Laloko: Obi Mikel Has Not Given Back......

[mapet]

Laloko should be calling out people like yemibrassiere who took free Awolowo primary education when he was 25, took free bricklayer training at Government vocational Training college when he was 30 in 1975, and is still taking today at nearly 72. And we know he has no intention of giving back anything except what he gives back in open fields in Ekiti.

[papilo]

Laloko is a fool. Must Mikel give back to the academy because he came up through the academy? How many people that went through thr academy and didnt become a star gave back?

Bros,

Cool down. Nobody is forcing Mikel to "give back"; It is only the responsible thing to do

Nobody is forcing Mikel to give and nobody should. There is nothing 'irresponsible' about Mikel not giving back to the academy. He does not have to. All he owes them, if anything at all is a thank you that's it. If he decides he wants to give something, they should also thank him in return but demanding he gives jerseys and money is wrong and irresponsible. This mentality needs to change.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Laloko is a fool. Must Mikel give back to the academy because he came up through the academy? How many people that went through thr academy and didnt become a star gave back?

Bros,

Cool down. Nobody is forcing Mikel to "give back"; It is only the responsible thing to do

Nobody is forcing Mikel to give and nobody should. There is nothing 'irresponsible' about Mikel not giving back to the academy. He does not have to. All he owes them, if anything at all is a thank you that's it. If he decides he wants to give something, they should also thank him in return but demanding he gives jerseys and money is wrong and irresponsible. This mentality needs to change.

I beg to disagree. Every Nigerian footballer who made it owes it to the country to help develop fresh talent. If they do not give back, how will we develop the new generation of players.

We are not like Europe that have thriving and successful clubs with four or five youth teams. Nigerian football is highly dependent on its academies.

[green4life]

There are always two sides to a story. Giving back - not just for a Mikel stature personality - is necessary especially for those who are blessed enough to be in that position. However, you cannot define how a person chooses to give back. It could be time by way of mentoring. It could be monetary donations to non-footballing causes. And of course, it could be direct cash to football development like a Pepsi Academy. My point it there is no right or wrong way and no one knows how much Mikel has done or not done over the years in terms of giving back. But what we do know is how he has assisted financially as a SE captain and mentoring some of the younger players. He might be doing other things in Nigeria anonymously or low key through proxies. Either way, as much as I want to say that Laloko is out of line, I will stop short by saying that legacy related discussions are important. As much as naija has massive issues, it's still our own place and it's for us to take care of the country in every little way we can - not just Mikel.

[papilo]

Laloko is a fool. Must Mikel give back to the academy because he came up through the academy? How many people that went through thr academy and didnt become a star gave back?

Bros,

Cool down. Nobody is forcing Mikel to "give back"; It is only the responsible thing to do

Nobody is forcing Mikel to give and nobody should. There is nothing 'irresponsible' about Mikel not giving back to the academy. He does not have to. All he owes them, if anything at all is a thank you that's it. If he decides he wants to give something, they should also thank him in return but demanding he gives jerseys and money is wrong and irresponsible. This mentality needs to change.

I beg to disagree. Every Nigerian footballer who made it owes it to the country to help develop fresh talent. If they do not give back, how will we develop the new generation of players.

We are not like Europe that have thriving and successful clubs with four or five youth teams. Nigerian football is highly dependent on its academies.

I disagree. Nigerian footballers owe Nigerians 100% commitment when representing the country and being good ambassadors of the country when representing their clubs, both of which Mikel has passed with flying colors. The footballers are not responsible for developing fresh talent. The administrators (NFF, sports ministry, e.t.c.) are.

[Larry Ashagbe 1]

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JOHN OBI MIKEL - NIGERIA SKIPPER CRITICISED BY ACADEMY FOUNDER
https://africanfootball.com/news/735808 ... my-founder
by Staff Reporter
Monday Nov 27, 2017. 10:00


With Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel no doubt looking forward to learning his side’s group stage opponents for the 2018 World Cup when the draw is held this coming Friday, he has been criticised by the founder of an academy he attended as a youngster.

Former Nigeria Football Federation technical director Kashimawo Laloko, who founded the Pepsi Football Academy at Agege Stadium in Lagos, believes Mikel - a product of the institution - has not done enough to give back to the youth in Nigerian football.

“Mikel was brought to limelight through our Jos centre around 1995 to 2002. We gave him the breakthrough that made Nigerians to know him,” Laloko is quoted by the Vanguard.

“He was unpolished when he came but we refined him. If not for us, maybe, he would not be where he is today but since he became a star, I have not heard that he visited the Jos centre to donate a pair of jersey to the players there. That is most unfair.

“Some former players give us money for the running of the centres but Mikel has not done such. Osaze is an example of a player who paid us because he recognised what we did for him.

