Let\u2019s do a little Throwback Thursday. Not taking us back to something from the pitch, but rather to the folktales that formed our childhood memories and shaped our values, morals and other facets of our lives in more ways than we can imagine.<\/p>\n
Today is about the story of the goose and the gander. You might have only heard the saying, \u201cWhat is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander,\u201d but there was also a story in one of our old storybooks about a wise old gander who warned a flock of geese about a small vine growing beside a tree. He explained that if the vine was allowed to grow, a hunter could eventually use it to climb the tree and trap them.<\/p>\n
The other geese ignored him. The vine grew, the hunter came, and before long, the very thing they had been warned about became their trap. Thankfully, the wise gander still had one more trick. When the hunter caught the geese and began throwing them to the ground, he told them to play dead. The hunter, believing they were dead, threw them down one after another, giving them the opportunity to escape. It was a simple story, but one carrying a rather important lesson: warnings are often most valuable when they are heeded before the danger becomes unavoidable.<\/p>\n
And perhaps there is something our club and maybe Nigerian football can learn from that story.<\/p>\n
Enyimba have just experienced the football equivalent of being caught by the vine. Four consecutive defeats to begin the season had the club staring at an uncomfortable reality. The points were not coming, confidence was disappearing and the atmosphere around the club was becoming increasingly difficult. There were concerns on the pitch and concerns around it, and some of the things supporters were talking about early in the season were the same things many had been worried about long before they became impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n
Then came Kano.<\/p>\n
A valuable point against an unbeaten Kano Pillars side gave us our first sign of life. That was followed by a 4-2 victory over Shooting Stars and then another home victory over Plateau United. Suddenly, three matches without defeat have changed the mood considerably. The players look more confident, the supporters are smiling again and that familiar Enyimba feeling is beginning to return.<\/p>\n
But this is where we must remember the gander.<\/p>\n
We cannot allow a few good results to make us forget the lessons from the difficult start. The objective is not simply to escape the danger we created for ourselves; it is to ensure that we do not find ourselves in the same situation again. A club of Enyimba\u2019s stature should not have to wait until the vine has climbed halfway up the tree before everyone starts asking questions about where it came from.<\/p>\n
The Nigerian league is competitive enough without making things unnecessarily difficult for ourselves. Every club is fighting for something, whether it is the title, continental football, survival or simply the satisfaction of finishing higher than its rivals. Points are precious, momentum is precious and confidence is perhaps the most fragile currency in football.<\/p>\n
For Enyimba, the recent turnaround must therefore be more than a temporary escape. It has to become a foundation. The performances have to improve consistently, the points have to keep coming and the lessons from the opening weeks must remain fresh in the minds of everyone involved with the club.<\/p>\n
This also applies beyond Enyimba. Nigerian football has spent years ignoring small vines until they become enormous problems. Poor facilities, questionable planning, inadequate player welfare, administrative instability and the failure to learn from repeated mistakes are not new problems. We often complain when the consequences arrive, even though the warning signs had been there for months or years.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the real wisdom is not in knowing how to escape the hunter after being caught. It is in listening to the warning before the hunter arrives.<\/p>\n
Enyimba have escaped one difficult situation. Now, the job is to make sure another one does not develop quietly beside the tree.<\/p>\n
The vine may look small today.<\/p>\n
Cut it anyway.<\/p>\n
And one more thing; Happy Birthday BigSam.<\/p>\n
Enyimba Enyi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Let\u2019s do a little Throwback Thursday. Not taking us back to something from the pitch, but rather to the folktales that formed our childhood memories and shaped our values, morals […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3960,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"breadcrumbs_single_post":"","page_title_panel":"","breadcrumbs_single_page":"","single_page_alignment":"","single_page_margin":"","page_structure_type":"","content_style_source":"","content_style":"","blog_post_streched_ed":"","blog_page_streched_ed":"","has_transparent_header":"","disable_transparent_header":"","vertical_spacing_source":"","content_area_spacing":"","single_post_content_background":"","single_page_content_background":"","single_post_boxed_content_spacing":"","single_page_boxed_content_spacing":"","single_post_content_boxed_radius":"","single_page_content_boxed_radius":"","disable_featured_image":"","disable_post_tags":"","disable_author_box":"","disable_posts_navigation":"","disable_comments":"","disable_related_posts":"","disable_header":"","disable_footer":"","footnotes":"","_rishi_post_view_count":33},"categories":[6,1],"tags":[2,3,9,110,116],"class_list":["post-3959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-general","tag-aba","tag-enyimba","tag-kanu-nwankwo","tag-nigerian-football","tag-nigerian-premier-football-league","rishi-post"],"yoast_head":"\n