Now Spurs take Kanuote FIFA.
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cic old boy
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Much respect to this writer for his analysis of the Kanoute case.
Pleat and Allardyce fail to see the bigger African picture
Richard Williams
Wednesday December 31, 2003
The Guardian
Off the pitch, this has been a big week for Frédéric Kanouté. After finally giving up hope of senior selection for France, the country in which he grew up and in whose Under-21 side he appeared, the Tottenham striker formally accepted an invitation from Henri Stambouli, the coach of Mali, to play in the 2004 African Nations Cup, which begins in Tunisia at the end of January.
This is all perfectly legal and decent. Mali happens to be the country of Kanouté's father, and Fifa's rules were recently changed to enable players to switch nationalities after appearing in competitive fixtures at Under-21 level. In a certain depressed area of north London, however, the player's decision did not go down at all well.
Monday's London Evening Standard told us that David Pleat, Spurs' caretaker manager, had "challenged" Kanouté to stay at home and help the club fight their way out of trouble. Pleat had "laid down the gauntlet" after being told that the player had decided to join the Mali squad. "We will have to see how the situation develops," Pleat said, "but obviously it is not in Freddie's nor the club's interests for him to go."
One can understand a manager fighting his club's corner, particularly a club currently floundering in the Premiership's danger zone. But Pleat's arrogance, short-sightedness and sheer lack of class illustrate a great deal of what is wrong with English football these days.
Not that he is the only manager to complain about losing his players to the African tournament in the middle of the European club season. Sam Allardyce, for example, has publicly invited Jay-Jay Okocha, a star of the Nigerian team for almost a decade, to retire from international football in order to help Bolton Wanderers reach the Carling Cup final. "He hasn't played at the Millennium Stadium and I think it would be wonderful for him to have it on his CV," Allardyce said, in a singularly unpersuasive piece of advocacy.
In this context no apology is necessary for repeating the recent words of Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, who accused the big European clubs of "conducting themselves increasingly as neo-colonialists". Without countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon, European clubs would not find it so easy to attract cut-price talent.
Remember, too, that the African Nations Cup, first held in 1957, predates its European equivalent by three years. By gathering together the best of the continent's talent, it also provides an excellent opportunity for European clubs to window-shop. And Africa can hardly be blamed for holding its tournament to suit its own calendar rather than that of Europe.
Pleat and Allardyce are only telling their clubs' fans what they want to hear. How much better it would be, however, if they could bring themselves to say, "OK, it's going to make things difficult for us, but we understand the importance of international football to the career of a top player and to football in general."
Although Mali is not one of the leading powers in African football, Kanouté will be following in the footsteps of a legend when he leads the attack next month. They are those of Salif Keita, who was aged 15 when, in 1963, he became Mali's youngest senior international.
Keita was winning championships with Real Bamako when St-Etienne's representative lured him away in 1967. On arrival at Orly airport, the 19-year-old jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. "But that's 500 kilometres away," the driver said. "Don't worry," Keita replied. "The club will pay."
They did, and how richly they were rewarded. In 1970 he was voted France Football's first African player of the year, and even today the club's website features a cartoon figure of a panthère noire , which is how he was known in the days when he was helping them win three league titles. After moving on to Marseille, Valencia, Sporting Lisbon and Boston, he returned home in 1986 to establish a football academy and to run a hotel on the banks of the Niger.
Only once, in 1972, have Mali reached the African Nations Cup final, losing 3-2 to Congo, with Keita in their attack. An increasingly impoverished nation does not deserve the casual cruelty of the representative of a former imperial power. Whatever David Pleat may believe, Keita's story established not just a tradition worth honouring but an example for Freddie Kanouté to follow.
Pleat and Allardyce fail to see the bigger African picture
Richard Williams
Wednesday December 31, 2003
The Guardian
Off the pitch, this has been a big week for Frédéric Kanouté. After finally giving up hope of senior selection for France, the country in which he grew up and in whose Under-21 side he appeared, the Tottenham striker formally accepted an invitation from Henri Stambouli, the coach of Mali, to play in the 2004 African Nations Cup, which begins in Tunisia at the end of January.
This is all perfectly legal and decent. Mali happens to be the country of Kanouté's father, and Fifa's rules were recently changed to enable players to switch nationalities after appearing in competitive fixtures at Under-21 level. In a certain depressed area of north London, however, the player's decision did not go down at all well.
Monday's London Evening Standard told us that David Pleat, Spurs' caretaker manager, had "challenged" Kanouté to stay at home and help the club fight their way out of trouble. Pleat had "laid down the gauntlet" after being told that the player had decided to join the Mali squad. "We will have to see how the situation develops," Pleat said, "but obviously it is not in Freddie's nor the club's interests for him to go."
One can understand a manager fighting his club's corner, particularly a club currently floundering in the Premiership's danger zone. But Pleat's arrogance, short-sightedness and sheer lack of class illustrate a great deal of what is wrong with English football these days.
Not that he is the only manager to complain about losing his players to the African tournament in the middle of the European club season. Sam Allardyce, for example, has publicly invited Jay-Jay Okocha, a star of the Nigerian team for almost a decade, to retire from international football in order to help Bolton Wanderers reach the Carling Cup final. "He hasn't played at the Millennium Stadium and I think it would be wonderful for him to have it on his CV," Allardyce said, in a singularly unpersuasive piece of advocacy.
In this context no apology is necessary for repeating the recent words of Sepp Blatter, the president of Fifa, who accused the big European clubs of "conducting themselves increasingly as neo-colonialists". Without countries such as Nigeria, Senegal and Cameroon, European clubs would not find it so easy to attract cut-price talent.
Remember, too, that the African Nations Cup, first held in 1957, predates its European equivalent by three years. By gathering together the best of the continent's talent, it also provides an excellent opportunity for European clubs to window-shop. And Africa can hardly be blamed for holding its tournament to suit its own calendar rather than that of Europe.
Pleat and Allardyce are only telling their clubs' fans what they want to hear. How much better it would be, however, if they could bring themselves to say, "OK, it's going to make things difficult for us, but we understand the importance of international football to the career of a top player and to football in general."
Although Mali is not one of the leading powers in African football, Kanouté will be following in the footsteps of a legend when he leads the attack next month. They are those of Salif Keita, who was aged 15 when, in 1963, he became Mali's youngest senior international.
Keita was winning championships with Real Bamako when St-Etienne's representative lured him away in 1967. On arrival at Orly airport, the 19-year-old jumped into a taxi and asked to be taken to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard. "But that's 500 kilometres away," the driver said. "Don't worry," Keita replied. "The club will pay."
They did, and how richly they were rewarded. In 1970 he was voted France Football's first African player of the year, and even today the club's website features a cartoon figure of a panthère noire , which is how he was known in the days when he was helping them win three league titles. After moving on to Marseille, Valencia, Sporting Lisbon and Boston, he returned home in 1986 to establish a football academy and to run a hotel on the banks of the Niger.
Only once, in 1972, have Mali reached the African Nations Cup final, losing 3-2 to Congo, with Keita in their attack. An increasingly impoverished nation does not deserve the casual cruelty of the representative of a former imperial power. Whatever David Pleat may believe, Keita's story established not just a tradition worth honouring but an example for Freddie Kanouté to follow.