All the global top guns of football – players, administrators, coaches and even the media – are here in South Africa part of the global festival of football. One would need some kind of divine intervention, however, to catch up with some of them. That was what I needed to catch up with one authentic football personality I had always wanted to meet. I had to be in the right place and at the right time. It happened in Johannesburg – fate intervened! I met Arsene Wenger. Although I am a Barcelona fan I admire and appreciate the poor imitation of the Barca-style that Arsenal FC have adopted to become the second most entertaining football club in the world. The man behind this attractive, free-flowing attacking football philosophy is Arsene Wenger. The elements conspired to create the rare opportunity for me to meet him and have an informal conversation with him last Wednesday morning. John Mastoroudes and his daughter, Barbara, had earlier met him and had set up this informal meeting with the great coach. I simply joined them in the lounge of the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sandton where he was staying. John did the introductions. For almost one hour after, over coffee and biscuits, we chatted over a whole range of subjects on football. It was most illuminating listening to Arsene give very candid responses to our enquiries. I asked him only a few direct questions.  I did not record the conversation and, so, cannot quote him verbatim. What I am reproducing here represent, therefore, my humble recall of mostly of what we discussed in the close to one hour that we spent chatting about the World Cup, Nigerian players and Nigerian football, Arsenal Football Club and so on.

On the standard of the World Cup so far.

He has not been very impressed with the general standard of play by most teams in the championship. Most of the national coaches had very little time to assemble and build up formidable teams. Thats the difference between a club coach and a national coach. The difference is very wide.  It can be likened to the difference between a regular domestic cook who has plenty of time to prepare a great meal, and a cook in a fast food restaurant who rushes through the cooking of meals. The standard of teams has been disappointing so far. But there is still some way to go. In particular, Brazil have played poorly, at only one pace. They are an ageing team. They could not change gear throughout their match with North Korea. Most of the teams having been playing similarly. Except for a few matches most of the others have been boring.

On Nigerian players

It is a shame that a country with a population of 150 million and an abundance of naturally strong and athletically-built footballers should be having the problems Nigeria is having at the moment. Nigeria have stopped producing high-quality footballers. Even most of the present national team players are average. He remembers Victor Ikpeba who was with him when he was coach of Monaco. Victor was a great player, but was always playing like one at loggerheads with someone or even himself most of the time. he was very restless but very good. He also remembers Kanu Nwankwo very fondly. He is full of praise and appreciation for the contributions of Kanu to the promotion of Nigerian football. He speaks of Kanu’s sublime skills on the ball with nostalgia, how well he could shield the ball away from defenders, and how he could do unbelievable things with the ball. He speaks briefly about Yakubu Aiyegbeni; how he thinks Yakubu’s performances is often affected by his weight. Every time Yakubu comes down on his weight, as he seems to have done during the present  World Cup, he becomes sharp and dangerous in front of opposing goals.

The importance of academies

I tell him about my sports academy. His eyes light up. He likes the subject matter. He gets into another gear. Very passionately he speaks about his passion and work as a football talent developer. He has spent a greater part of his life providing technical insight into various aspects of football development. He asks if we know for example that between the ages of 10 and 16 football academies should encourage players to play barefooted. What? I have never heard any such thing. Barefooted? Yes. He goes into this intellectual discourse about the unique shape of every player’s feet and how the early overuse of football boots can affect the development and performance of players in latter years. Particularly in the formative years of players, he advises that I should encourage my coaches in the academy to make the students to train barefooted as much as possible provided the fields are safe. I am still wondering about the idea. He says this will help develop the skills and comfortability of the players with the ball even when they start to use shoes to play. He speaks glowingly about the advancement of the academy concept in Cote d’Ivoire where players like Didier Drogba, Kolo and Yahaya Toure, Keita and several others were cultivated. The process is now so well entrenched in Cote d’Ivoire that it will continue to churn out good footballers for a long time to come. Should Nigeria adopt such development initiatives one can only start to imagine how quickly and how well the development of truly exceptional footballers will be.  He tells us he met the new Nigerian sports minister and shared this point of view with him. Nigeria has no business having problems with its football!

On Football and Dance!

Dance is very important for training of young footballers. They must make dancing an integral part of their skills development. It adds rhythm and balance to their game. I tell him happily that I had realised this myself earlier and had hired a dance teacher into The International Sports Academy, Wasimi, where all the students  are taught serious dance movements as part of their training. He also advises that I should add other games to the training of the footballers. He loves skilful players and talks about how he gets young players to develop their skills very rapidly. He rewards the footballers when they win the competitive games he organises to help develop their skills. For example, he makes young players juggle the ball with both feet everyday, back and forth through the length of the football field. Those that do so without dropping the ball are rewarded. Some times he introduces doing the same thing using the head through the length of the field without dropping it. He says many coaches do not realise how important developing these simple skills are. They help the players to have confidence, to keep possession of the ball even in tight situations and to be friends with the ball all the time.

On having a deep vision

He speaks about how coaches and players must have a deep vision. he explains how players must be able to ‘see’ beyond the immediate next pass or movement. A coach must be able to get his players to ‘see’ several moves ahead. It is not enough to just pass the ball backwards and forwards and sideways endlessly and aimlessly without a clear idea where, how and when the ‘deadly’ penetrating pass would come to create goal-scoring opportunities. He condemns the attitude of coaches of young players who put children through the pressure of winning at an early age. He would rather they concentrate on getting their wards to play well rather than to win. He says he once asked one of his youth coaches how the youth team played after a practice match. The coach’s reply was a disappointing remark that the team lost the match. He scolded the coach and told him he was not interested in the scoreline but in his assessment of the quality of the performance of the players. He says that the winning spirit should only be inculcated in players when they get older around 17.

On Arsenal Football Club

Does he think Arsenal FC will win the Premiership in the next season?  His response is unclear. He speaks about Manchester City and how they will be a serious threat next season. He mentions Manchester United,  Chelsea and his own Arsenal as likely contenders again. He is not so sure about Liverpool. The strategic plan of Arsenal in the past 5 years has been to make a minimum of 50 million pounds in profit every year, whereas a team like Chelsea is running a 150 million pounds deficit every year. Arsenal have financial responsibilities to meet particularly paying the bills for the cost of building their new stadium.

His departing Joke!

A couple have been together for 40 years. The woman turns to her man and asks him to swear that in their 40 years relationship, he never slept with another woman. The man, without hesitating, proclaims that throughout their relationship he never slept with any woman. He assures her that he was always wide awake when he slept with them. Unbelievable!

My final thoughts on Arsene Wenger

Arsene is great man and great coach! I don’t know when he plans to quitting his job at Arsenal or to retire. My gut feeling, however, is that it wont be too long from now. If ever he decides to retire from coaching in Arsenal I also believe he would not take up coaching a national team. Rather I see him taking up work in a football academy somewhere in a Third World country. He speaks with passion about his frustration with the lack of development of the game at an intellectual level. I see him attempting to provide that missing link in world football!