₦airaland Forum

chamotex:
Omo, market is not looking good o

Guys, how market for your side?

eldee:
As I said, Domenech is a silly doormat . . . here is what he said before it blew into sumn bigger

"It was not a confrontation," he told French television station TF1. "People cannot imagine the pressure. We are in a dressing room - the coach says something to a player who is already under pressure, he can react angrily, and with strong words.

"He did not react in the most suitable fashion, but it was just a guy sitting in his corner and muttering - that would not have mattered had it stayed there.

"What was important was that it made the front page of a newspaper, and that exposes the internal life of the squad. I sorted out the problem internally, and as far as I was concerned it was done and dusted.

The FFF only came in after the press reported it, that's when it became a national issue.
Left to Domenech, it was 'done and dusted' . . . but when the FFF came in, he started demanding an apology.
This is what got the players annoyed. . . it was a normal dressing room thing, till it leaked to the press, the FFF didn't even know till L'Equipe reported.

Oh, so you find that surprising too?? That's exactly what the players were annoyed at.
The Anelka incident was a dressing room incident, FFF officials don't come to the dressing room . . . Evra said sumone leaked it to the press, and Domenech said it was done and dusted, the only source was the press and that got them pissed.

'It(FFF) has made a decision (to send Anelka home) without consulting all the players, on the basis of the facts reported by the press.' - Evra

novaman:
I wish the guys at the NFF or NFA will be replaced by people like Kojo Williams who understands football as well as the business aspect of it, John Fashanu who is also a successful businessman and an Ex-Footballer; we DON'T need people with that have never handled business solely built from scratch into a multimillion dollar business but they must have shown serious commitments to the game. We need people who understands the language of money, who don't feel threatened by the figures in Naira or Dollars, but possess the ability to control them; we need men or (and) ladies that have handled businesses of their own that is way past $100Million; we need people in the quality of Danny Jordan CEO SA2010, we need men of character.

eldee:
That's another problem . . . we don't know if they apologised or not.
You're acting on what the press said . . . stories get twisted to sell papers. Evra said the press got it all wrong, we can't know if he is telling the truth because the FFF, like you, got all their information from the same newspapers.
If no one apologised, Domenech wouldn't have gone to criticise the actions taken by the FFF.

In my opinion, if at all a player says sumn wrong and refuses to apologise, it is Domenech's job to recommend that the player be sent home, not the FFF.
The doormat didn't even know Anelka had been sent home till the training session . . .

eldee:
Rajevac apparently wanted to send Muntari home, but was dissuaded after a plea from captain Stephen Appiah.
The Ghanaian Football Association said he had been "accordingly reprimanded".
"We wish to state that Sulley Muntari reacted angrily and in a manner that was offensive to the team's code of conduct in the aftermath of Ghana's game against Australia," the GFA said in a statement.

"He was accordingly reprimanded for his behaviour with[b] the player explaining that his actions were borne out of his frustration by the team's inability to record a win.[/b]"

eldee:
^^^^^^^^^^^

You see what I was saying about initial reaction and the coach managing the team himself??

Here . . . the coach, not the FA wanted to send Muntari home, the captain reacted by pleading on his behalf.
It was already handled in-house, and the FA had to respect the manager's decision.

Evra probably pleaded on Anelka's behalf before the FFF bypassed Domenech and sent Anelka home based on newspaper evidence.
Even Domenech didn't like the FFF's interference, and the strike was just an initial reaction.

chamotex:
w[/i]ank[i]y woulda sounded better actually

tkb417:
hehehehe

aunty Mbulela

hehe; no mind eldee

The lawyer in him is at work


eldee, ki lon sele jare

free my guy o. Mbulela is ma person abeg

tkb417:


edit your post; why shd a coach seek for permission from the federation b4 he takes actions

i didnt know Capello asked the English FA b4 he took Terrys armband

or did Terry sleep with Bridges babe in front of Capello?
or did the FA do any investigation to know if Capello acted in good faith

bro, the dude verbally abused the caoch and no one has said anything otherwise

eldee:
Aunty, I didn't mean to insult you, I'm sorry if I did . . . but I don't get your point at all.

