A Nigerian football coach based in England, Temisan Williams has promised to stop talking about Arsenal’s latest teen sensation, Max Dowman, after the lad’s father accused him of seeking cheap publicity with the player’s breakthrough.
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Sports247 reports that Temisan also apologized for mentioning his connection with Dowman, who the former Arsenal youth team assistant coach came into contact with as a 12-year-old during their days together at Wmirates Stadium.
Rather than continue highlighting the role he played in shaping Dowman’s game at an early age, Temisan was forced to make a retraction, after the youngster’s father criticized him for speaking publicly about his role with the lad.
The aggrieved dad, Robert Dowman downplayed Temisan’s role in his 16-year-old son’s career development and accused the Nigerian coach of embarking on ‘a really sad piece of attempted self-promotion’ during a radio interview.
Temisan’s troubles started when he was interviewed by talkSPORT the morning after Dowman shot into the spotlight on Saturday with an assist and goal that helped Arsenal defeat Everton 2-0 and climb nine points clear at the top of the EPL.
The attacking midfielder, who has been training with Arsenal’s first team since he was 14, helped set up Viktor Gyokeres’ 89th-minute strike after coming off the bench, before he scored on the breakaway in the seventh minute of added time.
That made Dowman the youngest scorer in EPL history, but his dad was incensed after Temisan, a former academy coach at Arsenal, Tottenham and Fulham, spoke about his experience while working with The Gunners’ new whiz-kid.
Dramatically, rather than cross issues with the angry dad, Temisan took to his X account and stated: “I have spoken with Rob Dowman and apologised to him and his family. Going forward, I will not be discussing Max Dowman’s development. I wish Rob Dowman and his family nothing but continued success.”
