It wasn’t shocking that victor Moses rejected a return to Chelsea last January. Moses reckoned that Jose Mourinho’s request for him to return to Stamford Bridge was poisoned chalice.
Why? Moses would rather be a hero at Stoke than to play second fiddle to anyone. The Nigerian would rather the head of the goat that is visible than the tail of the elephant, most times hidden between its legs. Moses wants to play regularly, having enjoyed rave reviews at Stoke.
Until Moses limped out of Stoke’s game penultimate Saturday, he cherished reading the local English papers and seeing his pictures celebrating goals scored – a rarity when he was at Chelsea. Moses’ goals while playing for Chelsea are as far and wide apart like the dentition of an octogenarian, no thanks to the fact that he hardly played regularly at Chelsea. At Stoke, he is the pivot of the team’s attack whenever he is fit.
Moses knows that Chelsea’s pay is almost four times bigger than what he earns at Stoke. He must have computed what he earns at Stoke with the match bonuses for games won and drawn. Moses’ evaluation should have shown that it paid him more to remain at the Britannia Stadium than being a spectator at Stamford Bridge.
Moses knows now that his meteoric performance at Stoke is not lost on many European teams, who would secretly be nursing the desire to sign him on when the European transfer season opens in August. Chelsea’s manager must have been hurt by Moses’ bluff. But the Nigerian knows his onions and wants to move on at his terms. Moses wanted to sign for a club that values him, not one which thinks that it is doing him a favour, like with the Blues.
Moses has dual nationality. He can be tagged a European even though he plays for Nigeria, the land of his birth. So, all he needs do is excel for a small club, such as Stoke, and expect bigger teams to do seek his services.
Moses’ story is deliberate. Why? It has a correlation with John Mikel Obi’s fate at Chelsea. Until recently, Mikel’s inclusion at Chelsea was on the foreigner slot. Today, Mikel is tagged a European, having satisfied the requirements for a dual citizenship.
Many have asked what Mikel is still doing at Chelsea. Seasonally, Mikel gets listed among likely players to leave the team. But, he remains for tenable reasons. Mikel has stayed this long in London with Chelsea because he wants the European status. Being European means his movement won’t be scuttled by the new FIFA clause on number of foreign stars in a team. Mikel attained the European status this year. But can Mikel dump Chelsea? Or would he prefer Chelsea to dispense of his services? How many more playing years does Mikel have? Or does Mikel want to leave Chelsea on free transfer?
One thing is clear about Mikel’s career. He appears to be satisfied with being a one-club player. He likes Chelsea to the marrow. But if he must command respect, he needs to join another team next season. If he so loves England, he could seek employment in many English teams who would scamper to get him to strengthen their midfield. Mikel must understand that the Frank Lampard scenario awaits him, if he fails to take the plunge for the better next year.
If he moves next season, he could be listed among the three senior players in Nigeria’s Olympic Games squad. Mikel hasn’t played at the Olympics. He missed the Beijing 2008 edition due to his loyalty to Chelsea. Otherwise, he would have been a silver medalist today, although many aficionados argue that had Mikel been with the Nigerian team in Beijing, they would have won the gold medal, like this country did in Atlanta in 1996.
Mikel has won lots of laurels at Chelsea- the UEFA Champions League, Europa Cup, Barclays English Premier League and the Capital One Cup. He is also a gold medalist at the Africa Cup of Nations. Mikel is easily the most decorated Nigerian player.
He needs to move forward like Sunday Oliseh did in his playing days. He should shake hands with Mourinho and head for any European team with continental ambitions. Playing second fiddle to younger players at Chelsea would be an irony of sort for Mikel, who broke into the team as a kid. Mikel has a very reliable manager in John Ola Shittu. He needs to whisper into Shittu’s ears that he wants to call it a day at Chelsea next year instead of waiting to be transfer-listed at the Blues. If Mikel waits until he is transfer-listed, then he should know that he would be having two options- quit the game for good or play in the lesser leagues, like Yakubu Aiyegbeni is doing at Reading FC in England.
Dolphins’ agony
It is pertinent that we stop the buck passing over the shameful walkover of Dolphins FC of Port-Harcourt in Tunisia. If we don’t, we will spend the next one year on the matter while the culprits walk away to another club and repeat the same offence.
Dolphins FC folks are no new comers to participating in the Confederation of Africa Football (CAF’s) inter-club competitions. They know the rule, especially as it concerns travelling arrangements. Customarily, clubs send advance parties to the away grounds where they have a game.
The essence of this advance party most times is to inspect the accommodation provided by the hosts to see if it is suitable. Sadly, most African nations employ all the tricks in the book to destablise their visitors right from their arrival at the airports. They either keep their visitors in hotels far away from the stadium or not make suitable arrangements for them to leave the airport. But if there is an advance party, they would liaise with the Nigerian embassy officials in such countries and make their own plan for a seamless exit from the airport on arrival.
Some unscrupulous club chiefs deliberately book their visitors in red light zones just to distract the players and officials. Several instances abound where Nigerian teams have rejected the hotels booked for them for other suitable arrangements.
Sadly, such continental assignments disunite Nigerian teams, with officials divided into many groups. In such circumstances, everyone leaves the arrangement till the last minute so that a task that would ordinarily cost N100,000 would cost N1.5 million. Such panic setting is for club officials, time to “chop and I chop.” This cartel isn’t interested in the outcome of the game but what they stand to gain for as long as the team is still in the competition.
But it is pertinent to ask the players why they embarked on the strike with just 48 hours to the game? It is true that they wanted to hold their officials by the throat, knowing that that was the only way they could get their outstanding entitlements.
The players ought to have resigned when they knew they couldn’t continue with the club. It is foolhardy for the players to now plead for forgiveness after throwing away the opportunity to showcase our soccer in North Africa. My candid advice to the Rivers State Government is to ensure that the ring leaders in the “show of shame” are sacked and reported to the NFF for further sanctions. This idea of players holding us hostage over their entitlements should stop. I feel that the government cast an indulgent eye on the matter when Sharks FC and Dolphins’ players and officials slept at the Brick House in Port Harcourt.
Fight of the Century
I’ve enjoyed the build-up to the Fight of the Century between Floyd Mayweather and Manny Pacquiao at the famous MGM Grand in Las Vegas on May 2. The two boxers are known. For the records, the expected revenue from the fight is over $400 million.
Sky won the right to show the $300m (£200m) mega-fight in UK. HBO and Showtime will show the fight on pay-per-view in the US. Pay-per-view price is £20.The price for the fight has been set at £19.95 until midnight of Friday May 1. The cost will remain the same for those paying via remote control or online, but will be £24.95, if booked via phone after Friday. Ticket sale is expected to raise $74, almost four times the record.
This is the way big fights are arranged. Nothing is left to chance. Indeed, boxing experts are sharply divided over the outcome of the bout. The Fight of the Century is a box office hit. The deal has been struck by renowned agents. Each boxer knows his prize money. Nither of the boxers is heading for his country’s President for moral or financial support.
The boxers have gone back to their gyms to prepare for the fight. They are focused on perfecting their tactics. They are not the boxer, marketer, and organiser of the event like we have in Nigeria. There is division of labour about every aspect of the fight, leaving the boxers and their corners cracking their heads for the opponent’s flaws and strength.
So, those who want to organise boxing fights in Nigeria under any kind of nomenclature must be well guided. No rascality is needed. There are set rules. Which still-born fight in Nigeria is this writer writing about? No prize for guessing right, dear reader.
