In February 2014 Jose Mourinho, Chelsea F. C. of England coach labelled Arsene Wenger, Arsenal F. C. of England coach, 'A specialist in failure.' This statement triggered some thoughts in me and this thoughts gave birth to a book titled, 'Is Arsene Wenger a specialist in failure?'

The book ‘Is Arsene Wenger a specialist in failure?’ is a book that focuses on developing the mind of football fans and every sport loving persons about what is the real meaning of success and failure. Is success in sport all about medals? What is the role of coaches to have a successful career? What is the role of players to also have complete career success? Though the case study is mainly on football, but it is good for other sports coaches and players, to checkmate their definition of success and failure. Also for individual in respective fields to have opportunity and understand the real meaning between failure and success.

I know the birth of this book came because there are many people that really need help in their thinking ability. I know the best help you can do for any person is to help them strengthen their thinking ability because I believe inside every thinking heart is a solution to the world problem. If sports we have today came from thinking heart and we can see the benefits today. Inside that thought we are having, ‘Means of exercise, source of wealth and fame, it went further to create feelings. (Fans are either sad or happy, the result of the game determines.) The benefits even outlived the thinker, so is this book. It goes beyond the speaker, (Jose Mourinho) and went further beyond the man the statement was directed to (Arsene Wenger). I never knew Jose Mourinho will speak but the statement triggered thoughts in my mind for true meaning of success and failure.

The book is made up of ten chapters, each developing the mind of man and also bringing into mind the area that is still missing in the world of sport today. Like I always say, my focus for writing any materials is never about the financial gain that will come my way, but my primary joy comes from the heart that will be blessed from the book.

After introducing this book to Arsenal F. C, they wished me success on the project. I believe there is no other time to publish this book than now. I believe it is the book the world of football and sports in general are looking up to read.

Thank you and enjoy your reading.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. THE SOURCE OF THE GAME

2. WHAT IS FAILURE

3. WHAT IS SUCCESS

4. THE TRUE SUCCESS OF THE GAME

5. THE ROLES OF MEDAL IN FOOTBALL

6. THE NEGLECTING PART OF THE GAME

7. ARSENE WENGER, A SUCCESS OR FAILURE

8. ARSENE A FOOTBALL HERO AND ROLE MODEL OR NOT

9. WILL ARSENE WENGER LEAVE A LEGACY IN FOOTBALL

10. DO WE REALLY HAVE ANOTHER ARSENE WENGER

Sample Chapter

Chapter One

The Source of the Game

Like I always say we can never explore the strength of what the heart of man can do. As a writer I am convince without doubt, the real proof of every man is hidden in his thought. Today, we have millions of people around the world watching a game of football that consist 22 people and three people at least or five have to be in charge as officials for the game. Many seat at the comfort of their living rooms, many watch from viewing centres as we have in major parts of Africa, especially Nigeria where I came from. A whole lot of arguement and debates goes on to decide what a game would look like, people have reason to predict scores team line-up. In our world today, many become rich and some are rendered poor by the outcome of football games due to betting and so on. Millions of pounds, euros and dollars is been put in football by sports club to get a player or by company as sponsorship deal. The most acceptable sport in the whole world is football. At offices, car stations, pubs and many other places football is been discussed, personal research made me come up with the understanding that one of the major discussion in our world today is the game of football. The chances missed the build up to the goal and many other. Wives are becoming interested in football and knowing the names of football because their husband will never stop speaking about his supporting team. Clubs stores making money from sales of items making in the image and crest of each club, debate among fans who the world footballer should be. Sport Journalist make their earning from their report of football, radio sport anchors open up their studio lines for the contribution of the games. People tuning in to radio sport channels and television channels to have updates and reviews about the latest in the world of football. Football players reading about their life style and ability in their chosen career, daily training to keep fit for every game. Committees were set up to look in the game of football to bring disciplines and justice into games. Governing bodies put in place to oversee the world of football by nations and continents. Football becomes strength to make people rich even without been in a stadium and many lost properties and lives just because of football. Game are been fixed for many selfish reason. Oh what a game we have in football, the most respected among every other ball game or sport game. But I will never stop wondering how many people really have time to seat and think what the source of this game called football is. I said earlier, we can totally explore the ability of the heart of man in thinking.  The source of football was in the heart of someone that thought it over and acted on his thought. Just as every other thing we see around first live in the heart of every man. Ask automobile company, before they make a car, it has been driven in their heart before it ever make it to the road. Ask a house builder, he has the drawing from the architect and he already see the house in his mind before the owner spends a day there. Ask every movie script writer, they see what cast should perform in their heart before the producer hire them for the scenes.

