The Drawing Board, I feel very sorry for you. Will Nigerians ever give you a break' Once again, the amusing people of the largest black nation on earth have kept banging on your door to disturb your peace. Each time you appear to be enjoying a little nap, they come again with their antics.I wonder why you are yet to crumble under the overwhelming pressure of 150 million (now 167 million!) contending coaches, analysts and commentators. You must be a typical Nigerian - tough, rugged and indomitable! Like the Beetle, there is no killing The Drawing Board. But please, don't contemplate relocating to Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Ghana or Cote d'Ivoire. They might not need your services more than once in a Century. Nigeria is where the action is, regular and consistent patronage guaranteed!Not surprisingly, at least to me (I saw it coming), Nigeria, in both men's and women's, failed to qualify for, let alone win, anything in 2011 and 2012. And expectedly, as usual, the dramatists shifted the pressure to you! You saw, once again, the panel-beaten faces of administrators operating almost always in a glass house of confusion. It has been the season of sportscasters and commentators with their usual populist big-grammar analyses of 'world-class foreign coach,' 'technical savvy' and 'pedigree.' You have felt the pressure of radio and TV analysts eternally famous for dishing out 'technical and tactical' analyses of the emotion.Suddenly, our numerous football gurus, including road-side and beer parlour analysts, realised the problem with our football was not about coaching, having failed to qualify for 'ordinary' Nations' Cup with the regime after their hearts. In particular, I wonder how comfortable you have been under the bombardment of some ministerial committees to reform Nigerian football and its foreign coach-crazy consultants.And so, once again, I offer my technical support ' the kind I obliged the 'brand-new' sacked Super Eagles coach to whom, soon after his appointment a year ago, I wrote inter alia:'' I sympathise with you for having the giant problems of the Giant of Africa shifted from the so-called corridors of power onto your 'young, innocent' shoulders' In a country where our rulers employ football as a handy tool to divert attention from the calamitous consequences of their clinical misrule, I would be surprised if you did not realise that the burden that has been placed on you is clearly beyond you' I strongly suspect you will succeed only if you could first transform your country into a socio-cultural, economic and political entity with citizens prepared to shed their blood at the mere sight of the national flag.' (Letter to Samson Siasia: The Guardian, Wednesday, November 17, 2010; Nigerian Compass, Wednesday, November 17, 2010; et al)The Drawing Board, please let me avail you with a few more excerpts from some of my earlier articles on Super Eagles and Nigerian football. They should, I strongly believe, stand you in good stead.'Shaibu Amodu is not the problem of the Super Eagles. The team's problem is that of attitude ' that is, the absence of that 'I am ready to die for my country' spirit.' (Senators, not Amodu, deserve sack: Nigerian Compass, Monday, November 23, 2009; et al) '' Drafting in the 'youth' teams as many analysts would always canvass at every time like this would not provide any solution to a national problem that is fundamentally beyond merely kicking the ball around on the field of play. The so-called 'hungry' and 'young-young' players are, in the final analysis, Nigerians.' (Super Eagles and spirit of a failed state: Nigerian Compass, Thursday, July 01, 2010; Sunday Punch, July 04, 2010; et al)Dele Akinola,del.prof@writing.com0802 313 4525,54, Obafemi Awolowo Way,Ikorodu, Lagos.
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