Green Eagles celebrated victories at Fela’s Shrine – Coach Emetoele
Coach Emetoele you have just brought El-kanemi Warriors back to the Nigeria Premier League. How did you achieve this? Thank you. The present chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Zanna is somebody I am very close to. When I coached the team in 2004, he was the welfare officer. I found him to be the only honest man […]
Coach Emetoele you have just brought El-kanemi Warriors back to the Nigeria Premier League. How did you achieve this?
Thank you. The present chairman, Alhaji Mohammed Zanna is somebody I am very close to. When I coached the team in 2004, he was the welfare officer. I found him to be the only honest man in that management committee. So when he was appointed Chairman, he called me to come and help him. I told him that if the club can give me something close to what I was earning in Heartland, I wouldn’t mind joining and they did exactly that. And the Governor Kashim Shettima being who he is, appointed the right caliber of people into the management committee and that set up made things a bit easy for me. The necessary backing and the support I needed in terms of administration were on ground even though money wasn’t coming regularly as required. But the management used the one that came judiciously. That was what led to our success. Good administrators and good planning because we went for players who can return El-Kanemi to the premier league.
What are your future plans for El-Kanemi?
What I have was just one year contract with them and the management knows that after the Federation Cup, the contract would be over. When it is time for me to discuss a fresh season, I will put my cards on the table and we shall make our assessment of how we worked and then do away with all the black legs and all the problems that we noticed. One of the conditions will be getting quality players that would help us get a comfortable place in the NPL. We would also target to win the league but where we cannot, we should end up in a reasonable position and then plan for one of the continental tickets in the next season. So if all those things are not in place, I don’t think I would like to put my reputation at stake. I also want the club to be spared the fate of other NPL clubs like Rangers, Enyimba, Kano Pillars, Niger Tornadoes and a host of others which are run directly from their respective government houses? If El-kanemi is removed from the government house, it would function better. Football business is like a patient that is terribly sick and if you don’t administer quick medication, the patient will die. If there is any delay, we might get into problem and my reputation is what I always try to protect.
Having spent over 32 years coaching, what would you say is wrong with Nigerian football?
The actual problem of Nigerian football is the same with other areas of our life. Most of us are not honest in our dealings with the game. Football is all about discipline. You see how FIFA is managing football. Football is no respecter of anybody. You are a coach, referee, player, or club official and you misbehave, you are sanctioned appropriately. We don’t manage football like before. In the past the local league was where we got players to feed the national teams. Players like Stephen Keshi, Dan Amokachie, Finidi George, Mutiu Adepoju and Emmanuel Amunike started from the domestic league. But now the game been so bastardized that even footballers do not have confidence in playing here. Before they get mature, you find them in the poorest leagues in Europe and Asia.
So would you blame players who rush to go and play professional football abroad?
I don’t fault them because no matter how little your pay is, if it is guaranteed you don’t worry. You just stay and get alert that money has been paid into your account. We normally make rules guiding our game in Nigeria but the same rules are never implemented. They said fifty percent of player and officials’ sign on-fees must be paid before the comment of the league and another fifty percent before the commencement of the second stanza but we do not see anything so who is fooling who?.
What then do you have to say about the way coach Keshi is re-building the Super Eagles?
I have always supported Keshi because most of these foreign players don’t come to compete for shirt. They feel they have arrived. They are more committed to their clubs overseas than their country. But I remember in our days, the mere hearing of the national anthem you see goose pimples running all over our bodies, especially if we were playing outside the shores of the country. At such moments, I remembered my parents, my people and other Nigerians. I remembered that they were all glued to the TV watching and we were the soldiers who were supposed to defend their integrity. We gave all our best every time we put on the national colours. We showed commitment but it is not like that now.
When and where did you start your football career?
I was born and bred in Kaduna. I am more comfortable in the north than my place of origin. During the civil we were taken back to the east but when the war ended, I realized that I was not comfortable because I felt I had a place I understood better somewhere. I wasn’t comfortable with the Igbo people because I had spent all my life was in Kaduna. Our father never took us home for once. So after the war, I found my way back to Kaduna and that was where my football career started. I started playing for Arewa Textile FC. I was discovered by a white man while playing at Kakuri and he made me famous in Kaduna. From Arewa Textiles, I joined New Nigerian newspapers. I was employed as a graphic artist but I did not know the work so I did my job by playing for the team. So I was playing for Nigerian newspapers before the 1973 sports festival. They assembled the state team comprising of players from Zaria, Kaduna, Minna and so on for the festival and I was among the players selected. At the 1976 sports festival, I was among the 99 players selected for screening for the Green Eagles. But the German who was our coach later left because he asked for free hand but was not given. He left unceremoniously and we had to disperse. From New Nigerian Newspaper, I moved to a club in Kano, Korfamata which later merged to become the present Kano Pillars. I was paid N50 which was far higher than what I was earning in New Nigerian. After sometime, I felt Korfamata was one man business so anything could happen. From there I moved to Aba Textiles and when the company started going down, I moved to Nigeria Ports Authority FC Calabar where I was paid N80 per month. While playing for NPA, the then owner of Mighty Jets of Jos Alhaji Ishyaku Ibrahim, ‘the millionaire’ who is presently a member of the PDP board of Trustee heard so much about me on the commentary and invited me to come over. I told them that if I was not properly rated, I would go back. They said they would not exceed what they were paying their top players like Malam Ismaila Mabo. In the end, I was rated N100 a month and given sign N300 sign –on fee. It was big money in those days. Others were given 200 and 150. At a point again, I said no, this is one man show and anything can happen. Anytime we lose the man we are finished. I went back to Enugu to join the Enugu State sports Council on level four. I was promoted to level six and when states were created, I went back to Imo and I was promoted again to level 7. I got a car loan and so on. I stopped playing active football in 1979 due to injury.