“There was a time we wanted to use Mikel in a advertising campaign for the academy but he shunned us. His agent was asking us to pay a huge sum of money but Mr. Nelson could not believe it and that was how the deal fell through. I don’t think Mikel has done well for Nigerian youths.”

With Mikel currently enjoying the off season, following the completion of the Chinese Super League's 2017 campaign earlier this month, perhaps he'll make time to give back to those who helped his rise in the game.

There were a lot of frictions between Mikel, Pepsi United and Plateau United during his protracted move to Chelsea.

In fact, the transfer was very, very, very messy to say the least.

Mikel spent majority of his youth at Pepsi at least 7-9 years and only spent about 2-3 months with Plateau United.

During the protracted transfer to Chelsea, there loads of people within Nigeria claiming ownership to Mikel and the management at Chelsea were unsure who to discuss with regarding the transfer of the player.

Chelsea FC found themselves in an unknown territory and situations like this do not exist when youngsters based and groomed in Europe football academies are being transferred.

Chelsea was confused and not sure how to proceed and Chelsea were signing 3 other players apart from Mikel.

The other 3 players were Emmanuel Sarki, Chinedu Obasi and cannot remember his name but I would guess Bala.

The 4 players were eventually signed and loaned to Lyn before Man Utd pounced, that is story for another day.

The management of Plateau United were the most aggressive for money.

Mikel and his agent at the time Ola Shittu were not happy with the way Pepsi Academy conducted themselves and that explains the reason Mikel has animosity towards Pepsi and Laloko.

This story was very, very long and messy and I don't have the time to tell it all and I have just given you a quick summary.

[Larry Ashagbe 1]

PLAYER SPOTLIGHT: JOHN OBI MIKEL - NIGERIA SKIPPER CRITICISED BY ACADEMY FOUNDER
https://africanfootball.com/news/735808 ... my-founder
by Staff Reporter
Monday Nov 27, 2017. 10:00


With Nigeria captain John Obi Mikel no doubt looking forward to learning his side’s group stage opponents for the 2018 World Cup when the draw is held this coming Friday, he has been criticised by the founder of an academy he attended as a youngster.

Former Nigeria Football Federation technical director Kashimawo Laloko, who founded the Pepsi Football Academy at Agege Stadium in Lagos, believes Mikel - a product of the institution - has not done enough to give back to the youth in Nigerian football.

“Mikel was brought to limelight through our Jos centre around 1995 to 2002. We gave him the breakthrough that made Nigerians to know him,” Laloko is quoted by the Vanguard.

“He was unpolished when he came but we refined him. If not for us, maybe, he would not be where he is today but since he became a star, I have not heard that he visited the Jos centre to donate a pair of jersey to the players there. That is most unfair.

“Some former players give us money for the running of the centres but Mikel has not done such. Osaze is an example of a player who paid us because he recognised what we did for him.

“There was a time we wanted to use Mikel in a advertising campaign for the academy but he shunned us. His agent was asking us to pay a huge sum of money but Mr. Nelson could not believe it and that was how the deal fell through. I don’t think Mikel has done well for Nigerian youths.”

With Mikel currently enjoying the off season, following the completion of the Chinese Super League's 2017 campaign earlier this month, perhaps he'll make time to give back to those who helped his rise in the game.

There were a lot of frictions between Mikel, Pepsi United and Plateau United during his protracted move to Chelsea.

In fact, the transfer was very, very, very messy to say the least.

Mikel spent majority of his youth at Pepsi at least 7-9 years and only spent about 2-3 months with Plateau United.

During the protracted transfer to Chelsea, there loads of people within Nigeria claiming ownership to Mikel and the management at Chelsea were unsure who to discuss with regarding the transfer of the player.

Chelsea FC found themselves in an unknown territory and situations like this do not exist when youngsters based and groomed in Europe football academies are being transferred.

Chelsea was confused and not sure how to proceed and Chelsea were signing 3 other players apart from Mikel.

The other 3 players were Emmanuel Sarki, Chinedu Obasi and cannot remember his name but I would guess Bala.

The 4 players were eventually signed and loaned to Lyn before Man Utd pounced, that is story for another day.

The management of Plateau United were the most aggressive for money.

Mikel and his agent at the time Ola Shittu were not happy with the way Pepsi Academy conducted themselves and that explains the reason Mikel has animosity towards Pepsi and Laloko.

This story was very, very long and messy and I don't have the time to tell it all and I have just given you a quick summary.

All the players were signed after the FIFA U-17 World Championship 2003, the tenth edition of the tournament, was held in the cities of Helsinki, Tampere, Lahti and Turku in Finland between 13 August and 30 August 2003.

The name of the fourth player is Ezekiel Bala.

I have done some investigation and the to the link to the squad is below.

http://www.fifa.com/u17worldcup/archive ... ayers.html

[ceejay22]

Thanks Larry!!
Mikel doesn't owe anybody $#%!!!