The Shuabu Amodu Interview

Sharks of Port Harcourt have taken a five point lead in the Professional League Division 1b and are also through to the round of sixteen of the FA Cup. After their last home game against Akwa United which ended 2-0 to their favour, Technical Manager of the Port Harcourt Sharks, Shaibu Amodu spoke with nigeriasports.com on issues ranging from his club, Sharks and the recent outcry by Nigerians and the NFA for a foreign Coach to take over the Super Eagles from Christian Chukwu

Nigeriasports.com: Sharks are really in pole position as regards the 2004 NFA Professional League division one. What would you say is responsible for this?

Amodu Shaibu: Apart from the fact that we have a good team, good coaches and management, I will also give it to the fans of the team who throng the stadium to watch and cheer the club to victory. Football is still qualitative and good on the local scene, especially played on good pitches likt the one in Port Harcourt, but I want to keep saying it is not the number of star players that wins games, but the fans.
Fans make the game great, they make the players bring out their best when they chant and sing songs of praises behind them.
I appeal to home fans to come out and cheer both sharks and Dolphins.

NS: What do you think of Nigerian referees since a lot of people say they are the cause of many bad calls in games?

AS: I think they have done creditable well, since I am not in the habit of criticising referees. I have seen so many lapses but I think they were not deliberate. I think they have improved because the cheating they used to perpetrate, they now do with some degree of caution so kudos to them though they can still improve.

NS: What advice would you have for the NFA as regards getting a foreign coach and what can be done so our players can react more positively to national calls, looking at what happened in the World Cup qualifying match against Algeria.

AS: You the press are the problem with Nigerian football because you don’t respect fellow Nigerians. If you give enough coverage to Chukwu and enough value for the job he is doing, by now he would have had more confidence on the job and the players would have respected him better. There is no white coach that does not have his own mistakes, same as black coaches. What is important is that Chukwu is delivering. He is performing. No matter the colour of the Coach at the helm, he will always win some and lose some. If a foreign coach is there he will be given every thing he asks for, but Chukwu is doing the same job at less cost, getting the results and we are still shouting that we are not happy. When players are on break, it is difficult to get the in shape, unless of course we have a serious FA that would have had a plan in place right from when the European leagues ended, but there was no such plan. Even with the home based, there should have been in camp so at least any Europe based players coming home on holidays would know there is a place he can go and keep fit and maybe some of them would have been in camp maybe a week or two earlier but we saw a situation where the camp was opened a week to the match they started strolling in lackadaisically. I really sympathise with chukwu. Even if a white coach was there, he would have run into the same situation. What I think is wrong is planning and that is almost in the hands of the administrators. Let us ask ourselves if the NFA are doing it right. We focus on only the coaches forgetting that some people are there to create the enabling environment so I blame the NFA for what happened against Algeria.

NS: If you are given another call to join Chukwu in the Super Eagles, how would you respond?

AS: I think that would be a wrong call, a very wrong one because I have done the Chief Coach Job for about seven years. If I go there to assist…no no you must define what I am going to do. They have said it clearly that they want a foreign coach and that is their mentality which I call colonial mentality. And that is why they keep calling for white coaches because they think that is the only way they can help cover their lapses. I am repeating it here that all who are calling for foreign coaches do not understand the rudiments of the game. They themselves have not even given anything to the game only to sit down somewhere in their houses and say we need a foreign coach. We have had so many foreign coaches and they have all gone. Only the last time we said Bonfrere should go, and they brought in Amodu and Keshi to rescue the country and after these two chaps rescued them, they went to Korea/Japan to flop and come back. They are ready again and you people are supporting it and fanning it that they should go and bring another white man. We are watching. It is our country. We have so much money to spend on whites, so we spend it, but he will not produce any magic. He will ask you to give him time, like four to five years to build a team, which no Nigerian coach will ask for because he’s part of the system.

NS: finally, and back to the league, can sharks Survive the ambush of Ebonyi Angels in Abakiliki having in mind that Ebonyi drew in Port Harcourt in the first round and are also closing in on the top.

AS: We will approach that game like we have done others. Ebonyi is not a special team.

 

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