Football and every other sport we can die for today started in the heart of people that acted upon it. Would you like to know what is packaged inside that thought of the man that thinks about football? Inside that thought today, we have means of exercise, source of wealth and fame, as a matter of fact, it went ahead to create feelings (fans are either sad or happy, the result of the game determines), it went further to create jobs, (for the likes of sport journalist, football magazine publishers). You can as well fill in the gap of many things football has created that are not mentioned here, only because one man would think. The thought of one man today, decides your feelings when you watch game, the thought of one man, today, decides if one man would have financial game as he bet on game, the thought of man makes people to kill and do all evil act just because of a game, all these is packaged in the source of football by one man that uses his heart to think, o matter what was developed on football later, it was sourced from the first man that thought about the game. I doubt it if this fellow could see his thought at the pick we have it today in the sport called football. He might not see the millions thrown into football now, he might not see the fame and the sponsors, but he thought of something and the world can never recover from the beauty of what he saw in the game called football. I said in one of my quote I wrote, which I really respected and it is a true fact, it reads thus: ‘When an egg is eaten, the destiny and future of a fowl has just been destroyed.’ That is very true, as much as love to eat egg, known or unknown to us is the fact that we are destroying the destiny of an egg that can produces after itself, raise family and have offspring. That is not really where I am going as regards the quote which has always guided my life even though I am the one that wrote it. The most important lesson I preach from the quote is that never eat every good thought that came out of your heart, may be that is the solution to the problem in the lives of many, may be that is another idea that will last the world forever. I believe the fellow that thought about football, never saw it in this light but he never ate up the thought. Today, his thought is making millions rich, brings exercise out of man, his thought of donkeys years still determines your feelings and my feelings today, his thought still influence our joy or sadness by the result of games. His thought provides job for people. To some that can’t control their feeling, which is the negative part of football, his thought makes some people to be a murder or attack people and leave them with injuries. Oh what a blessing we have in the heart of man. What a blessing your heart and my heart are to our world when we engage in positive thinking. Take it or leave it there is no day you don’t think. Behind every action, there is a thought process, no matter how fast your action is, it was first process in your mental facaulty as thought. Let the world enjoy the blessing of your thoughts. Let your thought outlived you by what blessing it will bring to the world. I also said in one of my quote, that until our heart is graduated from breathing process to thinking process we don’t really value the gift of our heart, I believe the primary reason for God to make our heart is the thinking part of it, even though as I know how breathing is essential. I have never heard anyone saying something about the man that thinks on football. I have never seen any football Association or football sponsor or any sport journalist writing about this thinking (man) behind the game of football, yet I have seen them spending millions of dollars on individual, especially the sponsors. May I humbly say this, no matter whose club or which football club you sponsor, this man that think about football who is the source, gives you a reason to sponsor. I have heard about a retired West African football that danced and jubilated at a corner after his goal, despite he is not in active football again, millions of dollars was given to him by a company. I don’t know how many millions that have been donated to the house or family of the man who first thought about the game football who was the source of the game. Who created jobs for many all around the world, who even make the sponsoring company to earn more clients and advertise them more. Take for example, if an airline company sponsors a club and I am supporting that club as a fan, I would rather travel through that airline than any other airline but what motivated me to do that or what was the source of my thinking? Because someone think about the game of football. So many things have overshadowed our own decision just because of someone that thinks about football. Even if the airline that supports the club I am a fan too has expensive ticket, and other ones could give me the same comfort during my traveling which is relatively cheaper, provided I can afford the money, I would go for the one that sponsors my supporting team, but if you look deeply, it was rooted in the heart of the man that thinks about football. He is the foundation of my decision and choice. Many got work today as a physio and coaches, administrator and many other titles, but the source is still in the thought of the man that think on football. That means the thought of one man will continue to provide job for many, the thought of one man will make many clubs to build more football academy schools, the thought of one man will never sees to gather millions together around the world just because of game that is less than 100minutes (with Injury time), the thought of one man will still make unborn children successful football player, the thought of one man will still decide the future of many people’s job, raise bread winners from family, provide wealth and fame, create more feelings to mankind. All in the thought of one man. Please note, at every game played in football, joy and sadness are birth out of the heart of man as feelings, yet the man that was the source, I believe is dead by now. I wish I could live to see this man, I wish this man can be celebrated and rate among those that has been a blessing to our world. Anytime, I have the opportunity to watch the club I support at viewing centres, when people are shouting, jubilating or feelings sad, as the on-going game decides on their feelings, my heart goes down to the man who was the source of the game, even my supporting team is losing and it affects the way I feel, I still smile at myself, saying, ‘young man, you are caught in it as well.’ I never stop asking myself, ‘why are people not thinking about the source of this game? Didn’t they see beyond their feelings and the choice of club? No wonder, a wise man say, ‘many eyes look but only few see.’ I want all of us to look and see. If we can see the violence part of the game would stop, the racism part of the game would stop. Ask the man that thought about football, he never thought of the violence, the racist abuse, I guess he never even thought on the injuries. I believe he never saw the red and yellow cards, he never saw the match bans and the match fixings, he never saw the winter transfer and the summer transfer, he might not even see the medal and the world football to be stage at Switzerland yearly, he might not even see the clubs. May be he just saw himself playing with his children the game of football, but he was the source and gave people that has contributed to the success of football today, the reason to think more  and advance football. Football and every other sport was a product of the thought of man. I will be closing this chapter by challenging you that the best organ on you is your heart, I wish you know and understand what is packaged in your heart in thinking. Like I said earlier, either you are doing it for the success and profit of man, or for the fall and wickedness to man, your heart will never stop thinking, it is the real you that many don’t know except you, it is the you that people can only know when you share it, it is the you that your action unveil. Is your thought blessing man? Will your thought outlived you as we see in this very man who was the source of football? Please note, your body size doesn’t determine how you could think. By the time I am putting this chapter together, I don’t have the privilege I want to ask a doctor that, ‘Does the body size of man determines the size of his heart? I don’t know may be the size of the organ heart is the same in man. Even if the size defers, that is not what determines how that heart can produce thought, and that made me to respect God. The size of man doesn’t determine his capacity to think. I want to close this chapter with the fact and with the assurance that, there is more to your heart than what you think of it. There is more your heart than the way you use it, you haven’t use it to the capacity. Don’t be restricted by your thinking ability, it has no thinking limit as the car. Automobile company may build 200kilometer speed limit into a car but we were thought by society to run only 50 or 60, does that mean the speed metre can’t perform its ability? No, it is been built there already, either you make use of it or not. The ability for your heart and my heart to be a blessing to our world is built there already, the society is not our determining factor, even if people that are closer to you and me don’t see reason why to think and be a blessing to our world. You and I can. Would you like to live on earth forever even when physically you are no more here, regardless of what money that comes to you or fame? It is in your heart as you think to be a blessing to your world. I believe the man with football thought doesn’t see the money, maybe he died as a poor man. But if you understand very well, he is one of the richest we have around the world today, why? He is the source of the wealth of every footballer. You may not really understand the concept very well, but as I writer and thinker, I know he is one of the richest we have around us today. He is the most famous, every footballer as the source of their fame in him. As a matter of fact, he has a part he is playing in you and I, as result of games left us with feelings. There are so many people I would love to meet that many would see reason never to know them. They are the behind the scenes we don’t know but the influential factor of many things. I would love you to start looking deep in your heart from today on by thinking and I would always love you to keep asking yourself on daily basis, ‘what is inside my thought that the world is waiting for? ‘What am I to be its source that will be a blessing to my world forever?

