When his identify was first introduced as that of the brand new supervisor of the Tremendous Eagles, the nationwide soccer crew of Nigeria, I used to be one of many first individuals to ask the query: Eric who? I questioned if ‘Eric Sekou Chelle’ was the identify of an individual, a spot or a factor.
As in depth because the radar of my soccer experiences may scan, the one Eric that got here to thoughts was Eric Cantona, the maverick soccer ‘normal’ that after made Outdated Trafford his playground however whose legend as a participant was, sadly, not prolonged to his managerial accomplishments.
So, like me, for many Nigerians Eric Chelle didn’t exist within the soccer planet. He got here from the blue, an African born in Ivory Coast by a White French father and a Black Malian mom. He performed restricted home soccer in France and a handful of matches for the Malian nationwide crew. Thereafter, he turned to teaching and his best ‘achievement’ was managing the Malian nationwide crew to the semi-finals of the final African Cup of Nations barely over a 12 months in the past in Ivory Coast! These credentials didn’t match the expectations of Nigerians. So, there was shock and apprehension along with his appointment.
However then, nobody can discountenance the entire unpredictability within the best and most lovely sport on this planet, the place of unusual and unscripted plots, and condemn Eric Chelle with out inspecting the motivation of those who engaged him to begin with. The Technical Committee in addition to the Government Committee of Nigerian soccer should have seen and should know what the remainder of us didn’t see or know. In any other case they might not have had the braveness or audacity to nominate an unknown coach following the widely poor outcomes and performances of the Tremendous Eagles of Nigeria up to now 10 years underneath 4 completely different coaches (largely international).
Personally, I needed to dig deep to search out an appropriate justification – the documented story of Clemens Westerhof, the Dutch gaffer. He got here in with light-weight credentials solely to change into the transformer of the Nigerian Eagles from ‘Inexperienced’ to ‘Tremendous’, a transfer that took the nationwide crew to the apex of African soccer and close to the apex of the world in 5 years. Beneath Westerhof, Nigeria received AfCON, certified for the World Cup for the primary time, and ended the 12 months, 1994, because the fourth ranked crew on this planet.
Is the NFF following the mannequin of Clemens Westerhof and taking a chance with an unknown African coach?Some three months for the reason that announcement, shockwaves have change into mild ripples. Nigerians have settled to ‘siddon and look’, ready to witness the drama that can unfold in a ‘miracle’ that’s wanted to take Nigeria away from the precipice of failure the place it perches presently to the shoreline of success.
So, Eric Chelle is to be seen as both the product of a choice of ‘insanity’ or of ‘genius’! The following few weeks will inform.I additionally went into that mind-set – to attend and watch how Eric would unfold – earlier than passing any remark. Irrespective of how troublesome the duty could also be, Nigerians will demand that the Tremendous Eagles be one of many nationwide groups on the epochal World Cup of 2026 to be hosted by USA, Mexico and Canada.
There isn’t a different than to defy and beat the percentages and get the Tremendous Eagles there. Though his work is minimize out for him, the duty of each Nigerian is to assist the person that can steer their ship to its vacation spot.
So, I used to be not going to remark or criticize no matter Eric does. I’ve solely been observing! He has been within the nation for about three weeks. It’s reported that he has chosen to dwell and spend extra of his time in Nigeria. Good. He has been going to look at matches of the home nationwide leagues since his arrival. Good. In his first two weeks, he invited 7 gamers from the home league to hitch his meeting of Tremendous Eagles. Good. He’s already setting a unique module, ticking the containers of expectations and doing issues just a little otherwise.After all, that is sensible. Except he does issues otherwise he would seemingly obtain the identical outdated and failed outcomes.
