It isn’t easy for me to find something to post about. There are several reasons for this but it is mostly due to laziness and to a lesser extent – finding blogging inspiration at times/places I am unable to write/type. I have to do better though. I have too much opinion on too many things to not blog. Laziness should not be an obstacle anymore – I am a father now and fatherhood is anti-laziness.

Right, what to blog about today? It has to be about Nigeria. A lot has happened in that country this year – most of it disappointing, depressing and disheartening. So disheartening I have stopped following Mallam Nasir El-Rufai, Omojuwa, OccupyNigeria, Xeenarh and many other Nigerian news sharing twitter profiles. I had to do this to retain some sort of sanity as news coming out of Nigeria on a daily basis depressed me. It’s been almost a month now since I unfollowed these people and I think I’ve regained some sanity and I’m now able to put a few of my thoughts and opinions down.

Firstly, I must say I am proud of the #occupynigeria movement and protest that kicked off as a result of the removal of fuel subsidy by the Goodluck Ebele Jonathan led Federal Government. Nigerians have been suffering and smiling for far too long and it is high time they rediscovered their passion for their country and self-wellbeing. Whilst the protest that followed the announcement initially focussed on reversing the subsidy removal, it very quickly metamorphosed into being about social justice as Nigerians through social media wildfire connected en masse as the more discerning part of the populace dissected and exposed the waste in the budgets sent by the federal and state governments to their respective law-making arms for approval. Just like most Nigerian’s, I have also been complacent in scrutinising the spending made by the various levels of government and was equally as shocked to discover the amount of wastage and thievery being perpetrated by the FG most especially. Most staggering was the budgeted cN1billion for 2012, –that’s a staggering cN3m per day – for feeding by the presidential family along with that of the vice president’s. To put it in context, it’s an equivalent of c£12,000 daily. What exactly are they planning on eating? Angels? Even the Queen of England wouldn’t spend that much on food for the whole palace – staff inclusive. There are several more thievery and wastage within the budget – most of which have been very kindly highlighted by Mallam Nasir El-Rufai (you can view these on his website http://el-rufai.org/ ).

What I’ve found particularly disturbing is that Ngozi Okwonjo-Iweala (NOI), Coordinating Minister of the Nigerian economy and Minister of Finance ratified this wasteful budget ahead of its presentation to the National Assembly for passage. For someone held in such a high regard and stature, how come she did not voice her disapproval of the wastage and vehemently too? At first, I purred at her target plan – earlier announced – of reducing the total revenue expenditure of the Federal Government’s budget from a humongous 74% to 70% over four years. The reduction of 4% is presumably to be recycled to capital expenditure but will in no way make any in-roads into the gross under-funding of critical infrastructure and much needed economic development. Of course, seeing the kind of budget she must have assented to at the Federal Executive Council meeting that ratified the 2012 Budget puts her meagre target plan in perspective. It is under this pretext that I find the FG’s decision to remove subsidy on fuel unpalatable. Technically, I agree with the removal, but morally and socially I don’t. It doesn’t make sense to me to remove the subsidy without first addressing systemic issues that will negate the impact of any savings from the said subsidy removal. Without resolving these systemic issues – such as government accountability, probity etc, any savings made from the removal of fuel subsidy will simply fall into the same black hole that all previous government expenditures have fallen into.  For example, the FG has been paying for a Hawker 4000XP aircraft to be added to the Presidential fleet, initially budgeted for in 2007 and delivered in 2010 but the FG would have paid another $122m – 2012 inclusive since delivery of the aircraft! Does the plane fly to the moon?

Nigeria and Nigerians are being let down by the very people she is looking up to, to rescue her. Sometimes I wonder if there is any hope for the country if one considers the level of decadence in public accountability, responsibility and probity. It really is a deeply desperate situation. Regardless of how desperate the situation is, one must just simply focus on asking the right questions thereby proffering the right solution. So I am going to write a few posts on attempting, what in my own humble opinion, is the solution(s) to the Nigerian problem.

Sir Alexander Chapman Ferguson (SAF) turned 70 last December and will have been managing Manchester United for 25 ½ years by the end of the current 2011-12 EPL season. The success he has achieved over that period is second to none and he’s now seen has a father figure for the English premier league – after becoming its most successful manager in history. It is no secret that SAF is closer to the end than the beginning of his stewardship at Old Trafford. The debate of who his successor will be has been raging and a plethora of names have been suggested over the years. As the end edges closer, I thought I should add my own opinion to the debate.

If one considers the astute way – if we ignore the humongous debt – the Glazers have managed Manchester United since their takeover of the club, it is safe to guess in all likelihood that there will be a new manager at Manchester United as early as the 2013-14 season but no later than 2014-15 football season.