When many people heard about failure, all that came to their mind is something bad, something demoting, something unpleasant. No man ever wants to have anything to do with failure. Yet no man can escape failure because failure is the state that begins everything. There was a time; there are no houses on the planet earth. The land was a big failure but today see the record of the success of the land has it had occupied many beautiful mansion all around the world, it ha s become a road where our cars walked upon with beautiful road lines. So many beautiful flowers had been planted upon it, but when God first made the land, the land was a failure. Everything in life started in failing state. There was a time we only had one single man and woman on earth, they started as a failing family, but from that single man and woman today, we have billions of people that have developed to the extent that continent, races and tribes where brought out of them. Every man born started has a failure, because all the success he can record wasn’t born with him, he has to work them out. Failure is there the state and the beginning of every life of man. You daily act towards your vision and goal is what determines your success.  I would like you to know failure is real to every man, no sport man was born with all his medals on his or her neck, he started with a failing career. Failure is real to every life, success is wooed. I read a fascinating story about God from the Bible that I would love to share. I read from the first chapter of the book called Genesis when I was trying to learn about failure. I want to see if God ever experience it. I read failure all began with God. It was said in that book of Genesis that when He made the earth, the earth was void and empty. Oh! What a failing state. God started the earth in a failing state, but does the earth still remain in a failing state today? Void and empty? Success had come upon it by the doing of man. I will like you to know failure is a school that we will all go to but success is a school of choice. Every life begins in a failing state, until man determines to woo success into his life by the virtue of what he does with his time, talent and thoughts on daily basis. The sure foundation of success focuses on this three basic fundamental of time, talent and thoughts. I have never seen a man that never experience failure, because that was what started his life anyway, except he doesn’t understand the concept of failure. To broaden your knowledge, that you have a talent doesn’t make you a success but what you do with it. Your talent is in failing state until you put it to work to the benefit of others. Every womb of woman started in a failing state, the potential of a womb is to house a baby at pregnancy state, but for that womb to be successful, there are process that must be engaged in, before that womb can be successful, it started as a failing womb even though it can know success. If a woman chooses not to mate with man, the womb remains a failure forever, not because it doesn’t have the capacity to know success but because it has to woo success be making love with man.  Beginning with every organ in the body of man, they all started in a failing state. Lionel Messi, Christaiano Ronaldo and every footballers leg started in failing state, because at birth they never kicked any ball, but look at the success those legs had known today, look at the classical goals those legs has produced today, but at birth, they are ordinary failing leg that is relegated to walking alone. Even every leg started has a failure, until it could walk, the reason for the creation of leg is to drive man in walking anywhere it wants to go, but it never started with that success at birth, it took some months before experiencing that success.  Even man’s brain started I failing state because it was empty at birth, we woo success into t by running after knowledge in our field of choice. Failure is therefore the foundation of everything, but success s what we build upon it. Only few organs of the body started with success, like the eyes, even though it might not understand what is seeing at birth, although there is still success we wooed to the eyes. A baby doesn’t understand what beauty are no matter how he fixed eyes on it, there are some successes the brain and the eyes have to work out together before the eyes can start appreciating what beauty is. So anytime the word failure comes, I don’t see reason why you should be terrified, you don’t to let your mind realize it is the state that begins everything, and the world failure exist because there is a world success. I have learned never to be afraid of failure, it is the foundation of everything and it is an opportunity to bring success to the situation. When I heard the word failure, I am encouraged, when people are afraid; I see a solution that is ready to be birth. See our beautiful roads today; they started in a failing state until cars moved on them. The birds would have make jest of man, why because they believe they are the only animal that can fly, and the sky never knew true success rather than birds flying at it, that wasn’t a total success, the birds cannot carry a man, as a matter of fact, I don’t see any bird that can fly from nation to nation, but the sky is experience through success from that partial failure of just seeing birds flying. The mind of man is filled with success, no matter the failure around town. I need to upon your mind before I delve back to football.

Every team in every season started as a failing team, no team earn medal before any game was played. Failure is a state that needed to be challenged, that is why twenty teams or less challenge for medals at every league. They all started the season as a failure trying to woo success every week by engage I games. The failing state of every team comes together in combat in games as they express their skills, techniques, abilities and talents to earn just three points in other to know success. All the shout of the coaches at touch lines, the substitutes of players, the transfers of players, is basically to turn failure to success because many are combating for single success. I love football, I learnt a lot from it as a writer and public speaker. Money is thrown into football in millions just for a success that will never last a season. I learnt a very good lesson from mosquito. If many from other continent don’t know much about this, people from Africa, especially West Africa can know this. A mosquito will approach you, not only approach to suck your blood but it will sing to your hearing for you to know it is available despite knowing if been caught death is the result, but the mosquito is always bold. I learnt from it that every adventure in life worth risking. I see that in football to, clubs risk their money, not knowing if the player will be injured all through season or if it will be a flop. But yet they did just because they want to turn their failure to success. Mosquito that wants to suck your blood overlooking death wants to turn the failure of its stomach to success by feeding on your blood, it stare at death and food, yet chose to know success. Failure is all around us, but success can be brought upon it if we dare to take a step.  You know failure goes beyond knowing you have competitors, if you dare think of your competitors you will remain a failure and you will never dare to pursue success. I don’t care how many people that are doing what I am doing, except I want to keep knowing failure, neither am I afraid of people that have gone ahead of me or people that are behind me, I only do what I can do to the best of my ability. Imagine is Christian Ronaldo was afraid of the man that won the last world footballer of the year and therefore relax his effort. Failure is a very good friend of fair, while success is a good friend of boldness.