Then, final week, I went to Abuja on a non-public go to to satisfy with some mates, together with Adewale Adeniyi, the Comptroller-Basic of Nigerian Customs. I had recognized Wale as a fantastic fan of sports activities and of the ‘Gunners,’ however I completely underestimated the depth of his involvement with Nigerian soccer till we met and talked a bit extra. The person is an encyclopedia. He jogs my memory of my buddy, the aficionado, Godwin Dudu-Orumen, in that context. His assist is big however silent. He threw me a bombshell – I’m invited to a non-public dinner with a small, choose group of stakeholders in Nigerian soccer in honour of Eric Sekou Chelle.
I went from shock to shock to suspense. Journalistic instincts took over, and with assurances that his expectations are only for me to satisfy, greet, observe and share in shut conversations with Eric Chelle, I graciously accepted to be on the occasion.
That’s how at 8:00pm final Wednesday evening, I used to be sitting shut Eric Chelle at dinner with the Nationwide Sports activities Fee bosses, the Nigeria Soccer Federation Secretary-Basic, just a few different stakeholders and different mates of Nigerian soccer.
It was an excellent night of socialization and unguarded dialog. I sat and tried to pry, probe, and get into Eric’s head to know what have to be occurring there as he embarks on managing a crew as huge and as advanced because the Tremendous Eagles.
It turned out to be a revealing and fascinating night. The occasion ran easily and nicely. Eric should have been bewildered by the ‘content material’ of the night, the open hospitality, the sort phrases of assist, the excessive expectations nonetheless, the sincere questions that wanted sincere solutions, and the overall air of goodwill that enveloped the gathering.
The person, even along with his accented and faltering English, received everybody over along with his humility and sincerity, his clear imaginative and prescient for the Tremendous Eagles, his full appreciation of the difficulties and challenges that lie forward, the real looking expectations of the Nigerian folks that he should ship, his dedication to take action and by no means to fail, his motivation for taking the job underneath very troublesome situations, his soccer philosophy, his deep information and love for Nigerian soccer, his understanding of African soccer and the way working with Mali has broadened that information and adequately ready him for this current job.
He advised us that he’s in Nigeria to win, and nothing extra; that that may be his focus and he wouldn’t be distracted. He listed just a few different issues that may get the Eagles on successful methods once more.
I had requested him earlier than the dinner what he would do otherwise from those who got here earlier than him and didn’t ship.His reply stunned and excited me.
He has been gathering info on all nice gamers of Nigerian-descent overseas and conserving their information. He passes these born overseas and those who have been bred in Nigeria by means of completely different prisms for his evaluation. He has spent countless hours watching every one of many gamers at the least 5 instances in several matches to know them nicely. He’s nearly prepared now. He would use the pure power of Nigerian gamers to type his model of play – urgent exhausting after they lose the ball, spreading out and enjoying with confidence, power and velocity when they’re in possession. Attending to opposing targets within the shortest doable time and with the fewest variety of passes.
These are copies from Father Tiko and Clemens Westerhof’s books of soccer. He jogged my memory of how Nigerian soccer was performed when at its finest, fast forwards, fast counters utilizing power and velocity down the flanks.
As he went on and on, he was making sense and elevating confidence. He appears to know clearly what he desires to do. Lastly, it was clear he was not in Nigeria for the cash that he would make. He desires to create historical past for the nation and for himself.
It was on the finish of the dinner as we have been leaving that I obtained the surprising info (not from him) that since his engagement three months in the past, he had not been paid a dime but!
Useless to touch upon that now. It could solely distract us from the task simply forward. As I’m scripting this, an inventory of invitees to the ‘new’ Tremendous Eagles underneath Eric Chelle has simply been launched – 39 gamers comprising a sprinkling of some new names and loads of the identical outdated inventory of gamers, together with Ahmed Musa whose re-entry into the nationwide crew could also be a sign that to count on a transparent departure from the previous could also be a mirage.
Nigerians need their Eagles on the World Cup, so, we should all assist Eric and pray for him to succeed. Who is aware of, Eric Chelle, could also be fortunate and would do what Napoleon Bonaparte couldn’t do on the battle of Waterloo!
