Perspective from Sport

It has be over a year now when emotions of the Nigeria football fraternity boiled, raged over the non qualification of the Super Eagles of Nigeria to the 2012 African Cup of Nations hosted in Gabon/Equatorial Guinea. Samson Siasia had to pay the price with his job... There were mixed feeling, some wanted him to stay while other wanted him shown the way out . Personally I would have loved if he was retained as l liked the brand of football he displayed while coaching the under 20 and the Olympic team respectively. I am sure he will do things differently now if given another crack at the national team. Now back to Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi was appointed to restore the National team to the glory days,football commentators, fans, journalist all agree that the national team is in an all time low, there is point deceiving ourselves over this, the team has constantly declined over the year due various behind the scene reason ranging administration, coaching and dedication from the

It is a common trend to have different cycle in life and this cut across every spectrum of life. The Belgium national team a.k.a red devils went through this cycle,having  being out of the football world's view, This was due to non participation of any major competition (European Cup of nation's and World Cup respectively) in the last 10 years. The last time they showed up was the 2002 World Cup jointly hosted by South Korea/Japan . Belgium have had their very good moment, you would not necessarily rate them as a top class team but they are there within the mix.. I personally have some sort of sentiment for Belgium as this was the Mecca of any aspiring Nigerian football in the 80's till the mid 90's .Nigeria's Super Eagles present Manager Stephen Keshi was the first Nigeria to play in Belgium, He featured for Anderleht for many year, a lot followed suit afterwards. Augustine Eguavoen, Late Uche Okafor, Samson Siasia, Peter Rufai, Late Osaro Obobaifo, S

The Olympics is here at last, there is no better place to be than London, I feel privileged to be living in this beautiful city, moreover I live some 15 minutes away from the Olympic park, No one would have thought Stratford would be this transformed some odd 15 years ago .Stratford is situated in the eastern part of London, I remember my very first experience of Stratford, the place looks so dilapidated,the shopping mall at the time was practically a market,very cold and you could tell from the environment that it was a poverty stricken area. Stratford is under the London Borough of Newham . Newham was said to be the among the 5 poorest  borough in London as February 2012. But irrespective of this fact, Stratford and some of it neighbouring areas have witnessed significant transformation in its outlook. New properties spring up and the Westfield Shopping Centre which is said to be the biggest in Europe. Local businesses, particularly shops and property agent will also want to take a

Basketball has suddenly taken the centre stage after the impressive and surprising qualification of the Nigerian Basketball team to the London 2012 Olympic Game.This has given Nigerian some lift particularly when football is in an all time low. The qualification could potentially begin a new era of the game in Nigeria. The Basketball team has generated quite a number of Nigeria followers in the last one week following the performance of D' Tigers as they are known. Basketball has the potential of almost getting as close to football in terms of patronage in Nigeria .  The game gained some sort of popularity in the Nigeria in the 80's through different platforms. Akeem Olajuwon ,one of the best centres in the NBA history, was from Nigeria so his participation gained some interest.Chuka Momah's  Saturday evening broadcast of the NBA tagged Sports Spectacular increased the awareness at the time. We had basketball teams like Leventis Buffaloes of Lagos Plateau Peaks of Jos ,Ni

I would like to touch on the other aspect of my football walk as a football agent to give some sort of funny insight, particularly my early days as a journey man, I mean my novice years. I have had to learn the ropes of the industry the hard way but it has been quite interesting. One of the things I have had to learn is trust and credibility with football players. Of course the issues of age falsification cut across board, most African countries are affected by this but I will not want to open that can of worms now, probably in subsequent articles. For ostensible reasons, the kinds of player that get attracted to me are mostly Africans ranging from Nigerians , Ghanaians, Ivorians e.t.c, but particularly Nigerians. Nigerian players are a very special bunch for many reasons. Firstly, it is quite challenging working with Nigerians unfortunately, I found it difficult admitting this but Ghanaians are easier to work with than Nigerians. It does not mean that I have cut off working with Ni