From the names that have been dropped in the hat within the last few years, I think only three are realistic candidates by my estimation. I have selected who these realistic three are and will discuss why I think they have a better than average chance of being SAF’s successor. In selecting these three I considered the following yardstick, yardstick’s necessitated by SAF’s incredible success:

1. Proven man-management skill
2. Proven technical/tactical skill
3. Proven ability to develop young talent
4. Strong relative success
5. Long-term commitment

In my order of preference, at number:

3.       Jose Mourinho – Jose is a complete maverick. His success in the last 8years can only be rivalled by Pep Guardiola. He is a true winner, winning titles and cup competitions at every club he’s managed. His work at Porto and Chelsea evidences his man-management skills. His players played for him and were willing to die on the pitch for him. He employs several tactics to get his players psychologically ready for matches, sometimes redirecting the limelight or media focus/backlash to himself to shield his players from criticism or scrutiny, especially when they perform below expected standard. Some argue that he hugs the limelight a little bit too much. This probably holds weight if one considers the different spats he had with media in Italy and the political tangles he got himself to at his current club Real Madrid. Currently he seems to be having his way at Real Madrid but at what expense? Whilst he successfully engaged the media in England – using it to his advantage most times, same cannot be said of his relationship with the media in Italy and Spain. Perhaps the favourable relationship he enjoys with British media will work in his favour were he to succeed SAF, this remains to be seen and can only be cautiously accepted as fact as he spent less than 3 years in England before departing Chelsea.

His coaching, technical and tactical skill is exemplary as displayed in every team he has managed. He’s not one to baulk at making substitutions or tough calls within the first 10mins of a match if he thinks it will improve his team’s chances of winning. Until he became manager of Real Madrid, his coaching skill was unquestionable but as losing to Barcelona became a norm, doubts began to creep in, with Madristas voicing their dissent severally after recent defeats. Until very recently, Real had never beaten Barcelona in the league since 2008 and their last win at Camp Nou in April 2012 was the first since 2007. Guardiola seemed to always have the better of him and his players. The several defeats to Barcelona remain the only dent to his perceived excellent technical and tactical skills. It remains to be seen how he’ll fare against them in the post Guardiola era. There is no doubt that Jose is technically and tactically equipped to succeed at Old Trafford. He will however need to not employ his effective football tactic too often if he is to get the backing of Stretford End.

As great a coach Jose has been, his inability to develop and nurture young talent has been a great splotch on his impressive CV. Besides the success he enjoyed at Benfica and Porto, he seems to always rely on ‘buying’ success by splashing out significant sums on big name/established players or on working for chief executives who wouldn’t baulk at splashing the cash. Jose is not known to be one that develops talent. In recent history, the only player he’s had the opportunity to develop into a huge talent is John Mikel Obi. Some argue that he ruined the career of the young Nigerian international and that Obi had the potential to become the “new Patrick Vieira” when he was wrestled by Chelsea away from Old Trafford but that Jose converted a potential never-before-seen box-to-box midfielder into a defensive sideways passer, others argue that au contraire, Mikel has become one of the finest defensive midfielders of his generation – and gave Jose the plaudit for that. The fact that this debate rumbles on suggests that Jose’s ability to nurture and develop young talent remains doubtful. The faithfuls at Old Trafford expect young talent to be nurtured and for great young players to come through the club’s excellent academy, something SAF excelled at during his tenure at Old Trafford. This is clearly a negative in Jose’s possibility of replacing SAF at Old Trafford.

Conclusion – as great a coach and manager Jose is, he comes with a baggage. Drama and sometimes silly antics seem to follow him everywhere he manages. He always wants to set an “us against the world” siege like mentality up at the club he manages. This I do not believe is suitable for a manager of Manchester United. There’s also question about his ability to commit long-term to any club. Jose as spent a maximum of 3years at every club he’s coached at. It is unlikely that the trend will change at Manchester United. Bu his antecedents, I can predict that Jose will probably spend a maximum of 4years at Old Trafford and will then offer himself to be the next England manager after the expiration of Roy Hodgson’s contract, following which he’ll accept to be his native Portugal’s national manager following the end of his contract with England and then call time on his career. Whilst it is unlikely that we will ever see the type of longevity set by SAF again, Manchester United need a manager that will commit at least the next 10years of his career to the club. Jose, in my opinion based on the above is not the man to succeed SAF.

2.      David Moyes – David celebrated 10years as manager of Everton FC in 2012. During that time, he enjoyed some success – qualifying Everton for the European Champions league in 2004-05, Uefa Cup in 2007-08 and leading them to the FA Cup final in 2009. Besides SAF and Arsene Wenger, Moyes is the longest serving club manager in the English Premier League. In modern day football, that is a rarity.   

