I am not an unlucky coach- Musa Abdulahi

Musa Abdulahi, Technical Adviser of Dolphin FC has been dubbed more times than not as an unlucky coach with fans ans sports writers alike basing their assesment on the performance of the U-17 team in the 2001 Trinidad/Tobago World Cup as well as the All Africa Games outing of 2003. In this exclusive interview with nigeriasports.com, Musa speaks on that issue as well as the injury problems that hit his club in the run down to the end of the Premier League.

nigeriasports.com: You have injury problems in your team. How would you cope with that?

Musa Abdulahi: I’ve given it a serious thought. These are natural incidents which could not have been averted. Wobo is on the recovery lane but Ezeji, Rotimi, Ejiogu, Udofia and Captain Ahmed are still down. We will have to make adjustments to the team.

NS: Lets look at the violence in the league lately, especially in your last away game in Ilorin. What can be done to stop this disturbing trend?

MA: Its really an unfortunate development because we are thinking of moving our football forward but these things drag us back. One of the things the NFA can do is ensuring that secret assessors are more effective because from what we hear these people go to match venues and make sure they are identified which is against the objectives. The referees are doing their best but if the home FA promises a specific amount of policemen and don’t deliver, the Referees will be scared of making the right calls. Security is the major problem and the Police Boss in any town that hosts league games should handle it directly and be held responsible if anything untoward happens

NS: Now you have some players injured while others absconded

MA: Rotimi wants to go to  Europe so he is on and off. But he arrived Port Harcourt in time for our FA Cup round of sixteen game and Bisalo though not fully fit so he stayed on the bench. Joe Cole has been away on trials in Isreal and the club management is aware of it. Kennedy Boboye and Emmanuel Ebiede for some reasons have not shown up and they have no good excuses. Their issue is becoming that of forcing a horse to the river but not being able to make it drink. Any way we will do our best to curb these things.

NS: From a nine point lead, Dolphin lost their top placing to nationale. What is going through your mind as regards the league title?

MA: As far as I am concerned, if nationale could catch up with us why cant we take back our lead (Dolphin regained their lead after beating Pillars 2-0 in Port Harcourt on Sunday) I am optimistic that we can still take our lead again and we can only do that by determination and strong belief in ourselves.

NS: So are you telling your fans there is no cause for alarm?

MA: I am telling them exactly that. What I have learnt so far in this exercise is that the journey is a tough one and until the last day it cant be over.

NS: A lot of critics would have used this opportunity to say, “We said it, Musa is an unlucky coach”

MA: When they start to use that word unlucky it is unfortunate that they see things from that angle. I’ve said it many times before…. What do you mean by luck? Is it that I do not win matches? People must win some and lose some. If one is destined to make it, he will and we should also know that there is a lot of politics in the league so I don’t buy that idea and I keep saying that there is nothing like being lucky or unlucky when it comes to the issue of a tournament of this long period.

 

 

 

 

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