How did you come about the nick name caterpillar?
The name was given to me by the former Team Manager of the Green Eagles, Late Ibikune Armstrong. I had a high work rate and I played for Green Eagles in almost all positions. I was always going up field and coming back. I displaced Haruna Ilerika in the inside left position and played in the attacking midfield position along with Late Mudal Lawal and Alloy Atuegbu. I also played in the defence like when Christain Chukwu was injured in Zambia. In Ethiopia, I played in the left half back along with Godwin Odiye. When we played against Guinea because of their stubborn outside left, I played in the right full back position.
Coach when exactly did you start playing for the Green Eagles?
Ok, I got into the national team in 1975 from Mighty Jets. I was invited after the Challenge Cup and that was when I made the team. My debut was in Congo Brazzaville, in the Nations Cup qualifiers in 1975. In 76 we went to Ethiopia for the nations Cup under Coach Father Tiko. The former reserve goalkeeper of Nigeria 49 UK Tourists, Late Akioye was the Director-General of the National Sports Commission. They managed the Green Eagles very well.
Most times the present members of the Super Eagles are accused of lack of commitment and acts of indiscipline. How was it like in your days?
Yes, we were not saints but we showed greater measure of commitment. I normally tell my players that they are entitled to enjoyment but they should never mix it up. The life you live off season is not the life you live when the season is on. And you see the white players after every season, you can see them naked with their girl friends all over the world on beaches. That is the time for them to enjoy their money. When you concentrate on making good money you have enough money to enjoy. Then they move into pre-season training and are loaded by their coaches for the new season. Pre-season training means buying fuel for the year. You have to keep it safe. You do not squander it when the season is on. In our days, we were bad boys oh!. We enjoyed but we knew what we were doing. People like us, Christian Chukwu, Emmauel Okala, and the rest, you see us in Shrine, Fela’s Shrine drinking and enjoying when it was over not when the game was on. Anytime we had a major victory we say guys where are we going to celebrate?. We go to the shrine and destroy ourselves.
Coach, when did you start coaching and how successful is your coaching career?
I started coaching in 1980. In my first attempt I came second in the national league. I also got to the finals of WAFU Cup with Spartans of Owerri. I started coaching as assistant under late Isaac Nnado. When Nnado moved to the national team in 1980, I took over Spartans. As a civil servant, I coached Enyimba FC in 1991. Then I coached teams like Kano Pillars, 1992 when I retired from the civil service as a principal coach. From Pillars I moved to Nigerdock FC from where I came into Super Eagles along with Joe Erico as assistant to Amodu Shaibu. We went to Continental Cup in Saudi Arabia. We used most of Westerhof’s players. Then we went to US Gold Cup, from the US Gold Cup we qualified the team for the 1998 World Cup before Amodu’s appointment was terminated and I left in protest. I then moved to Iwuanyanwu Nationale as the head coach. So when I left Iwunyanwu Nationale I went to Calabar Rovers from Rovers I came back to Iwunayanwu. From Nationale, I joined Enyimba FC where I won the league in 2002. It was my ticket that gave the club its first CAF Champions League trophy in 2003. I left Enyimba in protest when they wanted to bring Kadiri Ikhana who ended up in 10th position to come and boss me. I went to Bendel Insurance in 2003 from where I joined El_kanemi in 2004. From El-Kanemi I joined Ebonyi Angels and returned to Heartland and that was when I brought the club to continental limelight. I took Heartland to the finals of the CAF Champions League in 2010 but my appointment was terminated because I told them the truth. They claimed that I and my assistant Ben Iroha had lost control over the players. Up to this moment my entitlements have not been paid. They keep saying when money is available they will pay.
Among the players you have discovered and groomed which of them would you say is the best?
Yes, I have discovered and brought to limelight so many players that went on to play for this country and different clubs but I can not mention all of them here. But it is an open secret that I brought up players like Bartholomew Igbenegu, Suleiman Usman, Ikechukwu Uche, Onyekachi Okonkwo, Chidi Nwanu, Karibo Ojigwe, Otorogu and a host of others. Out of the lot, the best is Bartholomew Igbenugbu. He is highly intelligent on and off the ball. Despite his frail appearance, he is very effective despite his frail appearance.
What is your happiest moment as a coach?
My happiest moment as a coach was the day we won the Africa Beach Soccer in 2007 in South Africa. We were runners up in 2006 and 2007 we were champions. I was visualizing how Nigerians were reacting to the victory back home. Then Nigerians in South Africa celebrated till the next morning.
What is your saddest moment as a player and coach?
My saddest moment as a player was when we needed a draw against Tunisia in 1977 to qualify for the 1978 World Cup. Then only one nation used to represent Africa. We needed a draw against Tunisia in Lagos but we conceded an own goal through our most reliable and working defender, Godwin Odiye. It was my saddest day as a player. After the match, I remember hitting the wall in my dream. I was sleeping close to the wall and I felt I was still playing the match and I kicked the wall. It was the pains that woke me up. And as coach, my saddest moment came in 2010 when heartland conceded an own goal in the finals of the CAF Champions League against TP Mazembe of Congo. After 2-1 victory in Nigeria, we needed just a draw to win. However, 12 minutes to the end of the match, we conceded an own goal. That was my saddest moment as a coach.