Life started as a failure, what we build on it in every field determines the success experience. A tree is a failure until it produces a fruit. A fruit without a seed is a failure until it has a seed to produce another fruit. Inside a seed we could have the destiny of forest, but it started has a failure because it is just a seed. Keep a seed on your cemented bathroom window, for the next fifty year, it remains just a single seed, but buries it into the earth, with some fertilizers, sunlight and water, after fifty years you can have a forest, but as a seed it is a failure. Inside every man is a generation. Ask every grandparent when they see their grandchild, there is a voice inside them that speak softly, ‘I never knew this is inside me.’ But if a man chooses not to marry, he remains a failure in producing after himself and misses the opportunity to become fore-father.

I still have to go back to our thought; failure is primarily a product of our thought. What our heart is saying about a situation. Failure is earn in the mind before it expresses in the physical. Let me humble you, this book in your hand, as at the time I am writing, no publishing company promise to publish it, neither have I approach anyone. I have never seen or met Arsene Wenger, neither did I told Jose Mourinho to labeled Arsene Wenger specialist in failure. But the moment the thought came to my heart to write, I begin to imagine the book in the hand of football fans all around the world, today, it was so. So many thoughts came, ‘what is you try some company and they said they never want to publish. You know you don’t have money for self publishing.’ My thoughts are right, but I have the choice to make between the successful thoughts that says, it is possible and chose to ignore the failing thought that says, it is not possible. Failure start from your mind, they are the little voices that keep speaking about why you can do it, why you can achieve it. They are the little voice that says, you don’t have to put in extra efforts, they are the thoughts that reminds you often of people that are better than you, and never said anything about people that you are better of. They are the thought that teaches you to be afraid of others and never said anything to you about people that are afraid of you. Many in football world today that is afraid of Christiano Ronaldo, instead of trying to challenge him. Christiano is only aware of one thing, improving on what he can do better, even though he knew many are coming, he is not intimidated by them. If he is afraid and give up on failure he wouldn’t have put in more effort after been a runner up for four consecutive times, finally he had the success he has his eyes on. Primarily, failure started with your thought before it expresses itself in the physical. I have learnt never to be afraid of failure the rapper of success if failure. The container of the goods of success is failure, and until you dare to open, you will never see success. Look around you today, whatever success you see, was initially a failure. You brain, leg, hand and some other organs on your started in a failing state, until they began to know success. Don’t let the failure around you be your final judge, don’t let your competitor be your reason to be afraid and say, ‘I can’t but to fail.’ One of my quotes that I wrote and respected about failure and success read thus: ‘You never fail because you did wrongly, but you fail because you are wrong and therefore you never try again.’ Someone once said about failure that, ‘failure is an opportunity to begin again, more intelligently.’  Don’t let failure make jest of you, rather, let failure be afraid of you because of the result you are building. The true strength to cage failure is all about trying any given task no matter your result. The fact that you give a trial has really relegated the strength of failure. If every innovations you see around today are men they gives in to fear, are men that are afraid to fail, you will not be seeing what you are seeing today. At initial stage, it started with fear, they just trying to look into the eyes of fear and move on. Fear is always afraid about you not given up, fear is always about you been positive about you and as much as you move towards fear, the more it moves out of your way, failure hides its face with fear, failure present fear to you, and fear presents thoughts that makes you see reason why it can work with you. But the moment you move towards fair, it gives way for you and failure never shows its face. Failure is just the starting point of everything. Even despite the fact that not every team will be winning a trophy in a competition that never makes the rest as a failure or individual player as a failure. Are you better off as a person apart from the previous year? Is your definition of success only goes for the trophy or the personal improvement of your person and talent? Many hearts thinks but only few understand. There are so many failures hidden under trophy. Don’t let trophy be the determine factor of success, trophy can be decisive sometimes to your growth. I tell you there are many with medal but not happy with their growth in talent, they are not counted among the start-up team, yet after the end of the season trophy is won and they got a medal, but when other players talk about the difficult games, they only watch their mouth. There are some coaches that throughout a season they don’t develop any talent, they just walk with veterans that can make things happen, they have the medals and they go all around a season making mouth. You don’t have a Lionel Messi in your team and tell him many things; he knew what to do already. I have few respect for many coaches, there medals are stealing in disguise because I said about a success without major contribution as a stealing in disguise. I believe you really understand what failure is from the chapter. Therefore when anything appears as failure, you laugh it over and say, ‘you are just a state that starts everything, there is transformation coming.’ You can look at it and say, ‘failure, you are just a foundation and I am going to build success on you.’

