Mad man and bicycle

It is no fun watching a man mad on his bicycle for it can also make you mad.

He cycles round and round the same place, falls down and dusts himself off over and over again while thinking he is covering a distance.

The happenings around the Flames have left me wondering whether as a football nation we are not mad.

How do you describe importing of a caretaker coach to head a caretaker coaching panel, two months before a crucial World Cup qualifier? Madness.

When our football leaders believe only the changing of coaches will eliminate the Flames’ flaws then you know someone needs counselling.

Before every Flames crucial assignment, government threatens that there is no funding, yet somehow loosens the purse, what does Capital Hill seek to achieve?

Fund or withdraw the purse and leave fans in peace.

Qualifying for a World Cup is supposed to be a long-term country project. And when you cannot plan beyond a game, cannot win Cosafa and Cecafa Cup, FAM has no business abusing fans with World Cup vocabulary.

If your Super League players cannot participate in international competitions for nine years, junior national teams are in coma, school football is dying, when coaches last went in class in 1999, when teams scramble for one dilapidated stadium, you have no business talking about beating Nigeria.

There is so much moving in cycles on the Flames yet somehow a good number of very sane people were before Saturday’s reality check of Calabar dreaming of a World Cup play-off qualification.

Some even suggest the Flames were better off under Kinnah Phiri.

Statistics disagree though.

Under Kinnah, the Flames qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations finals with a win and a draw or four points from a maximum of 18 points as third best losers and you call than an achievement?

Ng’onamo and Tom Saintfiet’s combined tenure produced a win, two draws and a loss in the World Cup race, so where is the difference?

Under Kinnah, the Flames won only once away in Djibouti in over 20 competitive games, participated in Cosafa and Cecafa cups four times in total but could only finish in the quarter-final, is that better?

Stop talking about the Flames and pay attention to the production chain of footballers.

Unless government, those who control power and money take genuine interest in football, forget about success.