Former Super Eagles’ striker, Odion Jude Ighalo’s agent, Atta Aneke has endorsed a young yet fast-rising Nigerian football coach, Jamiu Mohammed Isa for future glory and amazing thrills in the gaffer’s trade.
Isa is already making waves with his catchy nickname, ‘The Future One,’ as he keeps churning out ideas and efforts that set him up for plaudits as one of Nigeria’s most promising tacticians of the next generation.
This is despite him having taken to the coaching profession barely seven years ago, when he set out on a mission to catch talents at the grassroots, few months after his return from England, where he had spent a couple years playing the round leather game.
His aspirations for a career in football were, however, dented by a nagging knee injury that he had been nursing since his days in Nigeria with British Council-sponsored Community Action Through Sport (CATS) and National Grassroots Dream Team.
Isa’s return to Nigeria was never a downturn of fortune, as he used the opportunity to launch himself fully into the coaching profession, which he appeared most inclined for as captain of Grassroots’ intermediate squad.
He augmented his natural leadership qualities by attending various career development clinics and workshops, as well as tips at train the trainer programmes, as he continued picking up ideas from experts in youth football coaching during his days with CATS.
In his career proper, Isa started out with lots of zeal under renowned television football analyst-turned-administrator, Barrister Godwin Dudu-Orumen at Cowbell Football Academy, from where he moved unto Help The Talent Project (HTTP), both Surulere-based outfits helped in according him a very stable base and foundation as a coach.
Subsequently, the fair-skinned lad, who played as a central defender during his early days in Lagos and was first groomed by ‘Coach Ekine’ at Godwin Okpara FC of Ebute Metta, moved on to join a leading philanthropist and youth developer, Emma Odogwu at Dominion Hotspur FC of Surulere, where his link with Aneke was ignited.
Aneke has now joined in raining accolades on the defender-turned-gaffer, as the man that took Ighalo to Manchester United of England and many other clubs before then hopped into the latest promotional campaign launched by Isa, who many pals also call ‘Pep Guardiola of Nigeria.’
The latest promo from Isa depicts him in several branded T-shirts with his face emblazoned in a large ‘O’ on the foreground of a small ‘F,’ to jointly represent ‘The Future One,’ which is the trending moniker that now propels Jamiu Isa as Nigeria’s diadem to watch in years to come.
It is also another breath of fresh air added to the growing brand image Isa is crating for himself, dating back to his early days with CATS’ Dreams & Teams project, plus his days as a trainee coach under the umbrella of Premier Skills youth workshop at Lagos National Stadium, Surulere.
A citation back in January revealed that being part of Premier Skills’ regular programmes taught Isa how ‘to use the popularity and power of football to change his community,’ and that is what is coming from this highly creative youngster, who attended Ayetoro Senior Grammar School, now vice-president at Youth Sports Initiatives and former assistant manager at HTT Football Academy.
Earlier this year, Isa enthused that he will be able to make his mark in Nigerian football and eventually help the country achieve greater feats in the game across the continent and the globe once he styles his technical ability after that of Guardiola, whose nomenclature is now one of his nicknames.
The youthful tactician, who is also a Premier Skills Community Coach Educator, following a high-profile course sponsored by The British Council in Lagos, which he attended alongside other teeming youths and a couple of Nigerian coaching veterans, added that he wants to achieve more than just having Guardiola as his nickname.
Consequently, Isa has adopted a catchy sobriquet for himself, as his vastly-escalating brand and tag is now ‘The Future One,’ which is in difference to former Chelsea of England and current Tottenham Hotspur boss, Jose Mourinho’s tag of ‘The Special One’ and David Moyes as ‘The Chosen One,’ when he first took over at Manchester United.
Isa is not looking backwards, as he sets his eyes on the future, just as his preferred nickname declares, and the tall former defender, who is also a good referee and youth programmes’ organizer, says his target is to become one of Nigeria’s biggest coaches of all time.
Those targets are now buzzing paramount for the fair-skinned lad, who grew up in Ebute Metta, before joining National Grassroots Dream Team’s camp in Kilo area of Surulere, alongside the like of France-based Shakiru Abikoye, Solomon Joseph and Michael Andrew, as well as former Golden Eaglets’ winger, Seyi Adeleke and ex-Super Eagles’ attacker, Nnamdi Oduamadi.
He concluded with a verdict that adopting the ideas, philosophy, style and tactics of Guardiola would help him achieve his targets within the shortest time possible, even as he embarks on a busy inter-state build-up programme with Dominion Hotspur, as the team that has Ighalo’s agent among their European scouts, aim for bigger marks in 2021.
Isa stated in a recent post on social media: “The difference between players is not always the quality they possess, but their mentality for high performance.
“How do we help our players shift their mindset from pretending to contending and never let the conditions take charge of their performance.
“Players set the tone of their performance behaviours before they actually compete with support of its coach. (They) don’t just play but need to be mentally tough in every sessions, games.
“(They) should not let the opposition, mistakes, goals and conditions take charge of them. They need to make it a habit to take charge of themselves no matter what.”
