging homegrown youngster Ben Parker to stake a very legitimate claim for the left-back position. Alternatively Wise can insert Jonny Howson, a rising young star with a keen eye for the killer pass, into the breach created by Douglas’ enforced absence.

Leeds have what it takes, especially with the loss of Feeney which is a big blow to Swansea, to take all 3 points off the Swans in Wales.

The final match of the festive season sees Leeds hosting Oldham Athletic at Elland Road. Oldham are managed by John Sheridan, the former Leeds and Republic of Ireland midfield general, with former Leeds striker Tommy Wright among the coaches. Sheridan and Wright both began their careers at Leeds under the tutelage of Leeds Legend Eddie Gray in the early 1980’s. Oldham’s Leeds connection doesn’t end there: their defense is marshaled by the former Leeds hard man Sean Gregan.

Sheridan, on a very limited budget, produced a playoff side last season, but this season Oldham have started out slowly and climbed just as slowly up the table from the relegation places and now lie in 14th place in League One. They have accomplished this by grinding out results against the division’s strugglers, beating favored sides like Doncaster Rovers by the odd goal, and maintaining a semblance of sanity against the expected whipping boys like Millwall who were recently beaten 3-2 at The New Den.

With a record of 21 goals scored and 20 conceded in 19 games, Oldham are not currently an exceptional side by any means whether offensively or defensively, but the fact that their climb up the table has been predicated on relatively strong away form indicates a tendency on the road to defend in depth and attack quickly on the break. The efficacy of this approach against Leeds at fortress Elland Road remains to be seen; however I am confidently sticking my neck out and predicting a 2-0 win for Leeds.

Leeds United v. Bristol Rovers Preview

2007-12-20T12:18:00.001-08:00

Leeds United v Bristol Rovers.

Elland Road, Leeds LS 11 OES.

3:00 pm, Saturday December 22 2007

The signs point to a continuation of Leeds United’s formidable home form when Bristol Rovers are the visitors this Saturday. United’s impressive home record has resurrected images of “Fortress Elland Road”, with Dennis Wise’s squad having won 9 and drawn 1 of 10 home games played so far this season. A high octane offense and stingy defense has seen Leeds compiling an impressive +19 goal difference, with 24 scored and 5 conceded at Elland Road. On the road, their form has been no less compelling, with 6 wins, 2 draws, plus the only 2 defeats suffered this season. On their travels, Leeds have scored 15 goals, conceded 9 for a combined current record showing 15 won, 3 drawn and 2 lost; 39 scored, 14 conceded, a massive +25 goal difference and, perversely, only 33 points.

The perversity lies in the Football League’s decision to dock Leeds 15 points for improperly exiting administration. It has meant that, rather than being 11 points clear at the top of the table with 48 points at this stage of the season, we are 5th, 4 points behind current leaders Swansea City. On the other hand, the points penalty has galvanized the club, created a siege mentality that has fed a killer mood buoyed by a new commitment to supreme fitness – there is no side in the division capable of matching Leeds United in the fitness stakes this season. The convergence of all these dynamics has enabled the side to ride on the crest of the unrivalled wave of resurgent fan support –some weeks, Elland Road has boasted the 5th highest attendance in all of England, including the Premiership, and one weekend, the highest attendance in Europe. Elland Road is a formidable proposition for any visiting team these days.

In this season’s corresponding fixture in Bristol, Leeds summarily dispatched Rovers 3-0 with a brace from the division’s leading scorer Jermaine Beckford that sandwiched a Tresor Kandol finish. Since then, the Kandol-Beckford strike partnership has established itself as the deadliest pairing in the division, with 21 goals between them (13 to Beckford, 8 to Kandol). There are no signs whatsoever of a let-up anytime soon particularly against a Rovers side which is 5th from the bottom of the division with just one point separating it from the group currently in the drop zone.

