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00:00 Perhaps Sporting Lagos is the most attractive sporting project in Nigeria today.
00:05 My name is Ayomede Shotobo right here on Guardian Nigeria and this is The Nutmeg and today we
00:10 unravel the secrets to the success of this attractive project.
00:14 Join me.
00:15 Let's start off from the beginning where it all began.
00:25 I read, you know, I read Shola Akinlade, the owner of Sporting Lagos.
00:29 He said that it's a platform for social change and community development.
00:35 But how did he approach you?
00:37 Because that's particularly interesting.
00:38 How did he approach you and also what was the convincing factor that made you buy into
00:44 the vision in the first place?
00:46 A colleague of ours, Colin Udo, was the one who approached me.
00:50 So I think it was after COVID, yeah, that we started talking and it was looking like
00:58 it was real.
00:59 So when I say we got talking, I'm talking about Colin.
01:02 I hadn't spoken with Shola.
01:04 So eventually when Shola, we met somewhere or we talked, I can't remember exactly now.
01:10 All I did was to dissuade him.
01:12 I did all I could to let him into the negatives of Nigerian football.
01:20 I told him everything to discourage him.
01:24 So the more I told him about those challenges, the more he was at home with what was going
01:32 on.
01:33 And he said something.
01:34 He said, all I have told him motivated him to more than ever before to go out with the
01:42 project.
01:43 It was at that stage I couldn't say, because I was thinking that by the time I dissuade
01:47 him, he would say, OK, then it just goes and I move on.
01:51 So he kept pushing and pushing.
01:52 I was OK.
01:53 I agreed with my words.
01:54 I will run with it.
01:55 So that was how I started the project, a football league, because it didn't have a name.
02:01 We're just running with the project.
02:04 Different names, Lagos City, you know, different names.
02:07 We eventually, we betted, Sporting Lagos.
02:11 16 months ago, at a resort in Nilaji, I bought a slot.
02:17 You know, the first thing was, OK, where do we start from?
02:20 I just seemed to want a team in the Premier League.
02:24 Of course, you knew that was going to be a mountain to climb.
02:27 Well, it wasn't about money.
02:29 It was about the availability of a slot.
02:31 And we actually tried, had a go at a team from the eastern part of Nigeria.
02:36 Twice we were so close to getting it, twice it was looking like they had a change of mind.
02:42 So OK, let's buy a slot in the NNL.
02:45 So I bought a slot in the NNL.
02:48 The rest, like they say, is history.
02:50 OK, that's interesting.
02:52 OK, let's move away from that now.
02:54 Funding engagement is an investment that we've seen has yielded obvious results.
03:00 But it's also interesting to know what other foundational pillars were put in place
03:06 to make it a project that is as attractive as it is now in Nigeria.
03:10 Probably the most attractive sporting project in the country now.
03:15 Well, you see, there's something about experience, you know.
03:18 My job as Sporting Lagos is to want to do the footballing part of it.
03:23 Shola and his team, Fola, Kene, and Co, want to do the other part of it.
03:29 What is the other part of it?
03:30 Game day experience.
03:32 You know, when you come watch Sporting Lagos, you will not go back the same way.
03:38 You want to come again and again.
03:39 You know, when we were starting, I asked some young ladies,
03:46 the ones you call "jebotas", I'm like, "Why are you here?
03:50 You're supposed to be at the movies."
03:54 They said what they have seen is a new adventure for them,
03:58 that for Sporting Lagos, they would trade a movie to come and see Sporting Lagos.
04:02 Why?
04:03 You don't know who's going to be the act that will perform at halftime.
04:07 Apart from the performance, there's something for everybody.
04:10 I mean, you're watching football, there's so much to drink, there's so much to eat.
04:15 At halftime, there's the game show where you either kick a ball and get it to stand 100,000.
04:22 I mean, then, the most important part of it is the environment.
04:28 Let's talk about the sporting philosophy of the club itself.
04:31 Because you look around clubs in Nigeria, but you cannot really see clear-cut models for these clubs to run.
04:40 I mean, you look at the best of the best all around the world, they do have models.
04:44 So, what is a club's sporting model or philosophy, if you like?
04:48 Well, a generational club that will outlive the founders.
04:54 A community club that you will feel that, "I am part of this club," wherever you are.
05:03 A club that everyone can have a buy-in, being part of the founders of Sporting Lagos.
05:10 So, if you have an investment somewhere, you protect it with everything you've got.
05:14 It's not exclusive.
05:16 Like I always say, you come into the stadium, you're forced to buy the jersey.
05:20 15,000 Naira.
05:22 You're given the free Vuvuzela.
05:24 You have a Vuvuzela. I mean, it's alien to us that everyone that comes to a stadium,
05:30 to watch Sporting Lagos, the home games, precisely, there's a Vuvuzela.
05:34 You go home with a Vuvuzela.
05:35 You go home with a small flag.
05:37 There's only a souvenir to go back home with.
05:39 Okay, let's move to talks about things on the pitch.