What David achieved at Everton is worthy of praise and emulation considering the tight budget and financial constrain he had to work with. He couldn’t have achieved these successes without being a good coach and a good man-manager – getting the best out of his lean squad. With his team, you always know what to expect. His team work hard and are always well drilled. Sometimes they play great football too. It is unfortunate that Everton under Moyes never won anything has some football pundits believe they should have won something and that Moyes deserves a trophy for his efforts.

David appears to have a good eye for spotting talent. He has unearthed quite a few during his time at Everton, with the most famous being Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. This ability to spot talent is directly responsible for the success Everton enjoyed under his continued stewardship as he was able to buy relatively better than average players at a real discount – some of whom (Joleon Lescott, Wayne Rooney, Mikel Arteta etc)he sold on for significant profit. This ability to spot talent and nurture them makes him a serious contender as Sir Alex’s replacement.

Conclusion – On paper, Moyes looks like a shoe-in to replace Sir Alex. He’s proven that he can commit long-term, he’s not fazed by challenges, has some technical skills, a good spotter of talent and that United’s academy will be in good hands were he to become SAF’s successor. However, despite all of his successes at Everton and the above impressive CV, doubts remain about whether he possesses the winning mentality required to win a league or one of the cup competitions. David should have won a cup competition during his time at Everton. He had more than enough opportunities to have done that. For reasons unknown, his team always come up short at the crucial period. His teams’ performances have also been volatile. Sometimes they start strong and finish with a wimper or start really bad and finish strong, they always seem to dip in form for no clear reason. SAF on the other hand had displaced the Old Firm’s stranglehold in Scotland with Aberdeen prior to joining Manchester United and even won European competitions with them – thereby proving he can see a winning run through to the end – the strength of his mental resolve was without doubt. This weak mentality at crucial points is what may deny Moyes this opportunity of succeeding SAF. In my opinion, he comes really close at being the only successor but just falls short.

1.     Josep Guardiola – Pep, as he is mostly referred to has been one of if not the most successful club manager within the last four years as manager of Barcelona FC. Besides being a successful manager, he also had a successful career as a footballer for Barcelona and Spain. Pep is regarded as one of the deep thinkers/philosophers of football. His commitment to the game is completely total. He lets the game consume him – perhaps a bit too much as this in some way contributed to his departure from Barcelona and perhaps the best job in football.

Pep’s man management skill is irrefutable. It can be clearly seen in the way his players love to play for him. Throughout his time as manager of Barcelona – only arguably once did a spat with one of his players (Zlatan Ibrahimovic) get into the public sphere. For a club of the magnitude of Barcelona, that takes some doing as the team is filled with stars at every position on the pitch. Of course some of these stars owe their stardom to Pep as he exposed them to the world and coached them to be world beaters. The real feather in Pep’s cap is his management of arguably one of the greatest if not the greatest ever footballer – Lionel Messi. Pep’s management of Messi also confirms his technical and tactical ability. This is besides his success at improving the total tiki-taka football played by Barcelona to a level never before seen in the world and perhaps beyond its progenitor, Johan Cryuff’s dream. By switching Messi in to the middle as a false nine, Pep unleashed the talent of Messi to the world with very devastating effect.

Prior to becoming the coach of FC Barcelona’s senior team in 2008, Pep was the coach of Barcelona B for one year. He won the B league that year using players such as Pedro, Thiago, Dos Santos, Cuenca, Tello, Adriano, Bojan and a plethora of others – he successfully introduced most of these young starts to the senior team. This supports the fact that Pep appreciates young talent, he knows how to work with young talent, and he knows how to nurture young talent. With Pep himself being a product of Barcelona’s world famous La Masia academy, the academy at Manchester United will be in very capable hands were he to become the successor to Sir Alex Ferguson.

Conclusion – with Pep’s recent announcement of resignation from the Barcelona coaching job effective this summer and then announcing that he was going on a year’s sabbatical from football, it seems the omens are aligned for Pep to take over the mantle as manager of Manchester United. Since I do not believe that a vacancy exists at Old Trafford for at least another two years, Pep can take a full year as sabbatical away from football and use the second year to study the set-up at Old Trafford as well as the likely relationship he can develop with the owners of the historic club. I believe this is a win-win situation for both Pep and Manchester United. Manchester United is already a well set-up club with amazing training facilities, excellent academy, great stadium, great fans and massive history. Pep would find it very easy to settle down at the club as long as he doesn’t mind the weather!!!