Formwise, Rovers have lost 3 of their last 5 league games, with 2 wins against also-rans. As for Leeds United, after winning 8 games on the trot from the start of the season to summarily eliminate their -15 deficit, they dropped their first points in a controversial 1-1 draw at Gillingham when manager Wise and the Kandol-Beckford duo were all sent off by an overweening, incompetent referee named Danny McDermid. Since then, Leeds have recorded 2 further 1-1 draws (against Orient and Walsall) 2 defeats (by Carlisle and Cheltenham), and seen off Oldham, Yeovil, Brighton, Millwall, Bournemouth, Swindon, Port Vale and Huddersfield to gain 26 points from a possible 36 during that period, table-topping form by anyone’s standards.

Given the two sides’ contrasting form and fortunes of late plus the clear difference in class which is very much in favor of Leeds United, I am showing a comprehensive win for the Elland Road club.

DFB Pokalfinale 1973

2007-12-19T21:57:00.001-08:00

Berti Vogts Moves Along

2007-12-19T21:09:00.000-08:00

Elsewhere (http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=84770&highlight=) I've espoused less than optimistic views of Berti Vogts's chances of taking Nigeria's Eagles to the heights similar to the 1994 gold standard. I've not seen much to convince me otherwise since.

"Upstairs", you will see footage from the 1973 German Cup Final … #12 Gunter Netzer, he of the big boots, flowing blond locks, penetrating runs and bombing upfield passes, doing the business in his last game for the late Hennes Weisweiler’s Borussia Moenchengladbach before leaving for Real Madrid. Netzer scores the winner with only his second touch. Vogts knows this is what it means to have a real, a dynamic, midfield general. http://youtube.com/watch?v=SuxcFq_e6fg. To see more of Netzer in his pomp, select West Germany v Switzerland.

The attacking football of Borussia Monchengladbach, the exciting game of rip-roaring, thunderous entertainment and swashbuckling goalscoring intent which Vogts was brought up to play. Netzer is gone, but Heinz Flohe is there, and Borussia are playing football the way it is meant to be played. http://youtube.com/watch?v=GbxiiCIuX_U ... football as it is meant to be played. Nigerian football preachers like NNB’s Willy Bazuaye, Leventis United’s Emmanuel Okoh and Bendel Insurance’s Alabi Aisien produced sides which practiced this kind of football, with Bazuaye’s NNB iteration of 1982-84 in particular striking fear throughout the West African sub-region. As an aside, it is no coincidence that the original Nigeria Dream Team of the 1996 Olympics was Bazuaye’s creation, although in one of the greatest and tragically all-too-common travesties of the Nigerian football milieu, the global plaudits went to Johannes Bonfrere.

Vogts’s coaching history shows that he has never produced sides constructed to perform at this level of commitment to positive, attacking football. His Germany, Scotland and Qatar sides were either overly methodical or unremittingly prosaic, and he came away from Scotland and Qatar with less than stellar track records, in my view just reward for his overly cautious approach.

It is in the light of this that I have one or two reservations regarding the deployment of John Obi Mikel. He plays a defensive role at Chelsea, who have the luxury of Essien and even Michael Ballack to drive their team forward. You might argue that players on the national team are best deployed to fulfill the roles they performed at their clubs which earned them their call-up to the national team, but that presupposes a few things:
(a) the player is a specialist player in that position
(b) the player is there on the strength of what he can contribute to the team in that position
(c) the player being in that position is critical to synergy and best balance.

Looking through the Nigeria squad, the critical strands are (a) specialism and (c) synergy and best balance.

Obi is not a specialist defensive midfielder, but was raised to be a schemer, an attacker. I neither say that conversions are impossible or altogether ill-advised, nor that Mikel’s conversion has been unsuccessful. I am moving on to my second point: synergy and best balance: we don’t have an Essien or a Ballack, but we have in John Obi Mikel, a special player who Samson Siasia proved on the world stage in 2005 in Holland possesses exquisite touch and vision capable of slicing open the most parsimonious defenses. Absent a player with similar capabilities in greater abundance, such talent is wasted chiefly performing defensive duties. I maintain that John Obi Mikel has the credentials –if not the big boots, the flowing blond locks and the blue-collar dynamism of Netzer—to perform the midfield general’s role, pulling the strings at the heart of our midfield, springing defenses open, driving our attackers forward, making us tick.

