African football expert, Tunde Adelakun has expressed strong distaste for the war of words that seems to be breaking out over the failure of Nigeria and Chelsea FC midfielder John Obi Mikel in getting the CAF Player of the Year award recently.
There has been a wide outcry from all directions on the choice of Ivorien Yaya Toure with football pundits speaking for and against the choice.
Nigerians have been particularly vocal in highlighting the achievements of each of the players in terms of trophies won and why this should have counted in Mikel’s favour.
However, things seem to have turned ugly with an article by respected former international Segun Odegbami where he berated Mikel’s style and declared Toure a worthy winner. Mikel’s camp has since responded and it was not tasteful to read.
“I think we need to pause and consider the interest of the player. It is not in his interest to distract him and what is turning out to be another good start to the year for him, either with such scathing negative analysis of his game, or the argument that seems to be brewing there from,”, Adelakun said.
Adelakun, who is also the Director of the CAF Hall of Fame was cagey in declaring where his thoughts on who deserved it lay.
“It was a voting process and it must be said that both lads had a pretty good year in 2013. Obviously Mikel won trophies with his team and this cannot be ignored.
“What bothers me though, is the seeming signals of disunity that the comments of our football statesman portray. And I ask, is it any wonder that Yaya won a voting process when Mikel wouldn’t even get the support of some from his own country, never mind the rest of the continent?”
Adelakun, who is the Special Adviser to the Nigeria Football Federation as well, noted that it is the unity in the French speaking part of Africa that usually ensures that they will always win any awards or such that will be determined by voting.
“It is impressive because they are always together. They vote for their own and you would never see them publicly criticize their own. Meanwhile, the English speaking nations are never united. And it is evident in how our own retired players are publicly putting a Nigerian icon down.
“Constructive criticism is good, but there are certain instances when they should be kept private due to the sensitivity of the situation. The disappointment is still raw for Mikel and he probably could have done with minimal criticism at the time”.
The UK based media and public relations practitioner then called on all to stop hostilities and support the player and his colleagues in this difficult year.
“It’s World Cup year, and we should all be focused on getting the best out of our players in order to ensure an unprecedented performance and success for Africa in Brazil”.
