Saturday, 25 April 2015

League coaches killing Nigerian players – Ladi Babalola

Ladi Babalola

Long gone are the days when Nigerian players attracted interest from top European clubs.
Ladi Babalola wishes he could help fix the problems which have made Nigerian players just not good enough to play for big European clubs.
The former Nigeria midfielder is really not happy about the exodus of Nigerian players to less fancied European and Asian leagues – and wants the Nigeria Football Federation to take the development of the domestic league seriously.

Following   administrative and economic issues bedeviling the domestic league,   players leave Nigeria   weekly for foreign shores in search of greener pastures.
Out of desperation to play professional football, some of the footballers have ended up in places like Romania, Israel, Bangladesh, India, Bulgaria, Yemen, Albania, Thailand, Malta, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, China, Malaysia and the United Arab Emirates.
In the eighties and nineties, the crème la crème of the Super Eagles did not only ply their trade in Europe’s mainstream, but got regular playing time under their belts.
Nwankwo Kanu won the UEFA Champions League with Ajax in 1995. He joined Italian giants Inter Milan the following year. After three seasons at the San Siro, Arsenal signed him and he won loads of trophies with the Premier League side. Taribo West was a first-team regular at both Inter Milan and AC Milan.
Sunday Oliseh played for Ajax, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund. Austin Okocha played for Paris Saint-Germain. Tunisia ’94 Africa Cup of Nations hero Emmanuel Amuneke played for Sporting Lisbon and Barcelona. Victor Ikpeba donned the colours of Monaco and Borussia Dortmund. Finidi George won the 1995 UEFA Champions League alongside Kanu at Ajax. Celestine Babayaro played for Chelsea. Gbenga Okunowo was signed by Barcelona from Shooting Stars in 1998.
French giants Marseille signed Taye Taiwo in 2005 after 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winner Bixente Lizarazu dumped them for German Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich.
Taiwo won the UEFA Intertoto Cup (2005), Ligue 1 in 2010 and the French League Cup (2010, 2011) playing first-team football for six years at Stade Velodrome. He joined AC Milan in 2013, but failed to break into the main team .
Babalola expressed concern that the country currently boasts Mikel Obi and Elderson Echiejile as the only Nigerians playing for big clubs.
The former Julius Berger star laments the two Super Eagles players are not commanding regular first-team football in the clubs.
Mikel has fallen further down the pecking order at Chelsea after the arrival of Nemanja Matic at Stamford Bridge from Benfica last year.
Echiejile has been forced to play second fiddle to on-form Layvin Kurzawa at Monaco. The Red and Whites boss Leonardo Jardim has started the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations winner in 12 games this season against Frenchman Kurzawa’s 20.
Balalola insists poor coaching is the reason behind the Super Eagles dire performances in tournaments – and the reason why Nigerian players are not considered good enough to play for big European teams.
Babalola, who is the manager of Bangladesh Premier League outfit Feni Soccer Club, insists the majority of coaches in the Nigerian Premier League are far behind the times.
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“Most of the coaches need to update themselves because football is not stagnant. It’s moving forward,” the 46-year-old, who represented Nigeria at the SCSA Cup in Liberia in 1987, told our correspondent on the telephone from Bangladesh during the week.
“Many of our coaches are old and outdated. Our league will never develop.   If you attend a coaching course in Europe, you will realise   that we play flat football in Nigeria. The coaching methods in the league are wrong.
“We are not producing quality players because the coaching methods are outdated. The players don’t develop well. And big clubs don’t sign low quality players.”
He added, “(In Europe) they teach you how to play football. You will discover that you were not taught most things in the game while you were playing the game.
“The old coaches should not be sacked. They earn a living from coaching,   but they need to update themselves because they are killing our players.
“There are many seminars in Europe that can help them. The Nigeria Football Federation can invite coaches from Europe to help them. There are many FIFA seminars that the coaches can benefit from.”
Babalola urged the government to return to grassroots football to enable the country to get quality players for the national teams.
He said coaches and administrators who keep up with the times should be saddled with the responsibility of nurturing the young players discovered at grassroots tournaments.
“The system in our country is corrupt. To make the Eagles a strong team we should   go back to the grassroots,” Babalola, who represented Nigeria at the Chile ’87 FIFA Under-20 World Cup, said.
“I was discovered at the Principal’s Cup. Many clubs wanted me. Stationery Stores, Julius Berger and Shooting Stars were among the clubs that wanted me. They sent people to me when I was taking my WASSCE. I later settled for Airways Club.
“With a better grassroots structure, we can produce quality players again.”
The former Finland-based player launched a scathing attack on ex-internationals who pester the NFF for jobs, saying they should take up coaching jobs with clubs.
“The system of appointing coaches for the national team is too corrupt,” Babalola, whose contract at Spanish La Liga side Levante (then in the second division) was cancelled following a career-threatening injury in 1997, said.
“That’s why ex-internationals are always hanging around football federation office for jobs.
“I can’t beg or bribe anyone to coach the national team. I’m not happy that some ex-internationals hang around the NFF secretariat begging to coach the national team.
“Ex-internationals shouldn’t be lobbying for jobs. Look at Stephen Keshi. Having achieved what he achieved, he should have moved on.
“Shaibu Amodu   spent most   of his time running after the national team job.
“I can’t beg anyone, because I believe national team coaches should be picked on merit.”
He added, “The national team coach and his assistants should emerge from the clubs. A coach should be considered for the job if his team is playing good football and he’s winning.”
Babalola lamented the poor state of the Nigerian league and called on the NFF to address the problems hindering the progress of the competition.
He says many Nigerian players are stranded in parts of Europe and Asia after falling victims to   fake agents.
The former Brothers Union (of Bangladesh) manager said he had helped many Nigerian players in Bangladesh and Finland, who were   duped by fake agents.
He said, “Eighty per cent of   Nigerian players who leave the country for professional football are stranded in all parts of the world.
“I rescued seven players when I was coaching in Finland. In Bangladesh I have 13 Nigerian players living with me.
“Our players are not well-developed before going out. They are not good enough because they lack the rudiments of the game.
“Many European and Asian countries don’t want Nigerian players because they are not good.
“The moment you say you are a Nigerian, you are not wanted. They are not good enough because they are not ripe enough before leaving Nigeria. They now want Ivorian, Ghanaian and Cameroonian players.
“I read on the Internet that league players are being owed by their clubs. It’s sad to read stories like that on the Internet.”

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