The secret of success is found in your daily routine. Success is always waiting for every man to make the first step. I have come to realize there are little difference between wooing success and wooing a maiden. It needs your time, it needs a serious approach and it needs a relentless effort. Success is never a peak, success is continual process. Success gives you reason to do more, success encourages you your best is yet to come no matter what you have achieved, success says to you, ‘You have not been there yet,’ no matter your achievement. Success is achieved in inches not in miles. You don’t play a game and have the trophy; you have 38 games at least to win a league. Our approach towards success or our understanding about success needed to be changed. The way the world rate success is never encouraging, to many, success is rated by how fat your account is, to many success is about the trophies or medals you have in your carbinet. To many, success is what many see in your face. My primary definition of success is the willful recruitment you make into your camp without a force. How many people dream to be like you? How many nation desire how they wish you are a citizen of theirs? How many parents desire you are their son? All these people never wished you belong to them because of what they gain from you, but because of what your life or talent imparted in them.’ I was chatting with a friend and I told him humbly, there a set of people in my life that I would rather love to meet than meeting any president of the world. All these four people I have never met, but they have imparted my life with their talent and I am imparting lives too because of their deposit in my life, they never knew I am existing, but there materials has been a blessing to me. Success is not the title you are been called with, success is not the medals on your carbinet, don’t let that be your definition of success, it is just a proof of your effort in a season. The through meaning of success is found in your legacy you are leaving behind. There are some coaches I can never regard, yet their carbinet are full of medals. They raise shoulders for medals but they can be proud of their contribution to their career, they can be proud to say, I raised this player. Anywhere I go in life, I speak about this four people that has been a blessing to my life, yet they are never aware of my existence. Your existence means nothing when no one is benefitting. Putting food on your table for your children and coaching or playing for a big team doesn’t make you successful. Let me humble you more, having more medals more than your colleagues doesn’t make you more successful. Medals and award had been replaced in the mind of man with what true success is. Please understands this today, you are not successful until you replace or duplicate yourself in your field, no matter your medals and awards. Success has a beginning but it never has an end. Because even when you are no more, the you, you have duplicated lives on after you. Success never dies, that should tell you it goes beyond your medals and award. Zinedine Zidane, a respected player I live to watch, can’t say much or anything about his medals now, nobody wants to even listen to him about his medals, he can only display that before his family, but I have read about players today, who said they still watch his career clips because he is a mentor and he was respected with the position of assistant coach in one of the biggest club in the world, why? Attitude. Attitude is the number proof that determines how far you can go in the success journey. Remember I said success only have a beginning but has no end because it has the tendency to outlive you. I believe if medal is definition of success or award, Zinedine Zidane should be okay with all he got there during his playing days. How many good footballers do you think can make it through a successful coaching career?  I believe has John C. Maxwell said, ‘The people who succeed seek out opportunities, and if they can’t find them, they create them.

A successful man works on his attitude which is the stepping stone to what a man can be. A serious question must be asked, I mean internal question. Who do people believe I am? What influence my attitude? Can I like me if I were not to be me? Success is function of daily growth of your attitude towards mankind. It starts from there. No matter how beautiful your talent are, your attitude determines how successful you can be. People see your attitude more than your talent, you only display your talent for period of time as a football you have ninety minutes to do that, but you have all your life time to display your attitude, your attitude outlived your talent. Your attitude makes every journey of your life with you, what your talent can’t do.  Your attitude can destroy your talent but your talent can never destroy your attitude. Attitude speaks volume of your relationship to life, not to man alone, not in your career alone, but to life. What do you say about yourself alone? Success is legacy you leave behind not the medals you went away with. What you go with belongs to you forever but what you leave behind belongs to your career forever and that is what people remind you off. My first question I ask every success man is what those things you have achieved are. If you tell me about your medals and accolades, I am not totally encouraged. I mean have you duplicated yourself? Can you still leave on when you are dead physically? There are many great players that we don’t remember again, why? All they focus is having medals during their playing days; they never thought of looking at the young chap that plays the same role with them and see reason to nurture. I read about a statement Cesc Fabregas made about Pep Guardiola, he said, ‘Guardiola said to me while I was much younger that you see this jersey number 4, one day you are going to wear it for this club.’ That motivation followed him everywhere and today that dream came to reality in his life. I will rather have success in duplicating myself in my field so that I can outlive myself rather than just having medals that I will keep with my family. My children might even see no reason to keep my medals with them when I am gone, so they bury me with success I see in my medals. Our world today, doesn’t know true success in every field, we have people that are so heart-tie to medal rather than developing their field and invest their. Club owners and sponsors are not really helping issues; medals are preferred to talents because that is the real meaning of success. Hardly would you see in a team a young talent representing a rich club. Coaches are becoming lazy yet they earn big. With all humility, I got little or no knowledge at all in coaching but I tell you there are teams I can manage in Europe and I will be competing for title, they are all stars they knew what to do, I just need to get my substitution right and I will earn my three points. Hardly, you find in the big clubs a player less than 20 years or 20- 22years playing regularly for a rich club, why? Medals are preferred to talent. Medals is what really preach success to people, yet inside some coaches are club owner, they know few are done to the medal earn, they have really bought the medal with big names they only spend their millions on before they ever kicked a ball in a season. I have a great respect more for two coaches in English Premier League in the season 2013/2014. The Liverpool F.C coach and the Everton F.C coach. Raheem Sterling, Philip Countinho are guys under twenty, they made history with Liverpool this season. Barkley and McCarty made great season with Everton this season and this guys are under 20 and just a bit above twenty. Their managers gave them reason to believe in themselves, not focusing on the medals. Because success is always what you do with your talent daily. I am not totally encouraged when we field veterans we have known for years just changing clubs and get the medals then we call that success. It is just having medal for paying good money. Success is more of building than reaching climax already. Until we stop building our thought on medals as the proof of success rather than developing talent as the sure proof of success, then we still have a long way to go. Medals are good, but talents are better. Please note this, you will never be satisfied with medal, why because you will want more of it, that tells you you can totally depends on medal as your true success. Your contribution that will leave after you is your true definition of success. With all the medals Ronaldo Da Lima or Ronaldinho earn from football career, we there fans, speak little of them today, the only thing we can remember of them is there contribution, neither can either of them come out now and pose with their medal. We would only tell those guys, many have broken your records, oh! Your medals are not respected again. Neither will they have total respect for their medals again. If they look on it much often during their playing days, they have no time or little time to just look at it. Their children might even say, ‘Dad, I don’t like this thing you hung here.’ But if a player stands today and say, ‘Oh, Ronaldinho is mentor, he told me so many things; I watched his clips till date.’ Then Ronaldinho still lives on the pitch. Don’t get me wrong, medals remind you of good memories. But duplicating yourself is far better than remembrance. I will never let medals define my success or cloud my mind about duplicating myself. I will never let medals takes the places of my attitude which is my number one measure of success before anyone and even me. There are many professionals sport man or footballer, club owner or club just paid for their gift all on the name of maybe we can have medal through not on the platform of attitude. So it is all about, give us medal through your talent and not success through your attitude.  Success has its foundation in your attitude, that is why nearly all sport clubs and football clubs have a psychologist. They know the importance of attitude in success.

