My plan is to take Ahudiyannem Fc to NNL

Dr. Chief Robert Onyeani popularly known as Roco, is a businessman, grassroots football promoter and philanthropist. He is also the President of Ahudiyannem Fc based in Abiriba, Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State.
In this interview with newstap crew of Ifeanyi Eduzor and Tayo Ogunseye, he opens up on plans to make his club sides a force to be reckoned with both in Nigeria and the African continent and many more. Excerpt.

Chief congratulations on the victory of your team Ahudiyannem Queens in the round of 32 of the President Federation Cup. How do you feel about this victory

Answer : well, we thank God Almighty for the massive victory over Moje Queens from Kwara State. Although it was a 5-0 thrashing but we are not rejoicing over it yet because I don’t consider the club as a strong opposition.
You know that the real work starts from the round of 16. Now we have 16 teams remaining and I know they must be all Premiership sides. And when you’re going to meet your mate, you will have a big task to surmount. From the draws, we are going to face Heartland Queens, a fellow Premiership side in Enugu on Tuesday, June 2 and that tells you that the task ahead is huge.
But for the moment, I congratulate the girls for a job well done.

Sir, it has been noticed that since you appointed Adanna Nwaneri as coach, the fortune of the team has changed. What did you see in her that made you go for her services.

Answer: I can’t take anything away from Ann Chiejine. She did her best but I think the problem she had was that she got it wrong from the recruitment. Ann is a good coach but I think she made one or two mistakes during recruitment, and that was where she got it wrong.
But when Adanna came, she had to take the bull by the horn, going for some quality players to fortify the team. You know that what we had before where championship players so by the time they played the first nine matches, in the first stanza of the league, they were not able to pick up. So, in the second stanza, we brought in experienced players and blend them with the remaining players and by the Grace of God, Adanna was able to push them across the line and they were able to get it right.

On the question of what I saw in Adanna, to be honest with you, the same thing I saw in Ann, was what I saw in Adanna but the only different like I said earlier was in the recruitment.
Using myself as an example, I know football in and out but can you now say because I know football, I should go into the field and play. When you do that, definitely you’ll get a bad result because I can’t even run round the field for five or ten minutes. So that was where Ann got it wrong.

Chief, you have been known as a promoter of grassroots football for both men and women, what has been your motivating factor.

Answer: Well you know that from 1989 upto the 1991 World Cup, my good friend, may his soul rest in peace, Paul Hamilton, was the one I followed when he had the late Peter Emudia and Ismaila Mabo as his assistants and I know when Ann Chiejine and Adanna Nwaneri were recruited. So since then, I have been following football but it was late Paul Hamilton that pushed me to female football. I saw what he was doing and I followed all his training programmes be it in Lagos, Abeokuta or Ibadan and from there, the interest grew bigger and I told myself that one day, I will be able to establish a women football club.
So, when my mother died in 2013, I decided to form a team and name it after my mother whom I loved so much.
However it was during my birthday on 17th August 2022 that I formed the male team and a year after, that’s on 17th August, 2023, I formed the female team and that was how we started.

But would you say you’re fulfilled with what you have done with football over the years

Answer: The answer to your question is no because we have not won any major trophy. Although we are known as giant killers but my target now is to move the male team to NNL and that’s what am looking at now. And then the girls are already in the Premier League but I want them to go beyond that
You know Nigerian clubs have not been doing well in CAF women champions league. They’ll go to Cote d’Ivoire and do well but when they go to Morocco for the African women club champions league, they wouldn’t get to the finals. We have the players, all we need to do is to put them together and they’ll deliver.
Having said this, I want to tell you that I have something special, just watch and see.

How much satisfaction have you been able to get puting your money in football, considering that many Nigerians will think you’re putting your money in a bottomless pit

Answer: Well, let me answer you philosophically. someone can be in his house and they cook okro soup and he won’t like it and they cook egusi soup and he will like it. There are some people who like drinking while others abhour alcohol. I enjoy when I see people playing football. I enjoy it when people are discussing football.
When you see me in my house watching television, it is either am watching football or listening to news. You can’t see me watching movies and in my family they know me for that.
Another thing I like watching is lawn tennis but my number one sports is football and that has been my life and I don’t think I have gotten to the limit of what I want in football.
But we have just started working about three to four years ago and hopefully in the next couple of years, we’ll be able to get to where we want to be.
For now, we’re not talking about getting profit or any benefit, I’m just enjoying football and seeing these boys and girls play, gives me joy. We were able to beat Enyimba to win the Abia State FA cup and our girls were able to beat Abia Warriors female team twice to retain the FA cup. And from nowhere, we have been doing this, so, watch out because we’re coming to the big stage.

