oloye wrote:
Sitting down at the depature lounge of the Nnamdi Azikwe airport Abuja wondering what to do to run down the delayed Lufthansa flight on my way back to base after attending my mother in-law's funeral. But as i lifted my head up, i saw these men file into the lounge, they were dressed up in the colours of the Nigerian national team, i realised they were the officials of the national team the Super Eagkes.
I whispered to my wife, that i hope one of these officials would still remember me having left the game over 20 years now. My prayers were answered as i spotted the guy who over the years had served the NFF travel department so well, i jumped up to go say hello...then things picked up from there. Salisu walked in he recognised me , then they beckoned Ibitoye, he was not a player, i believe he is one of the media officials, he knew me way back in Ilorin, he went to the same Seconday school, but he was way back my junior then, but he knew me alright , from my days in Kwasu Bombers. They beckoned to one of the coaches, voila it turned out to be one of the Shooting stars legends, Pascal, we spent some time trvaelling down the memory lane.
Salisu did not waste time reminding me how as a player with El-Kanemi,he managed to score a late corner kick goal against my BCC team. When i told him i married from Benue state , he quickly countered, by saying, 'I also married from Markudi'....to which i reminded him how lucky we both were.
I commended the team for a job well done, ....then Ibitoye made a cheeky comment....see he still looks fit, he can still play for the Super Eagles. I quickly used the opportunity to point out how wel orgaised the team was these days, both in terms of orgainising friendlies and travel. After which i kindly turned down the Ibitoye offer, saying thankfully the days of 'Hey You' players turning up ay random to help make up the team was gone. Well the protocol officer was quick to dig up history,by narrating how in one of the friendlies he had to dress up as one of the players , he even got a few minutes game which Ibitoye jokingly counted as his only international the country.
They told me they were on their way for the Poland and Serbia match,they confirmed the England's match,to which i promised i will be there God willing...heck i even extracted the promise of a jersey from th protocol officer.
As we all dispersed ,i felt this ptivileged encounter would be a waste if i dont do an interview of sort. I was still mulling who best to go to,Salisu was seated right behind me, but we were not thst close back in the day, i am not sure he would feel comfortable if i start popping questions about the team. As i was still pondering on what my next move should be,the protocol officer tapped me on the shoulders and pointed someone i had missed completely to me....what pleasant surprise that was....it was the national team goal keepers trainer, Alloy Agu. The last time i saw him was 1990,when we had a brief stinct with BCC Lions before leaving us for Belgium.
I'd known him prior to that, and playes against one another both on the national league, when he played for both NEPA FC and the defunct ACB FC both of Lagos. Also we faced each other when he manned the goal for Unilag and I playing for Unilorin....so it was pleasant re-union.
After the normal exchange of pleasantries i felt i could get some jist howbeit in an un-official capacity from him. So i spent the next 15 minutes posing some questions to him.
Knowing that one of the biggest concerns on CE is the issue of our goalkeeping situation,this was too good an opportunity to let go. So enjoy the discussions we had.
I asked him what the goalkeeping situation was like,i told him about CE and how apprehensive thr members were with the current situation.
In response he felt the fans have decided to make an issue out of the situation. He used the illustration of being used to driving a particular car and being relunctant to change. As far as he is concerned the inevitability of a change is upon us, and as far the the officials are concerned they can only make do with what they have. He said the aim of the management team is to try to instill a much confidence and belief as possible to the available keepers.
I brought up the issue of Enyeama,his response was, the ball was and still is in Enyeama's courtto play. He expressed the concern everyone shared about his non playing time even if he decides to come back. If he decides to, there wont be any auto shirt, this situation is perfectly understandable considering the plight of Enyeama.The impression i got is that , the move to come back or not is Enyeama's to make.
I brought up the issue of Uzoho, Alloy had good things to say about him. Let me usethe phrase that best captures his impression of the lad.....i have been long in the business to know a good talent. He believes the boy is good, and he cited two attributes.....he is a calm goalie and he has good aerial command. I suspect this attributes standout in contrast to the others...this is my own opinion.
On Ezenwa, he believes the boy has done enough to be allowed to have a go, he cited the Cameroon match as a good validation test. We both agreed thst many fans have chosen to dwell only on the one mistake he made , while sacrificing the good points. That ought not to be we both agreed.
I was tempted to probe further, but i felt i had done enough at least for an impromptu interview, i did not want turn a nice banter into an official interview, i wanted to leave a roomto be able to approach him again in June, when i feel a better opportunity to do more examination will happen.
So bade him farewell with the promise to hook up in June. We boarded the same Flight to Frankfurt, men i felt so good just being with the lads again.
Oloye, excellent write up!
I remember barely a few months ago reading your musings about your sighting from afar your old friend Alloy Agu coaching with the SE, probably at one of the SE games here in the UK and how it brought back all those nostalgic memories.
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no gree make Gotti catch you oh! Man BCC Lions of Gboko.. the thing wey Amoudu carry those boys do naija league eh! 
I remember Ranchers Bees and Leventis dem too. They had their time in the sun for a while.