Success at the same time is not all by what you accomplish; it is about how you fight the opposition on your way and the strength to carry on to the end. That is why a man with success mentality pays attention to the process more than the end result. He took notice of what he does with defeat, criticism, denial and also encouragement. True success is when you learn how to manage all these. When you know how to manage criticism because people are not happy with you, when you know how to manage defeat because many are affected by it  and all is falls on your table and also when you are encouraged, because many sees the way you see. Success is all about understanding ways of managing characters and events. There are many side attractions to the ninety minutes we watch. All we see has fans is the life on the pitch, what about life outside the pitch? Family crisis and challenges that players come to field with and a coach is not aware? What about the family challenges of the coach that is not been known to the players and is coaching crew? Ability to manage people’s feelings very well and your personal feelings has a long way to determine individual success of man. Success primarily focus on attitude and ability to manage different feelings and situation, once you can win this, medals will keep dropping on your table, personality will come to you so that you can mentor them. You don’t know true success until you have willful recruitment to your camp. As a coach, as any young player ever said, ‘I wish I play under him?’ As a player, do you see talents from academy or young colleagues coming to you and say, ‘Can you please teach me how to do that, because one day, I just want to do that the way you are doing it.’ Success is all just being you that people cherish they become and your attitude invites them to tell you are they feel about you and what they think about you. If you have no one that desire to learn from you, how be as you, no matter how many your medals, in my definition, you are not a success. It is when people come to you and tell you they want to be as you, and you encourage them that trying to be like me will surely hide the real you. Just keep learning what you cherish in me and had it to the real you, then the world is waiting for you.’ Building success in someone else starts with your word. Your word must first mate with their mind and produces feelings, then they come to you again to hear more and watch, they you build a relationship, then from there you build a reason for role modeling. Every process matters in building success out of every man. Let your word of encouragements build feelings, then let the feelings build relationship and the relationship build role modeling. If you let it come through this stages, you have a success formed that is about to happen, then you have real planted a seed of success that will outlived you. You may not totally agree with me about what success is rather than medals and wining accolades, but if you have many of such and it is your definition of success. Ask your children how they feel about that medal. Do that again after five years and see if the response will still be the same. And if your children and family are the only people that call you success or respect your way of life, it is because you pay their bills and put food on your table. Once they can do that on their own, they will speak different thing about your success next time you ask them. Look beyond medals in defining your success.

