{"version":"1.0","provider_name":"Mathematical 7","provider_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7","title":"Reminiscences \u2013 Alan Hawkes and Lee Evans. - Mathematical 7","type":"rich","width":600,"height":338,"html":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"t8qvY2mDWZ\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/reminiscences-alan-hawkes-and-lee-evans\/\">Reminiscences \u2013 Alan Hawkes and Lee Evans.<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/reminiscences-alan-hawkes-and-lee-evans\/embed\/#?secret=t8qvY2mDWZ\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" title=\"&#8220;Reminiscences \u2013 Alan Hawkes and Lee Evans.&#8221; &#8212; Mathematical 7\" data-secret=\"t8qvY2mDWZ\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/mathematical7.com\/m7\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Lee_Evans_2.jpg","thumbnail_width":487,"thumbnail_height":547,"description":"Permit me to tell you about two foreigners that played very significant roles in my career in football.I do not expect that many younger people will know, or even remember them.The first is my first contact with a foreign coach.Playing under him took me to the tipping point, that moment, in time and circumstance, that makes the difference between being good and becoming great in an athletic career.Allan Hawkes took me there.He was the White, British-born coach of IICC Shooting Stars FC when I joined the club as a student of the Polytechnic, Ibadan, in 1974. Before I joined \u2018Sooting\u2019I was already a rising star in the football circuit of Western Nigeria. I had played for a few small clubs that actually won laurels in that part of the country. I was even shockingly awarded the best player of the Ibadan Football Association, IFA league (the biggest league in Western Nigeria).I had played for NTC Football Club and won the Western State FA Cup in 1972; played for Housing Corporation and won the Olubadan Cup in 1973; played for the Western Lions, the State team assembled from several clubs to represent the State at the First National Sports Festival in 1973; played my first international match for the Western Lions against the national team of Central Africa Republic at the Liberty Stadium in 1973; and was invited to the camp of the national team, the Green Eagles, after the festival that same year.It was after all of these that I joined Shooting Stars in the summer of 1974 where I trained fully under Coach Allan Hawkes. Before I met him, I played mostly from instinct, enjoying the freedom of playing without any special appreciation of self, or understanding of tactics and strategy. It was Allan that introduced the first level of discipline, organization and team tactics to my game, adding more purposefulness to how I played. Coming from a more advanced football culture gave Allan Hawkes an advantage over the Nigerian coaches around us at the time. The climax was when, as a student playing for Sooting for the two years leading to the Africa Cup-Winners Cup in 1976, he trusted me and gave me the opportunity to play without affecting my lectures. At a crucial time during the preparations, he actually moved the team\u2019s training to my campus to enable me to be a part of the team. It was that level of confidence, plus his constant drills to improve my goalscoring skills that built my self-confidence. With my over 6 feet height, he taught me to use my head more effectively to score goals, and in the process implanted an imaginary football card in my head that tipped me over the edge to the realm of greatness. I started to be more clinical in front of goal.In 1976, he turned Moses Otolorin and I into a healthy, competing pair of goal scoring machines. Between us, we scored all but two of the 18 goals that the entire team scored in becoming the first club in Nigeria to win an African Club football championship."}