What I'm saying is that . . . bringing money into this situation is totally out of place, it has nothing to do with this.
There have always been influential players even before money came into football, and there have always been strikes.

The issue here is, were they wrong, maybe . . . but they shouldn't take all the blame, the FFF should take majority.

eldee:
Do you just skim through posts?? You were trying to teach me how to use English and I corrected you and you're still clutching straws.
Go check up the definition yourself and stop trying to forcefully assert that my use of words is wrong.

This is pure B.S . . . players have been going on strike since the 60s, sometimes over pay.
Players have been going on strike since 1909. . . it's not something that's just started.
Any small thing and you guys blame it on the money in football, players have been going on strike since the days they earned £20 per week.

And it's not a 'norm', if it were, we wouldn't be discussing it on every World Cup thread.

Now what has the strike solved?? Well, it has exposed the inefficiency of the French Football Federation.
And they are the ones that should get majority of the blame for still keeping Domenech there . . . and the way they let a press trial guide their actions.
You cannot see these simple things but you prefer to go around throwing words like 'malaise', 'norm' . . . abeg dust your football documentaries and get an informed view madam.

RuuDie:
Guy. . . . this will not be the first and last time that players will protest over anything. . . . u ask why they couldn't just endure for 1-week more I'm sure u knw that patience like every other thing about life runs out eventually - when it will, nobody knows! They have been putting up with Domenech's stupidity since 2004!!!

Even in Africa where respect for elders, leaders & authority is vehemently encouraged, there comes a point where certain things are not accepted from a leader/elder/authority!
Have you even bothered to ask yourself why all the players are totally in support of Anelka!? Not one single voice raised in dissent!
I don't think you know Domenech at all, you probably only just heard of him last week - he's been at loggerheads with French footballers since the very second he was made manager.


Watch and see; Domenech will leave, the bloody ignoramuses' in the FFF will leave too but the bulk of players in this current Les Bleus side will still be there in years to come - thats the power of a football player on show for you!

RuuDie:
Mbulela,

u can blame Anelka and the whole french squad of players all u want, but the underlying fact remains that Domenech had since lost the respect of the French players and nation as a whole. . . . the handwriting has always been on the wall and the FFF chose to ignore it.

Results were not coming good, performances were piss poor - Domenech never inspired, never instilled any form confidence in them; the french public never had any shred of belief in him, many might sympathise with him now, but it doesn't go beyond that.

How the French players have managed to live with such glaring tactical/technical & man management deficiencies to date, I cannot help but wonder. . . . . . It's a big shame on the French nation that such is happening at the biggest stage in football but it is best becuz there has to be DRASTIC changes, probably this is the only way it could be achieved!