Success in life is never a thing to measure it is a thing to offer. When your success is self centred, when your success is present motivated, then you only see faintly.  Success is all that you see in your mind that will outlive you before you die. It is a life you are living in your mind that no one can see at the beginning. In every field of endeavour, success is not determined by present achievement or resources earn, it is basically on what you see that will happen after you. Like I said, success don’t die, it lives on. Success is like a seed, it has capacity to produce in multiple folds. Maize when planted doesn’t come as one it come in tens and hundreds folds, and you also have the grace to reproduce from that seed. That is the true meaning of success in the life of Man. Anything that can’t outlive man is a mere achievement and not success.  True success can’t die. Success can only come when you die for others, not physical death, when sometimes you trade you feelings, your pride, and many other things for the growth and joy of others because you are teaching them to be able to become a success. When you are polishing people that have trusted you with their talent the road to successful career and you have to pay the price that can cost your own personal desires for the joy of others. Success is not about desire it is about setting goal and running after the goal with your concept and with your believe. Because if desire is all about success it can sustain disappointment, discouragement, temporal defeats, criticism and constant reminder of waste of time. Success develops your internal strength, because it teaches you how to manage temporal failure, success builds hope in you because it makes you neglect bad results. It shapes the way you think because about yourself and others. It gives you vision about the reality of life. It makes you see from people’s few that are different from your view. It makes you blend with different attitude. It develops character in you that are different from others. It makes you have many enemies; it makes you think differently, it brings out uniqueness in you. One of my quotes also read thus: ‘In every man are the same organs both internal and external organs but different thoughts, that show how unique you are.’ Even if you are watching the same program, the way you’ll think about same program will be different. I had watched many football games with friends and on the game I heard them talking about a particular player playing a ball in different way, why I thought that was the better way. Are thoughts even on the same issue or topic are always different even though we carry the same heart and ability to think. I have heard sport analyst arguing on the same football game because of different views. So is the way of success, it thinks differently, it approaches differently; it believes differently, it hopes differently. All ways is not the way of success, the way of success often time is personal. Success doesn’t go the way others are going because many are going there. Success way most often is a personal way at the initial state, success starts its journey alone and many says many things about success because it is not going the way of the crowd. A true man of success will never be afraid to be different because that is the characteristic of success. Success is abused by many, success is neglected by many, success is relegated by many but one thing is sure about success, it way will be envied when it gets to its destiny, it approach will be accepted when it becomes the source of success to many.   I make sure I reveal all these about success so that you can really understand the true success of the game of football. I have earlier spoke about duplicating yourself, I have also talk about medals as it relate to success. But the true success of the game is when you are gone and you are still leaving not as a player, that is, the players you develop their talents are still playing. Not that you are still leaving as a coach, that is the players that plays under you are turning out to become a coach a coach. These are greater success too. But the true success of the game is when all that makes football can’t forget you, either as a player or as a coach. Please note, success is not about a record you set in a club as a coach or as a player, no matter what record you set, it will be broken one. Records couldn’t be used to measure the strength of success. The true success of football is when the history of football can’t forget you. Like I said, if I am a club owner, I wouldn’t judge the success of any coach that work with me because of many medals I got from him, why? If I get him best players around the world with my money, then my money is part of what gets the medals I see in my carbine tot totally about him, that is why I say coaches should not really judge their overall success about their medal. I also want players to know that their medals might not really speak volume about their success, playing with world stars in a team and at the end of the season you earn a medal, it is very good, but your success was contributed to by the owner, why because it makes your work really easy because of the star studded and the owner is never surprised, when you are talking about your talent, he speaks about what his money does. He had little regards for your talent, you say something else, he speaks something else. You see your talent, he sees is money. The true success of football is when you can be forgotten in the history of the game, in totality of the game of football, you can’t be forgotten. Today, in generality of football, we only had few names; I got Pele of Brazil at the front lead. I am presently trying to do some research on him and see what his contribution to the totality of the football was. Let me break it down so you can really understand the true success of the game. It is when at a general level of football, your name can never be forgotten, if as a player, both at club and national level, you did the spectacularly. Your attitude, contribution and overall assessment as a player all through your time are beyond others. As a coach, down to the officials, players, football board have high regards for you. When your contribution is beyond the medals that you keep to you, the generality of football can’t forget you. This can only start about how you think about yourself and your purpose for has chosen a career in football. When you have a legacy in mind that you can see in your heart before you ever sign a professional contract as a player or coach, when nothing changes your vision and your purpose you have in mind before the fame and money come, when your life is still govern by your purpose when everything start coming in. Please understand this, why it all start and end in your mind was because, it is the source of everything, don’t forget I spoke in the first chapter, the source of the game, it started with the mind of man. That is to tell you that, the true personal success of the game must start in your heart until it becomes what the world will never forget even when you are no more. Do you know that every books used in schools today are packaged thought of some people placed in a book? Even the disciplines you study in university that becomes a career you earn living from are packaged thought of some people and researches that have its sources in thinking. So everything comes down to thinking. You have to have the mindset about what your end will be when the strength can’t be there to coach or to play again. When you don’t have such picture in your heart before beginning, you may not have the true success of the game, at this junction I believe you are convinced a bit that success is not all about medals that you earn in your career, In fact, it doesn’t stop at duplicating yourself either as a coach or as a player, it is not also about making more money from football career, the true success of football is if the history of football can’t forget you. I barely heard of many coaches that have died today that many speak about their success than the medals they earn for their clubs. As a writer and thinker, I always asked myself, ‘Is that all they can over the world of football.’ Some I heard about some players that work under them, that they discover and are still playing or coaching. That is one of the great successes of football but it doesn’t really attend to the generality of football. Most of them are forgotten, we don’t remember how much they earn again, there medals are not important to us again. Why? Because we are seeing some coaches and players with greater medals today. We don’t remember their names again and their medals are fading, may be their children are tired of the space those medals occupied, it has no sense to even their grand children, that means all their successes ends with their family, but what is the world of football is saying about them? What history do they make for football that is so hard to break or unbreakable? What legacy will not only outlived them but will forever have a place in the history of football? I believe this is the true success of football and true success of every career man. Success outlived you, success lives a foot print for you no matter how many people that have make history or record, you write your own that no one can rub off. No career man can achieve this without first spelling out his purpose and vision for the choice of his career. As a writer, I am not trying to write a book that is better because I want to compete but I want to write a book that will always be referred to for understanding, I want to always write a book that will continue to solve specific need at present need either I am still alive or not. My primary desire is never about the money I will make, it is neither about the noble prize nor the competitions amidst my peer writer but I want to live as a solve situation in the life of people. I want reference to be made at my book after thousands of years I have gone. Thomas Edison is not leaving again but anytime you on electric bulb in your room and it give you illumination, Thomas Edison still live. I have read some books of authors that are gone over three decades ago and there are live to my soul. God bless the man Napoleon Hill, a man of blessed memories. God bless writer like Myles Munroe of Bahamas, who is still living, I have seen him already to live forever as an author and public speaker.  The true meaning of success is when reference will always be made at you after many decades you have gone in your field.

 I have spoken much about medals in football and I wouldn’t want you to judge me as if I have no respect for medals or I just rubbish medals. No, I just want to take your views from the strength that it can administer on your mind and make you see no reason to understand what true success is as a career man. Medals can really rub man of his best, it can picture negative thing to the mind of man that it would really rub him from maximizing its real potential. The picture medals paint to the mind of man without a definite purpose and vision is very dangerous to the over-all general access of man’s career. You see the medals and all that comes to your mind is, I got many of this more than other players, more than other coaches. That means I am the best, that means in football history my medals will speak for me more than my colleagues and veterans that has gone ahead of me in the career. If setting medal record is your definition of success and you are targeting to overrun the last record, you can but someone will do with yours also one day. I have heard of goals scored in competitions that many are breaking the record after decades the previous record has been set, so don’t base the understanding of your success on medals. I don’t know how many veteran that are no more in the field that will praying that their records should not be broken, but God doesn’t answer such prayer because live and success is not determined on records and medals. You don’t need to fix your heart on records to determine your success or the numbers of yours medals to determine your success. Your focus should be more. It is not what brings you alone joy but what blesses the world. When it is centred on you, it is no more a success. When it is focus on medal, the success will not be complete on outlived you. A person that focuses on medals, see only with their eyes not with their mind. But the best way to see is from your mind. The mind sees better than the eyes. May I tell you this humble truth, ‘What the eyes just see, the mind as behold for a long time.’ I believe Thomas Edison saw light in the bulb before he ever made success on the experiment. I read that I tried the experiment out for almost a thousand and nine times before he got it right. I read he was one day told about an interviewer that he failed one thousand and nine times before he got it right. Can you imagine his response? ‘I never failed one thousand and nine times on the experiment; it just took me that time to get the experiment right.’ You need not to tell me how many discouragement he would have encountered while he was trying but he saw it in his mind that one day the whole world will been switching on electric bulb in their rooms. He saw your room, he saw mine not with physical eyes but his mind. His mind beholds the light before the eyes. Every manufacturer sees the product in the mind before making it. Success starts from the mind, it never begins with medal. Learn this; medals cannot satisfy you because you will never be tired of earning more. There is no satisfaction in medal. You set a target of twenty medals in your career and you earn it, you will never retire, you want more until there is no strength to make more medals. Have you ever sit to ask yourself a big truth, what will become the end of my medals? What can my medals be built upon? Set medals record, it will be broken. I want to ask this, I am not sure or aware of it. As it taken a century to break any set record? If there is none, then it won’t take any century to break yours either. That means you can’t be the best for a century? Why will medal then become your definition of success? Why then will you idolize your record? As a matter of fact, the moment you set a record you have many enemies, why? They are all out there to challenge your record and make people realize that you are not the best. One thing I have learnt from God, He can’t place all His best in one man. You can never be the only one doing what you are doing it at the peak. Imagine if nobody can compare with Christiano Ronaldo or if Lionel Messi is the only one winning ballon d’eor till he retires. God will never do that, so don’t expect it. Why would you now focus on records and medal as the only determining factor of your success? As a matter of fact, many sport men had been told to return their medals because of fraudulent means of achieving it? You can see now that it is not totally dependent as the primary definition of success.

