HE was at a point considered the best right winger in the world during his playing days. And It is not just about the manner he weaved and twirled his way down the flanks to deal the crisp passes but the ease and majestic way with which he achieved it that awed fans and football commentators.
Now 43 and calling the shots as head coach of Mallorca of Spain U-16 team, former Nigerian international, Finidi George, has hinted that all he knew as a footballer was inspired by street-soccer in Port Harcourt, the ever busy capital of Rivers State.
Speaking in a telephone conversation with The Nation Sport& Style from his base in Spain, the former Ajax star, who had a brief coaching spell with Real Betis before moving on to Mallorca, says but for his mother he would not have been able to convince his father to play football at a professional level.
Above all, Finidi says he’s living his dream to help and push up and coming youngsters on their way to football stardom in Mallorca, Spain.
He says: “I love working with the young ones because they are indeed the future of the game. That is how I started and the best in the world today started off like this.”
Like many Nigerian kids, George, who helped Ajax Amsterdam to win the Champions League in 1995, says his parents disagreed over his future as a professional footballer and it took the open mindedness of his mother to resolve it.
Hear him: “My father did not like the fact that we (My older brothers and I) always go out on the streets of Port Harcourt to play football and he would speak up against it. But my mum did not mind; it did not bother her that we might get injured but would tell me that if I enjoyed doing what I was doing I should just go on and do it. And that was exactly what she told my father and he just accepted the philosophy.
“The catch, however, was that I must get good grades in my academics for me to continue to play football. My father was adamant about this and I had no choice but to work hard to excel in both.”
Born into an elitist and egalitarian home, George relives his upbringing as a thing that helped him to become a hard-working and free-minded person later in life. “My older siblings were so much into football and my father used to listen to the BBC a lot and we got to know much about English football then. I also read a lot about English players in football comics such as Match, Shoot, Tiger and the rest. We used to talk about the players we liked in the Premiership and I was particularly fond of the left-sided winger who played for Liverpool, John Barnes, and his combination with Ian Rush. Paul Gascoigne and Gary Lineker were also my heroes. But it was basically in the streets that I was taught the real lessons of football. As a youngster, football started for me on the streets. I started by playing football across the streets of Port Harcourt. I never felt I would go so far with the game because to be honest it was just a hobby for me back then.”
Born into a family of 14, George discloses that he enjoyed good family ties while growing up and that helped his game to stabilise. “I enjoy family bond and we treat ourselves with great respect. I think that also helped my game because I was a stable kid. My father was not rich but life in Nigeria was good back in the 70s and 80s. There were no political problems. Now things are different; it’s difficult if you don’t have money in Nigeria. We just enjoyed playing on the streets; we weren’t thinking about actually making a lot of money out of football. We just played for the love of it. People like Adokie (Amiesimaka), (Segun) Odegbami and (Christian) Chukwu were big players that time and we were looking up to them. When I was 17, I began playing for Sharks of Port Harcourt, the same team I grew up admiring. We didn’t get paid like players in Europe. But we could manage because the economy was more or less OK then.”
George has great respect for two coaches, who he said impacted immensely on his career. “One of them is Clemens Westerhof and the other is Louis Van Gaal, my coach then in Ajax. Westerhof brought me to the national team from Calabar Rovers and because he was a great disciplinarian, he told me to just give my best and leave the rest to him. He was a great coach and knew how to inspire a player to give even more than 100 percent of himself. He was also instrumental to my Ajax deal because he told me that I would be a great player one day because of my attitude.”
When Finidi left Nigeria for Ajax, he must have packed ‘Mother Luck’ in his bag as providence smiled on him in his first season in Holland. “It was just sheer luck for me because I was not meant to be played in the first team that year, 1993, but someone got injured and Van Gaal had no choice but to play me. I stayed in and did very well and thereafter he told me if I kept my head down I would go places. Within three years, we were in the Champions League final against AC Milan and we beat them. That was a special night and it was like a dream to me. It remains the biggest night of my career because at that time Ajax didn’t really have any big names, only Frank Rijkaard, who had come back from Italy. But we played attacking football and had the mentality of winners. We believed we could beat any team; even Milan. That year we won against Milan three times. Van Gaal knew how to get the best out of us at Ajax.”
If young George enjoyed his trophies – including Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, Three Dutch Leagues and two Dutch Super Cups – it was in Spain that he truly enjoyed his game.
He explains: “It was at Betis that I really enjoyed football. I was a more mature player when I joined the team and I brought all my experience to bear during that period. I really enjoyed my time in Spain. While in Spain, I played a lot of positions: in the middle, on the right or left or if needed upfront.”
Back to the present, Finidi informs that he feels fulfilled molding the next generation of top players at Mallorca: “I take my job seriously and the club does too. This is where the future of the club is built and it is very impressive what we are doing here.
“It is the same thing bigger clubs like Barcelona are doing and how players like Lionel Messi and Raul were discovered. It is a programme that Mallorca takes very serious and I’m glad to identify with it.
“I am indeed living my dream here. I love working with the young ones because they are indeed the future of the game. That is how I started and the best in the world today started off like this,” Finidi adds, as he speaks on sundry issues. Excerpts…
Family
I have great kids and a great wife too and they are all doing fine here.
Style and Philosophy
I love to dress simply; shirt and Jean to match. Sometimes, I simply put on a T-shirt and Jean and I am okay. I think most players get use to dressing this way because during our playing career these are the dresses we usually wore. Even when I am home due to the tropical nature of our environment I prefer to stick to my shirt and Jean.
My philosophy is to work hard at every given job or project. Even as a player, I realised that there is no short cut to success other than hard work and that is what I preach to my boys now.
Keeping Fit
I have always been slim and I love it that way. Of course, as a coach I still keep fit because I join my boys on the pitch and that helps me keep fit too.
Stephen Keshi
I have to thank Keshi for what he has been able to bring to the table. That is making Nigerians to know that we have capable Nigerians that can take our football to the highest level. We have played and made our mark out here and have attended the same coaching schools like our colleagues in Europe, so why are we not going to understand the game like they do? Keshi is doing the right thing and I wish him the best of luck at the World Cup. We just have to believe we can be the beat the best in the world and that is all we need to get there, of course we must work hard to achieve it too.