Kabikala:
My romance with Nigerian columnists

I first became fascinated with newspapers and newsmagazines in my secondary school days when I would stay glued to very old editions of Drum and Spear magazines which were subscribed to by my uncle who lived just next door to us. Daily newspapers such as Times, Sketch, Tribune and Concord were also a delight to read as I became educated on the various tendencies of the politicians of the second republic in their attempt to win the people’s votes. In the process, I succeeded in broadening my horizon compared to my peers as I got to know the meaning of words like “Lilliputian”, ever before reading Gulliver’s Travels. What attracted me to a write-up then was its ability to communicate in a simple and sensible manner to a young mind like mine, and to make interesting reading. (The same reason I loved Cyprian Ekwensi much more than Chinua Achebe). Of course, my experience was shaped considerably by the limited variety of newspapers I had access to as my parents were not literate or buoyant enough to subscribe to newspapers. I had to always rely on my uncle’s supplies, which though not diverse, was regular.
The first column that caught my fancy then was by a writer named Wakabout who wrote for Lagos Weekend, a tabloid that was published every weekend and is usually filled with news of marriage divorces with all the salacious details which usually appealed to less-serious minded folks. I always looked forward to each edition and was really pained when they stopped publishing. I also discovered Sam Akpabot, a professor at the University of Ibadan who maintained a weekly column with the Daily Sketch of which I was a faithful devotee then. His column was actually focused on sports and he made it a point of duty to predict the results of matches to be played by the Green Eagles, as the Super Eagles were called then. He always had very beautiful explanations as to why his predictions did not come to pass; which is more the rule than the exception. And the commonest excuse was that the coach failed to listen to his advice on team selection and technical approach. His fortune-telling skill appears to be rooted on a combination of clairvoyance and knowledge of soccer, though always difficult to know which one formed the more tangible basis for his predictions. In the Nigerian Tribune, I liked reading Tai Solarin’s State of the Nation, Ayekooto by Bisi Onabanjo as well as Periscope.
The first time I read Ndaeyo Uko’s column in the Daily Times, I was so mesmerized and awed by his ability to process humor and satire in beautiful prose. He remained one of my all-time favorite columnists. I felt a sense of loss when his column was no longer featured in the paper as I learnt he left the country abroad for greener pastures.
I had a thing for Doyin Osagie-Okojie’s column titled Lipstick in Vanguard and that was my first experience with a female columnist. Chris Okojie (Doyin’s husband) ran a column titled Outraged on the inside back page of Vanguard newspaper and found an interactive way to discuss sports using combative language; this also piqued my interest. I did not know what happened to both of them as they also seemed to have melted into thin air. Perhaps, they also relocated abroad for a better life. Like Chris Okojie, Ade Ojeikere who was running a similar sports column in ThisDay some years back is a writer I admire for his expressiveness and passion. He recently got back to doing the same for the Nation newspapers.
The late 80s and early 90s witnessed the booming of soft-sell magazines like Prime People, Vintage People, TopLife, Hints, Hearts, Sweetheart and the likes. The next generation of writers I fell in love with were some of the writers in these magazines. I then began to appreciate writers who could bring out interesting perspectives from entertainment, fashion and life generally. Toni Kan who was writing for Hints then thrilled me to no end, but I also admired the writings of Helon Habila, Goke Jaiyesimi and Kayode Ajala. I first came across Reuben Abati through his column in Hints magazine then and he was also one of the writers I admire a lot. May Ellen Ezekiel’s MEE and You column in Classique magazine also thrilled me immensely, and to a lesser extent, RMD’s Adlib column. Among the group of celebrity journals like Fame, Global Excellence, Treasure, City People and Climax (what a name!), I grew to like the writings of Femi Akintunde Johnson (FAJ Live), Mayor Akinpelu, Dele Momodu (Pendulum) and Funke Egbemode.
The period of tyranny under the successive regimes of Buhari, Babangida and Abacha created a lot of psychological challenges for a young person like me seeing oppression face-to-face and being powerless to deal with them. I found succor in columnists who took on the government on behalf of the rest of us. I therefore started becoming less fascinated by style, and became more enamored by substance and abiding principles. It then became difficult for me to enjoy beautiful prose white-washing government’s tyrannical actions or worse still, avoiding having to address them. My search for crusaders drifted my focus to writers who squared it up with government by criticizing unpopular policies and actions of government officials. I was told of the quintessential style of Dele Giwa but could not appreciate him before he was killed as I was only a teenager by then. With the repeated assault on my psyche as a citizen by successive Nigerian governments through various oppressive actions, I gradually began to define my favorite columnists along three streams: those with substance and style, those with substance and less style, and those with style and little substance, a categorization I still use till the present moment.