Medal in football or any sport should be seen as a remembrance of activities in a given season. Because in football, medals can’t be valid more than three to four months in important competitions before another one is been challenged for. That means the reign of a medal in football in major competition only lasted for three to four months, except on national tournaments that only comes after two or four years. I have never seen a medal that lasted its reign for a decade. That means you can’t be a champion for a decade, except if there are exceptional cases. What many based their focus of success alone on, the reign only lasted for three to four months. No wonder reigning champion only lasted when another competition of such is yet to be in place for the new season. New season will never stop coming, medals will never stop to be given to winners and you can’t earn more than what the ability of your physical strength can produces. Even if you are playing with best crops of players in your team, your usefulness lasted only when your strength to carry on on the field is still active. Ronaldino never lost his talent, Thierry Henry, Dennis Begkamp, Kanu Nwakwo and many others never lost their talent or the loses is the strength to carry out the talent. So your ability to make medals lasted when you strength faint out. You look at your talent you can see it is there but you look at your strength you see it fading away. Then you look at your medals in the living room, what he only does for you is to bring back the memories of how you earn each of them. You remember the injuries, you remember the best goal then that top the chart for weeks or for the season scored by you, but they are not the best any more. The medals are primarily made for your memories, not as a point of total success. They bring back many memories, as a matter of fact to some; they had no memories of the medal they earn, why? They never played in any of the competition or they are better as substitute at injury time. To many their medal to them is like stealing in disguise. I am sorry to use that word, I never said you should accept it or believe it, you know I am a writer and I think a lot. I believe and I always say, ‘Success without a Major contribution is a stealing in disguise.’ That is what many medals in the hand of many people are. Medals are the product of memories, ability to recollect an event. Imagine when Christiano Ronaldo looked at the medal of final of Champions League final against Chelsea while he was playing for Manchester United. Tears can still flow down how chin from the eyes because of the missed penalty and thoughts that I let my team down until they eventually son the competition. Imagine John terry looking at the silver medal in the same competition, he would recollect, as a small voice speaks within his mind saying, ‘I lost out on the gold medal because of my miss.’ Medals are primarily for recollections of both negative and positive memories; it is not a primary definition of success. I am saying all these because I want people in football and sport in general to really understand the true meaning of success and to really understand the place of football, especially those that will agree with me. My focus is more on those that are still dreaming to achieve success in football, those in the academies, those yet unborn that we are going to enjoy their talent in the area of football; I want them to really understand what true success is and the role of medals. I want them to really spell out their vision and the drive that they are anchoring their talent on before they ever sign a professional contract. A life without a vision never have a successful end because he would later accept general believe of success. I would trade the path others are taken and go for the general acceptance. I am never afraid to be different because I understand the real me is in my thoughts why will I base my entire life on somebody else’s thought or while will I relegate my own thought for others? Do you have a goal and vision or purpose before engaging in a career, especially football? Are you there for the medals alone? Your medals stop when your strength fails? Are you there because you want to break records? It won’t take up to a century before somebody breaks your. Is your dream and desire is just to play for the biggest club? You will be there someday and you have to leave someday. If all these are your definition of success, if this are your vision and purpose, fine. You owns your thought and your life and I just write, why will somebody else think for you and general believe will be what determines your life. But I am so sure and believe many will agree with me, success is more than all your thought. Success is football is when football brand as whole never forget you come into the career. If you are only remembered by the club(s) you played for you never completed the chain of success in football. The club you played for doesn’t make all we say about football, neither will the medals do, but the contribution you make to the general football brand that can never be forgotten is the true picture of success in football or any other sport or career. You can see now that success is football can’t totally be fulfilled by medals, many earn that as if they stole it and if you earn it with major contribution, even if you are the best, the end of your medal is just to give you memories that may not outlive you. If you tell the memories to your children, they may not have the interest of telling your grand children, so the memories die with your children that is if they ever have interest in your career. Your medals have the best joy in only your heart and nobody else, that is too small to determine your success, something that only last better within you. Even to many female child who had little or no interest in football, your medal only last in their mind, the only time they see it. See more than others are seeing as regards medals and to young talent that are coming in the world of football, if you agree with me, never allow medals to be the final decider of your success, it is just part of the success chain with weaker ability in the success chain because the joy of it all lasted in you and add no value to the brand of football.