The first one bites the dust, and we have not even reached the first quarter of the season. It seems rather cruel and polarising when a coach who steered a relatively unknown young side to promotion gets the sack this early, following a slow start to life in the top flight. It brings into focus the conflict between business survival and sporting loyalty. Such is the case of Inter Lagos and Shakiru “Big Shak” Giwa.
Before you ask, what business does Enyimba have with this sack? We have no direct concern with the decision made in Lagos. However, the connection is that the only team below us on the league table has pulled the trigger and fired its coach. It hits even closer to home when you consider that the only victory Giwa’s side managed in eight attempts this season came against Enyimba in Aba.
One school of thought would argue that if a side with little top-flight reputation to protect could wield the axe so early in a bid to reset its campaign, what, then, is holding back the struggling big clubs from showing greater ambition? A counterargument, however, is that bigger clubs have more experience navigating difficult starts without resorting to knee-jerk reactions and quick fixes. In football, the end often justifies the means, but the timing and wisdom of the decisions that shape that end are always open to debate.
There is a popular quote in football circles: “There are two kinds of coaches, those who have been fired and those who haven’t been fired yet.” Hiring and firing are part of the fabric of the job. There is hardly any league in the world that ends a season with the same complement of coaches that started it. However, some changes come too early, while others come too late. Much depends on the circumstances at the club, the expectations placed on the coach and the direction in which the season is heading.
In my estimation, this decision jumped the gun. I was putting together a piece on The Odds for the Chop in the NPFL This Season, and my searchlight was beaming towards Ibadan, where another slip-up today could have brought the coach under greater scrutiny. But Inter Lagos have moved early to steal the thunder from those gathering clouds.
New entrants hardly seem the likeliest candidates to make such a move this early. You would ordinarily expect them to absorb the inevitable challenges of their debut campaign through the first half of the season before reassessing their position and making adjustments with survival in mind. After all, the realistic target for most newcomers is to preserve their top-flight status and gain valuable experience. Dreaming of the title or a continental ticket from the outset is an entirely different proposition.
Our previous article on this blog, A Deafening Silence, captured the state of affairs at Enyimba FC. Gradually, expectations have been lowered, and we seem to have normalised a new order of inconsistent results and lowly positions.
History, however, reminds us that difficult starts do not always require endless patience. In 2014, Coach Zachary Baraje had barely settled in before he was shown the door following a poor start. Kadiri Ikhana was brought back on the strength of the success he had enjoyed during his first stint, 11 years earlier. The outcome was a second-place finish in the league, just a point behind eventual champions Kano Pillars, alongside victory over Dolphins in the Federation Cup final.
That example is perhaps bettered only by what happened in 2001, when Godwin Uwua arrived early in place of Godfrey Esu and turned our season around, leading Enyimba to our first NPFL title.
The lesson is not necessarily that every struggling coach should be fired, but that decisive action, when properly judged, can change the course of a season. Equally, patience can be valuable when there is a clear plan and sufficient evidence that the team is moving in the right direction. The challenge for club administrators is knowing which situation they are dealing with.
Sunday’s match in Aba against Warri Wolves will test the team’s resolve to turn the corner and the patience of the fans. Inter Lagos have set the ball rolling, and the rest of the league will be watching their own results and performances more closely against the targets set for the season. Club administrators will have to review areas that need improvement and identify personnel capable of filling the gaps, whether on the pitch or in the dugout.
With just eight matches played, the heat is already on coaches to meet their clubs’ sporting targets. Big Shak is the first to be chopped, but he may not be the last. There are more than a few candidates with axes dangling precariously over their heads, as the opening rounds of the NPFL have produced plenty of unexpected results.
Interesting times lie ahead.
Enyimba Enyi!