The first group which represents those I can not do without include writers mainly from the Guardian newspaper stable such as Okey Ndibe (now in The Sun), Sonala Olumhense, Paul Nwabuikwu (before he joined government and disappeared from the radar), Peter Claver Oparah, Luke Onyeakakah, and Levi Obijiofor. Back page columnists in The Nation such as Idowu Akinlotan and Marijata as well as in ThisDay such as Eni-B and Yusuph Olaniyonu also appealed to me. As far as I am concerned, ThisDay’s Simon Kolawole is one of the greatest writers in Nigeria. With his brilliance and unique style, he could, using simple prose, passionately drive home a point. I quite appreciate the humanity in him and would never forget some of his forgivable temperamental outbursts when he described Anyim Pius Anyim as a “mass of protoplasm”, paraphrasing Chuba Okadigbo. Godwin Agbroko was another great columnist I cherished. I always loved Femi Osofisan’s articles the few times he manages to put one up. I liked Joe Igbokwe except on occasions when he was unable to shed his partisan inclination which always beclouds his perspectives on certain matters. Ishaq Moddibbo Kawu of New Nigerian is a grade one writer in my reckoning, and Mohammed Haruna less so.
In more recent times, online writers like Michael Egbejumi-David and Pius Adesanmi also thrilled me with their unique styles. I marveled at the latter’s description of Bode George’s trial as the “Gelefication of corruption”. Such wordsmiths! Mobolaji Aluko, another online writer, does not pretend to be a style-driven columnist, but I enjoy his analytical approach all the same. Aliyu Tilde also strikes a good cord with me. I also rate The Perceptor column in SaharaReporters very highly.
The second group included writers that are generally acknowledged as fine columnists but I have failed to appreciate, try as I might. It included writers like Adebayo Williams who used to write for Newswatch magazine and Edwin Madunagu who still maintains a weekly column with the Guardian. Ijeoma Nwagwuwu who tries to discuss economics on the back page of ThisDay also belongs in this group as is Odia Ofeimun. I am sure there are many more like these writers whose articles I must have come across at one time or the other (like the Newswatch trio) but they just could not strike a chord with me. Perhaps I am a lazy reader. Brilliant writers they apparently must be as acknowledged by others, I just couldn't understand them. Even with extraordinary efforts to digest their writings, I failed to be enticed by their over-intelligent analysis. I guess my IQ just couldn’t cope. These folks struck me by their ability to take government to task on their various policies and actions, or propounding new ideas, but I just could not process and synthesize their writings.
The third category is actually a burgeoning group as I keep adding more columnists from the first group to this group based on my observations that their motives were not always altruistic. I regard them as excellent writers whose writings must be enjoyed, but would not take a chance with assuming that these columnists actually believe all that they preach about. For example, I moved Segun Adeniyi into this category immediately he became Yar’Adua’s mouthpiece and I now tended to look at his past criticism of government actions as a strategy to get attention. I think the right word is Opportunism. Azubuike of the Punch is, in my reckoning, firmly ensconced in this group. Reuben Abati and Dele Momodu script beautiful articles, but I just have found it rather difficult to trust them. They are still hovering on the fringes as I am yet to decide whether they belong here or in the first group and I am actually bidding my time on them. Chidi Amuta of ThisDay relocated here a few weeks back when his devotion to IBB could no longer be disguised. Good writer he is, in my reckoning, but shallow on principles. There is another small category under this group and it includes writers who appeal to me with their peculiar styles but do not address political and governance issues primarily; Onoshe Nwabuikwu (Airtime in ThisDay and later in The Punch newspaper) and the Dear Bunmi problem-solving columnist in The Vanguard.
I will end this piece by going a little off-course. There was this guy in the newspaper industry that I really loved (only God knows where he is presently). Albert Ohams, though not a columnist, was a talented cartoonist with an unbeatable sense of humor. I will never forget one of his cartoons where he depicted an accused person in court being defended by a lawyer. I will try to recount the piece as best as I can.
The lawyer, while pleading his client’s case grabbed him and said,
“My Lord, it is totally unfathomable that this short and tiny man could be accused of defiling this 6 feet tall and very huge woman. Look at his stature, look at his height, even look at his organ, tiny and miniscule”, (the lawyer said, grabbing the man’s focal places).
The accused man whispered to the lawyer,
“Oga Lawyer, softly softly touch my thing o. If the thing wake up penren, we go lose this case o!”