Omar Drammeh,

I would describe myself a soccer fanatic. Believe me, I am so addicted to it
(laugh!). In fact, I do go and watch live matches here. I used to support
Chelsea F.C in the English Premiership, but I didn't like the way they
treated Ruud Gullit when they were sacking him as Chelsea's team manager.

Once Ken Bates, the Chairman of Chelsea, decided to sack Gullit in that
nasty way, I also decided to change loyalty. Consequently, I now support
Arsenal F.C, and we are, so far, in third position in the Premiership.

By the way, the Arsenal French Manager, Arsene Wenger, has one of the best
brains in the Game presently, but, more importantly, he is non-racist. He
encourages black players. In fact, he was the one who spotted George Weah of
Liberia somewhere in Cameroon, and took him to Monaco F.C of France, where
he, Wenger, was then the team manager. George Weah later became FIFA's world
player of year.

Look at Kanu, the Nigerian striker, when he lost his place with Inter Milan
of Italy, Wenger brought him to Arsenal and gave him chance. Kanu has since
proven himself as a world class player, and, recently, he signed an upgraded
contract with Arsenal F.C. Kanu now earns £25,000 pounds per week, just like
Dennis Bergkamp and Marc Overmars.

I watched the Chelsea match last night, and I thought they had a good game
in Italy. Dosmestically, Chelsea are not doing very well in the English
league, but they are certainly doing very well in Europe. In fact, according
to the bookies, Chelsea are now third favourites to win the European cup.
Lazio of Italy still remains the Favourite.

Yes, I read in the papers here that John Carew of Norway, is half Gambian.
At point one, Manchester United wanted to buy him, but he was highly priced,
according to United. Carew's club, at the time, was asking for £4 million
pounds, but United deemed the money "high". I saw him when his team played
Chelsea last year, and I was impressed.

I think he should make a move to England, because he is strong and good in
the air. Carew's style of football would suit England. Look at Titi Camara
of Guinea Conakry, he never had problems  adapting to English football when
he came to join Liverpool, from Marseille of France.

Camara is also strongly built, and he is as tall as John Carew. Camara now
scores some good goals for Liverpool; and, in fact, there were times when he
was selected ahead of Micheal Owen.

Generally, the Africans are doing very well in the English league. My good
friend from Zimbabwe, striker Peter Ndlovu, formerly of Coventry City and
now with Birmingham F.C, shouldn't be forgotten as well. He has made a mark
in English soccer.

I also follow the Italian and Spanish leagues which are shown live in the
UK. I am impressed with the Spanish league. The Spanish league has fine
players such as Rivaldo, Raul, Clarence Seedorf, Roberto Carlos, Patrick
Kluivert, just to name a few. Nicolas Arnelka, formerly of Arsenal, and now
with Real de Madrid, is also a world class striker, but he has been having
injuries since he went to Madrid.

By the way, I thought last year, Rivaldo of Barcelona and Brazil should have
been the world player of the year. What do you think? Perhaps FIFA decided
to give Zenidine Zidane of France because France won the world cup. But I
must confess here that Zidane is also a true professional and a world class
midfielder.

Do you follow the Italian league? Nigeria's Taribo West is having some
difficult times in Italy. I think he should move some where, perhaps to
England. Ruud Gullit wanted Taribo when he was the Manager Of Newscastle of
England. I am a fan of Taribo. I think he is a great defender, very good in
the air.

If at all you are a Manchester United fan, it has just been announced, as I
write this piece, that their captain Roy Keane, whose contract should come
to an end next year, is very likely to renew his contract with United, which
is going to worth £50,000 pounds per week.

If United were to allow to Keane to move to other European clubs like
Barcelona or Juventus on a free transfer basis, he could even get more money
under the Bosman ruling. But I suppose Keane doesn't want to leave
Manchester United, because his pals are there, and, besides, it is the
richest club in the world, worth £700 million pounds in the stock market.

Enough about European football. What is the state of Gambian soccer now? I
hope it is improving. I saw Jaato Ceesay in Birmingham last year, and he
seems to be doing okay in Holland. Ebou sillah is also doing well in
Belgium, but we need more professionals if we want to take the likes of
Morocco or Nigeria, whose entire first teams are playing professional soccer
in Europe.

I travelled with the Gambian National Team in the past, and I know, for a
fact, that the Gambia does have the talents. We just need to tap them. Over
the years, the Gambia has produced good footballers, who if given the chance
in Europe, would have even performed better than the Kanus and others.

To name a few: Moses Sarr, Saul Samba, Tony Jatta, Joe Tennis, Pa Coker,
Saul Jagne etc. And even before these younger ones, you had the Tony
Joiners, the Star Jallows, the Louses, the Bill Badgies, the Ebou Kahs (E.K)
now with you in Norway and many more.

By the way, is Aziz Corr still playing soccer in Denmark? In 1991, he joined
us with the squad in the Senegal, and he had a good tournament with Tamsir
Manneh partnering him upfront.

Omar, I'll stop here till next time. By the way, I used to manage a team in
the Gambia, that's why they call me Coach!

Ebrima Ceesay,
Birmingham, UK.

>From: Omar Drammeh <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Football
>Date: Wed, 8 Dec 1999 01:23:01 +0100
>
>Ebrima Ceesay,
>
>It seems to me you have a great liking for football. Well, I happen to be
>one of those guys who found solace in the game and would love to have
>someone here to discuss with once in a while about the game. Maybe we could
>recall names like "Butut Joof", Saul Samba, BS, kebba Njie, Ebou Ceesay,
>The great Biri, Saihou Sarr, Essa Fye, Rico etc. These are great names in
>Gambian football history, some of whom have long passed away.
>
>I thought it would not have been that bad just to talk some little
>football, after our hectic debates here. We need to cool off with something
>else, right? Thanks for those lines about the game. I enjoyed reading the
>bit honestly.
>
>Did you watch Chelsea against Lazio? Our Norwegian side Rosenborg lost to
>Real Madrid by 3 goals to 1. By the way do you know that the Rosenborg
>striker Jon Carew is half Gambian?
>
>Hey, sorry folks if you`re getting bored. Mr Ceesay and other football
>loving guys "talk to me".
>
>Regards,
>Omar.

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