And within that scenario, I maintain that Yusuf Ayila or Kingsley Obodo, both of whom are well capable of doing so, should fulfill the defensive midfield role.

Now this contribution sums up my attitude towards Berti Vogts. http://forum.cybereagles.com/viewtopic.php?t=84770&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=92. In reality, nothing has changed since. I’m however not a completely blinkered critic of Vogts. I believe he’s brought some value into the Eagles’ set up. I have been impressed with the suddenly busy calendar, although not so much with the fact that the opposition is non-African –this in preparation for a tournament of African teams. It takes my mind back to Tunisia ’94 when the hosts’ busy preparation was marked by a series of friendlies against European opposition –as opposed to the African teams they would face during the competition proper. Unprepared for the comparative panache and robustness of the African teams’ styles, Tunisia suffered a summary first round exit, marked by their hapless coach desperately chewing on his tracksuit collar as he stared a second consecutive, eliminating defeat in the face. Hopefully Vogts isn’t making the same mistake.

Mexico v. Nigeria http://209.44.113.146/foros/viewtopic.php?t=27656 gave some of us reason to hope that the players’ natural talent would prevail over the coach’s tendency for overdeliberateness in a way similar to the 1970 Brazil team’s established collective attacking exuberance inculcated by Joao Saldanha overcoming Saldanha’s successor Mario Zagalo’s defensive preferences (which eventually emerged to the fore in 1974). Nigeria v. Australia was an interesting proposition, as was Nigeria v. Switzerland. At this point in time, I can say no more than that.

From the outside looking in, I’m quite pleased with Vogts’s willingness to drive home a lesson in 2 of the 3 D’s –Discipline and Dedication—to players who responded to his invitations to camp at their leisure rather than on his schedule –as Vincent Enyeama found out to his cost, with Austin Ejide and ‘Dele Aiyenugba finally coming into the frame. There was never any doubting that Discipline would be the first entrant into the Eagles camp, with Dedication following quickly on its heels. Determination is already a part of the Eagles’ make-up.

The Cup of African Nations should be quite interesting. I will reserve my initial judgment for when the final squad is announced, with a view to commenting on our possibilities after seeing our opening game.

Opening Salvo

2007-12-19T18:59:00.000-08:00

This blog is created primarily to discuss football, as in the game the rest of the world knows as football as opposed to the handball in armour and helmet the majority of USAers are familiar with. Not for us, any reference to the immortal Pele's beautiful game as "sawker" on these pages!

As a noted British commentator once famously said of "armoured handball", can you imagine carrying a rock uphill with one arm while fending off attackers with the other ... what kind of job is that for a grown man? In spite of my bias against gridiron --stemming chiefly from the inappropriate designation thereof as "football" which, in my view, is an improper attempt on the part of gridiron folks to appropriate a name properly belonging to the King of all Sports, a sport which is played with feet, the beautiful game of football-- I am a dyed in the wool Green Bay Packers fan.

In this blog, I will talk about the one and only Leeds United, Ajax Amsterdam (as opposed to Ajax Cape Town), the Nigerian national team the Eagles and every Nigerian national selection from the Under-17s through to the Under-23's, the Olympic team, as well as the Falcons, the women's team. I will hold fort on UberArseMeister Arsene Wenger's Arsenal --today's foremost exponents of the beautiful game--, Brazil, and just about every football side that strikes my fancy...but Nigeria and Leeds United above all. Nonetheless, every now and then expect to see some wanderings as my mind meanders to other issues ... be they of topical interest or not. You'll get a rip-roaring ride once in a while, some semi-thoughtful analysis every now and then (restricted to football, of course ...) but from time to time inane ramblings on issues or non-issues such as England's recent hurried appointment of the Italian master of catennacio Fabio Capello as their new national team coach in succession to the unfortunate (Leeds fan) Steve McClaren, where to get the best ethnic, non meat-and-potatoes eats and brews in the Washington DC area, etc. It's my blog :) And because it's my blog, I'll be trying (and succeeding mostly) to steer clear of politics.

Comments are invited, dialogue welcome, but keep the language clean.