05:44 And where better to start from than Coach Polo for himself, who has brought a brand of football.
05:50 But now we're going into, let's say, Sporting Lagos are in the top division now.
05:55 So, what brand of football should we be expecting to see as a top-flight team in the Nigerian Premier Football League?
06:03 Well, let me start by saying that Sporting Lagos was bettered by me, like I said, 16 months ago, on the field, precisely, in Eladji.
06:16 And our first coach was Uche Okabwe.
06:20 Before the end of the season, when we started struggling and every day was looking like we were going down, we had to get a coach.
06:31 Shola went outside the shores of Nigeria to get a Nigerian, Sanjo, who came on board as a coach, playing a brand of football that I use the word tantalizing.
06:44 It didn't just work out.
06:46 Good football, no result, we managed to survive.
06:50 So, new season, we got a new coach, you know, Goto Tega from Iimba.
06:57 But it didn't just work.
06:58 It didn't start with us, but, you know, after a few weeks, it didn't just work.
07:03 So, we moved on to Paul Lofo, who was in the Benin Republic.
07:06 Paul came with his own philosophy, keyed into our philosophy.
07:13 My wife has never been to a stadium.
07:16 The final of the Nigerian Super 8, she came with her children.
07:19 And she was very, very happy.
07:21 She saw the kind of football that we played.
07:23 She even said that even if we had lost, she would have been happy with what she saw.
07:26 So, that's what Paul Lofo and getting the kind of players that can play a style of football.
07:33 You know what, it's one thing to have a coach.
07:36 It's another to have the caliber or you call it the personality that can deliver the kind of football that we want to play.
07:42 Well, the new season is almost upon us, just like a month time.
07:46 And it interests us to also know what would be the objective.
07:51 Because you could look at it and say, "Oh, fantastic, the team is investing a lot."
07:56 But with the amount of investment going in, what is the short-term goal?
08:01 Or what would you call the objective at the end of the next season in the NPFL?
08:06 This is where we want to be.
08:07 This is what we want to look like.
08:10 Short-term target, we're in the Premier League.
08:14 That was the first target, getting to the Premier League.
08:15 We are in the Premier League.
08:17 Second target is to stay in the Premier League.
08:20 Yeah.
08:22 Then next season is to consolidate.
08:27 Again, this is football.
08:29 I've always said that football is like biscuits.
08:31 Nowhere can it tell you where to crack.
08:34 Who says we cannot play in the Champions League?
08:36 Who says we cannot play in the Calcum Virgins Cup?
08:38 Who says we cannot win the FA Cup, the National FA Cup?
08:41 And that takes us onto the continent.
08:43 But hey, we are playing it low.
08:46 We want to crawl before we start running.
08:48 Let's also talk about the long-term now.
08:52 Is it to dominate?
08:55 Is it to take over the league?
08:57 Or just be one of the top teams, the powerhouses?
08:59 It's a young club, less than two years old.
09:02 What would be the long-term vision, just as we've talked about the short-term vision?
09:07 Shola has always said to me that he wants to play in the Champions League.
09:11 He wants to play in the Champions League.
09:14 So if the founder says this is what he wants,
09:17 that's what we all want.
09:19 So it means that second season,
09:22 we should be playing in the Calcum Virgins Cup.
09:25 That is if we don't get it in the first season.
09:27 You know what I mean?
09:28 So that's the big target, to be a powerhouse in Nigerian and African football.
09:34 A club that will parade the best of the best players.
09:38 The players who want to come and play.
09:40 You know, they are attracted by the vision
09:43 and of course the brand of football that we play.
09:46 And ultimately, remember,
09:48 that Sporting Lagos was set up for business.
09:51 It's purely business driven.
09:54 It is not for PR, it is not CSR.
09:58 It is purely business.
09:59 Because right now, you already know that we have a sister team in Denmark.
10:03 Yeah.
10:04 So the best players from Sporting Lagos in Nigeria,
10:08 we're going straight to Denmark.
10:09 Is that sort of like a leverage to attract the best players?
10:14 Of course, that's our ace.
10:18 Exactly.
10:18 I mean, you want to come, you know that,
10:19 "Okay, if I'm here, I could go to Europe."
10:22 Yeah.
10:23 Why would you go to a club that will not guarantee you a place in Europe?
10:26 Yeah.
10:26 That's our selling point.
10:28 Sporting Lagos is the team on everyone's lips at this point.
10:34 And we're hoping that we will not disappoint our fans.
10:37 Of course, that was an interesting chat with the chairman of Sporting Lagos,
10:41 Godwin Enagin.
10:42 And we'll be bringing to you even more local content, local football,
10:46 even Sporting Lagos come the new NPFL season.
10:50 Thank you very much for watching the video.
10:52 You can, of course, still stick around.
10:53 You can follow us on social media.
10:56 You can also subscribe to our YouTube channel and tap our notification bell
11:00 to get our latest videos.
11:02 My name still remains, Ayomede Shusubo.
11:05 In the next episode, I'll see you.
11:06 Bye.
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