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I
never wanted to do this, but the furore or shall I say ‘furor footballus’ which has been displayed by all and
sundry, in their quest to justify and support either a LC or a FC, even
without the proper understanding or know-how of the pros and cons involved
in football coaching. Thus prompted me to post this thread, which though
may be too voluminous to read, but is also educative. ( and that’s
if you’re patient enough to finish it ) happy reading !
Football coaching in many ways is like a high school art teacher. First
you must have the ‘eye’- for talent that is, and an understanding
of the strengths and weaknesses of each player. With each player, like
the student,
you must build on the existing qualities, balancing structured training with
requisite freedom for individual qualities to flourish. Over emphasize the
former and you produce a mechanistic player, over indulge the latter and you
run the risk of a player who lacks objectivity and focus.
Speaking about the relationship between natural talent and being moulded through
a coach, Jurgen Klinsmann had this to say: ‘Talent is very important,
and the additional moulding of the characteristics of this talent happens through
coaches. But a parallel development has to take place, that of the psyche and
the human being as such, and that is almost more important. As a student of
the game, over the years I have often wondered why Nigeria has been unable
to produce coaches who tower above the game like Helmut SCHOEN (Germany), Rinus
MICHEL (Netherlands), Vicenzo BEARZOT (Italy) or in the manner in which the
legends of ex-footballers like Teslim BALOGUN, or Emma OKALA straddle the game
till date.
To understand this, we would have to delve back to the history of formation
of the average Nigerian footballer. He is self taught, he hones his skills,
derived entirely from natural abilities while playing with his peers. At this
level, the value of each player is largely conditioned by his abilities on
the dribble and the ruggedness to match up with the tough physical nature of
the game. The result is that by the time he makes his first encounter with
a coach, he is largely formed. Unfortunately, as in many other aspects of national
life, the current day Nigerian coach, has scant respect for details.
Unlike
the late Dan Anyiam for instance, nobody pays attention to taking players through
the fundamentals. Nobody teaches football in Nigeria because of the erroneous
belief that a footballer is born not made; you either have it or you don’t
have it !. And the result: the production of players primarily conditioned
by rugged individualism and whose first instinct is to dribble, in a game widely
accepted as the ultimate in team sport. Where the average Brasilian beats the
opponent with the quality of his passing and movement, we beat our opponent
by dribble. Where the average European defends on the basis of team structure
and tactics, we defend with rugged individual strength. Yet with his high talent
and adaptability, the Nigerian player is the dream of a good coach....
....There
is a fundamental flaw in our understanding and practice of the game
of football which is reinforced
by our use of ex-footballers
as coaches and managers. This derives primarily from our failure to recognise
that there are two components to the technical side of the game- the
practical or footballing side, and the conceptual side. The conceptual
side represents the realms of coaching, driven completely by the creative
intellect and ability to adapt from the existing observed practice. The
result is that while there are books and training courses, these only
give you the frame work; the ability to make something for yourself,
by yourself. You advance as far as your creative intellect and adaptability
takes you, conditioned in most part by playing experience.
Thus, there
is no one method or approach that guides the profession. The concept
of total football resulted from the works of Rinus Michel, as did the
modern 4-4-2 from Arrigo Satchi. Today, coaches like Arsene Wenger are
adapting creatively from American sports to improve counter attacking
tactics and the whole concept of transition football. Never a noted footballer
in his playing days, Arsene Wenger’s intellectual bent on studious
approach to the game is revolutionising the game in England. The current
Liverpool coach Rafael Benitez is another example. He quit Extremadura
after a couple of seasons and decided to take a year’s sabbatical
to study different styles of footballing around Europe, spending time
in England and Italy. He followed closely the coaching methods of Sir
Alex Ferguson , Steve McClaren, Arsene Wenger, and Fabio Capello. It
was a unique decision to take a year off from the game, but in reality
he didn’t as he’s surrounded by it all the time. Benitez
has always been hungry for knowledge on every aspects of the game from
new methods of conditioning and training to the new technical breakthroughs.
Which of the current Nigerian coaches can we sincerely compare to any
of these? How many of the practising Nigerian coaches can be said to
truly follow
the pulse of the game or brought something innovative that can be said to define
the Nigerian game, as Westerhof succeeded in doing? The truth is that many
of us followers of the game indeed are better in tune with the sports than
some of the most prominent coaches in Nigeria. Whether we choose to believe
it or not, the average European coach is miles ahead of the best practising
coaches in Nigeria today.
If you’re in doubt, watch our Globalcom league….NFA
incompetence apart, it will take a thoroughbred Nigerian coach to bring out
the best in our players. But where is such a coach in Nigeria. How many top
flight Nigerian league matches can be compared to the standard of the average
EPL game between West Bromwich Albion and Norwich ?. for every Paul Obiefule
who successfully transfers to Europe, how many talented Nigerian home-based
players have failed trials in recent times for poor understanding of the basics
of team football? Conversely, how many Argentine players who are transferred
from the Aperture are made to go through trials? indeed for that matter, how
many Cameroonians ?......
....The
truth is that the debate over the use of foreign coaches has diverted
attention from the fundamental
failure in Nigeria, a problem
that is yet to be addressed, even with repeated use of expatriate coaches.
The phantom debate often ignores the fact that the Nigerian local league
is dominated by local coaches and is till date, unable to develop footballers
from the abundance talent at it’s disposal. Supporters of LCs will
cite the presence of Nigerian players in Europe as proof of competence,
ignoring the obvious fact of the quantum leap in the standard of these
players, sometimes with as little as three months of scientific coaching,
as we currently see with Seyi Olajengbesi; or as we saw with Taribo West,
rising from a hacksaw defender in Enugu Rangers to a world class centre
back at Inter Milan.
So in all, the time has come for a new approach to development of football
coaching in Nigeria. And in my opinion, instead of the continual haggling of
LC Vs FC issue, and my foreseen failure of our football administrators to provide
a clear cut job description that will include CCC in the scheme of things in
the SE and not dispose or relegate him to the background entirely, I suggest
in support of other notable football analyst in Nigeria, that we use of the
opportunity that the Nigeria/FIFA Goal Project has given to appoint a FC as
Technical Director in the NFA Technical Department, with overall responsibility
for the Goal Project.
From this position, the expatriate should supervise the
coaches in all the national teams who should be Nigerians, with evidence of
professional ambition like CCC, Amoudu, Keshi, Eguavon etc. At the same time,
he should implement a program for development of youth football and training
of coaches under the Goal Project.
The hiring of an expatriate technical director will certainly improve the standard
of play of the national team and our local coaches over and above the mess
local league watchers are being fed weekly. Who knows it may even get us to
the final rounds of the WC, but it will not take Nigerian football beyond the
same parlous state that it is currently, except we also improve on the other
ailing areas-administration.
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