Chief you are known for flying your team to match venues and approving massive bonuses for them, what inspires you into doing this

Answer : In anything you do, when you give the person your best, the person will definitely deliver. When you look at the top five clubs, you will discover that there are things they are doing for the players that make them achieve result. So, if you want to get the desired result, you must motivate the players and go higher than your opponents and the result will be there. So, when I looked at what others are finding it difficult to do, I go the extra mile to do it. And if we have not done what we did, we would have been in a very difficult position.
When you look at the first stanza of the league, out of 27 points at stake, we were only able to get 5 points which is 5/27. It was so bad that you can not even be proud to say this is the club I am supporting and putting so much money in. But in the second stanza after the recruitment, things started changing. I remember I asked the team, what they want. I then realized that their travelling to Lafia by road will be a problem and also going to Akure was another problem, so I have to fly them and after that I told the team that I have done what we agreed and it’s now left for you to put in your best and they were able to get the result.
For the bonuses, I found out that what the girls needed is motivation and even the boys. Even the time we beat Enyimba, I found out that they need it and I said okay, I will give you this while you give me result but if you don’t keep to your own side of the bargain, I will not give you what I promised and they were able to deliver.
When I found out that the strategy is working, I continued to do it and the result kept coming in.

You have been a stakeholder in Nigerian football. Are you not worried that Nigeria will not be going to the world cup despite Africa having 10 slots

Answer : Well you have just asked me a question on why I fly my team and the fat bonuses given to my team and I explained to you what motivation can do to a team.
You know some of these our players are some of the best in the world. We have players like Victor Osimhen and Ademola Lookman and then we can’t go to the world cup which means there must be something fundamentally wrong with our football which we are not getting right. It’s high time we come together and ask ourselves what is wrong. What are we not doing right that some smaller African countries are doing.
We have to ask ourselves questions such as; are we motivating these players well and what is it that we’re not doing well. When we sit down and ask ourselves these questions, we’ll get it right. That was what I did in my team. When we had 5/27, I asked myself, what are we not getting right. What is it that other teams are doing and getting results. I sat down and found out where we are lacking, and I did the needful and the result started coming in.
So, Nigerian sports administrators must sit down and agree on what should be done to rescue our football. We must stop fire brigade approach to our preparations.
One might like to know why is it that world cup qualifiers will start and we have about 12 matches to play and we’ll not take seven matches serious and with five matches to go, we will begin to prepare as if the qualifiers just started and while others are having 21 points, we will be having 4 points and you want to overtake them.
This is what we have been passing through for decades. So when we sit down, we’ll be able to get it right. That’s just the magic and there’s nothing to worry about that.

Sir, can you tell us how you relax after a hectic day.

Answer : I relax by watching football or listening to news. I am not a good dancer. Whn I listen to good news, I feel happy but above all, my first love is football.
Having said this, I will also tell you that another thing that makes me happy is listening to the word of God. This one is not negotiable or comparable to anything else.
As for the word of God, you know it has to do with spirituality . When I listen to the word of God, I relax, be attentive and calm down because of the inspiring messages that goes with it.

Where would you like to see your clubs in the next five years.

Answer : Five years is too long. We are talking of three years and not five years which is a long time. We have seen what happened in the last season and we’re taking note. I am not asking any body be he
coach, sports administrator or Director for any explanation. I have seen it all by myself and followed it up, so, I have to work on that and come up next season to fight for the title.

Sir, You’re a stakeholder in women football. Are you not concerned that Super Falcons are not having enough friendlies ahead of the women world cup in Brazil next year

Answer: This is equivalent to what I have just told you about our men team’s inability to qualify for the world cup. Like I said earlier, if we must get it right, we must sit down and proffer solutions to our football. We must jettison the idea of preparing one or two months ahead of major competitions. It’s high time we start talking about quality friendlies.
World cup is a very big tournament that you don’t just talk about one or two months preparations. When we are talking about world cup, we must begin planning a year ahead. Everybody knows that we have the players and with intensive training and putting them in world class facilities and organize friendlies with top five football playing nations will put them in good shape ahead of the tournament. Even if they’re defeated in those friendly matches, they’ll learn something from the experience and from there, you will get positive result.
They should not be afraid playing the best teams in the world because when you’re afraid to play them, you can’t get the desired result.
You should also remember that when our women qualified for the quarter- finals of the 1999 world cu,p, they did it without adequate preparation but because we have the talents unlike now when we have players plying their trade in different countries of the world. If you prepare them adequately, they will go for the trophy and even if they can’t win it, at least we’ll be sure of either the same quarter- final or semi- final.
What I am saying in essence is that they must be given adequate exposure to enable them perform very well
World cup is not a tea party and as such we need adequate preparation for the girls to do well

What level of support are you getting from government

Answer : I don’t get any support from government. You know when you enter into football business, if you are not an interested party, you will fall by the wayside. Football is my life, I love it and feel it.
Loving football is just like loving music because you must stick to it in such a way that when the music is playing, you start dancing and people will look at you as a mad person, but you’re dancing because you love the lyrics. So, I love football and anything I am doing with football is because of the love I have for it.

Have you ever been discouraged by your family from investing in football.

Answer : Nobody has ever tried to discourage me. My wife loves football, my junior ones, everybody loves the game. You’re aware that I named the club after my mother and everybody is happy with that. We are doing our best
Do you know how many players that are with us and they are all employed, You should know that when you have those players roaming the street, it will be another problem for government. So we employed them, they are being paid salaries and we’re moving forward and by the Special Grace of God, our teams will soon become forces to reckon with not only in Nigeria but the entire African continent.