 This write-up will be incomplete without mentioning the fact that long-term commitment may be a negative factor in appointing Pep as SAF’s successor. By spending just four years as coach of Barcelona, some will rightfully suggest that Manchester United need someone that can stand the heat and for longer. Pep’s case isn’t helped by the fact that his predecessor would have spent 27years as boss of Old Trafford – longevity that helped cement Manchester United as one of the greatest if not the greatest football club in the world.

As I cannot predict how long Pep may stay at Old Trafford were he to accept the job, I think I may just have the solution. The Glazers can ask Pep to pick Ole Gunnar Solskjaer as his assistant. Ole is already proving himself to be a one-to-look-out-for manager in the future by winning the Norwegian league in his first season as manager of Molde FC. Ole always had technical ability. It was this ability that made him a game changer every time he came on as a sub for Manchester United. By appointing Ole has Pep’s assistant, the club can guarantee at least 10years of stable club management should Pep depart Old Trafford after spending similar number of years like he did at Barcelona. It will also make for a smooth transition of managers, something that will be almost unavoidable in appointing SAF’s successor.

So there you go, Josep Guardiola plus Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to be the new team at the head of Manchester United. I believe this to be the best outcome for Manchester United.

To say I was disappointed with the way Man United played yesterday is an understatement. It was really disheartening to watch. United played hopelessly all over the pitch and were well beaten by a team that showed hunger, tenacity and desire – all characteristics previously ascribed to United teams of old.

United recorded no shot on target for the whole game. A game they had to get something out of to win a record 20th title. Like they’ve done all season at pressured games, they bottled it – yet again. Again, not only did the players bottle it, but the coaching staff as well – yes, Sir Alex Fergusson (SAF) bottled it and set his team up to go for a draw. By starting with Nani on the right, it showed that SAF had looked at the City team and considered their weakest point in defence. Nani, in recent games had had the better of Gael Clichy – so it made sense to set them against each other. SAF should also have looked at his team to ascertain which players, for whatever reason didn’t play well together this season, especially in crunch games. He should have looked at the weaknesses within the United team that could be explored by City. On the evidence that played out before all last night, it was clear he didn’t appraise his team in the same breadth he did City.

There are not many games both Scholes and Giggs started that ended being a win for United in the league this season. There have been eight games they’ve both been involved in. United won six out of those eight, they started in 3 out of those eight together, winning two and losing one. In the other games one started and the other was on the subs bench with Scholes enjoying more playing minutes than Giggs overall. This showed that for some reason, not starting both in the same game worked better for United – and for good reason – as the team can retain both players’ valuable experience when one is substituted out of the game. This approach had worked wonders to put United in with a great chance of winning the league title.

For some reason, SAF decided to go against this convention. First tactical mistake. Hunger trounced experience. SAF should have gone for players that had the hunger (as much as City’s players), will and legs to win. City have only one driving force – hunger to defeat United and take back the destiny of the league title in their own hands. SAF should have matched them hunger for hunger. Whilst Scholes and Giggs may have arguably had the hunger and will to win, they definitely don’t have the legs to effect such desire considering the opposition they were up against. Second tactical mistake. JS Park had not started a game for United in the league for close to three months. Whilst his talent is open for all to see, putting him up against Yaya Toure – a player in form and athletic, was always going to be a gamble lost. Physically JS Park was no match, form wise, he already lost before the game began.

SAF, if he wanted to spring a tactical surprise, should have gone for Valencia in the middle behind Rooney so as to counter Yaya Toure’s athleticism. Going with a European away game 4-5-1 formation I thought was right, but he used the wrong players. SAF should have gone with this line-up:
De Gea

Jones            Smalling              Ferdinand             Evra

Nani             Carrick                 Scholes                 Young

Valencia
Rooney

For weeks Valencia had been United’s best player. He was the player in form, and United’s most athletic. He should have been used to counter Yaya Toure. As gifted as Giggs is, he was never going to be a match for Zabaleta’s energy and industry. Some may argue that Scholes and Giggs cover as much ground as other City players, but coverage isn’t really the crux of the matter, but the effectiveness of such coverage. Yaya Toure single-handedly dominated Scholes, Carrick and JS Park – but was that a surprise? Was it unexpected? I argue not. None out of those 3 United players had the athleticism to cope with Yaya. A lot of United fans took inspiration from the 3-2 FA Cup win United had at City’s stadium but they forgot that City played most of that match with 10 men and had the game gone on for 5 more mins, United would have either drawn or lost that game – City against United this season had always had the better of their celebrated neighbours.

It was really disheartening to watch United set-up and playing for a draw. I know SAF will disagree that he set his team up for a draw, but that was the reality of it.

I had limited hopes prior to the game of getting anything from it. But I still expected that if we were going to lose, we should lose with our identity intact, playing the United way. We failed to do that, and that is what pains the more. Not the loss, not even the probability that City may now win the league.