Never in the history of Nigerian football had a footballer been a newspaper columnist, I was told.

So I would be the first. In fact when the suggestion was made for me to write, I was at the peak of my career in football. I had been a part of the team that won the Africa Cup Winners Cup in ’76; been representing the national team fully for two years; played in the African Cup of Nations; won the All-Africa Games silver medal; gone to the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games. I had also been rated as the third best player in Africa, the first time any Nigerian footballer would have been nominated in Africa’s official best player poll in 1978 and was to be named second best two years later in 1980. I was convinced that football followers would love to read about the life and personal experiences of a footballer.