Ibrahim Musa: My target is to win first league title as Pillars technical adviser
IV Kano Pillars technical adviser, Ibrahim Musa has said his target is to win his first NPFL title as coach of one of the most formidable clubs in the domestic league. He also spoke to SHOT! on why his team is doing very well and how they are facing life
WAs an indigene of Kano State, it is great honour for me to be appointed the technical adviser of Kano Pillars. I have over 30 years experience as a football coach and I have spent over 11 years in Kano Pillars as assistant coach. I have worked under so many coaches in Pillars but this is my first time to be the technical adviser of the team. My target therefore is to win my first title as technical adviser. It is not going to be easy but I believe with hard work and continued support of the management, we shall achieve our target.
Our performance is not a surprise to me because if you look at our preparation for the season, we did very well. Out of three pre-season tournaments that we played, we won two. Out of over 30 matches that we played, we lost only one which was the penalty shoot-out against Enyimba in the Super Six tournament in Kano. We drew with MFM, Akwa United and Enyimba and we were asked to play the shoot-out. So I was able to build a solid team for the season. In addition, we beefed up the team in some key areas. Most importantly, we are enjoying all the necessary support from our management and government of Kano State.
Mathematically, I know that by the time they play their outstanding games, the position at the top of the table might change but we are not focusing on that for now. Our concern is to keep winning our matches. We all know that getting to the top is not as difficult as remaining there. I always tell my players to take every match seriously. For us, there is no small match or big match. We give equal attention to all the matches. So to remain on top, we have to keep winning.
It is not going to be an easy match. We are not going to repeat the same mistake other teams made when they were to play against Yobe Stars. They are new in the topflight but the players are not completely new. They have a mixture of young and experienced players. I had the opportunity to watch them when they played in the Ahlan pre-season tournament in Kano so I have an idea of the danger they pose. Secondly, their coach, Baba Ganaru once handled Kano Pillars. So you see it will not be an easy match. However, I have told my players to go for the maximum points. If we are able to win the match, we shall be comfortable on top of the table.
Lokosa is no doubt an important player to us but I have not built my team around a single player. It is team work and he is scoring because he gets support from the other players. Every player in Pillars is important and that is why even when Rabiu Ali and Stephen Eze were away in Morocco for CHAN, we were still doing well. And even as we have lost our most dependable and experienced defender, Chinedu Udoji, we are still moving one. So Kano Pillars is not about just one player. However, I am very happy that he is scoring goals.
Although we have managed to move on, words alone cannot explain how much we miss him. I miss Udoji a lot. He was not only a player but a great motivator of the team. He even played the role of a coach on and off the field of play. In camp, while travelling or on the field of play, he was always giving advice to the other players. As a matter of fact, he was like a guardian to some of the junior players I promoted to the senior team. He encouraged them a lot. During matches, he would come to advise me or tell me what he felt was going wrong. Kano Pillars will surely miss Udoji for a very long time. It is hard to replace such a committed and dedicated player.
I told them that we have lost Udoji but life must go on. I explained to them that death is from God and anybody can die at any given time. I told them that even me, their coach can die at any time. So they should not grieve too much but thank God for the good life that Udoji lived. I said let us concentrate on our work because if we are thinking too much about Udoji, we won’t be able to play. LMC weren’t going to postpone our matches to enable us recover from the shock so we had to move on. Against Rangers, I told them to go and win the match for their late colleague. I said the spirit of Udoji will be with them so they should go ahead and play. In the end, we drew 1-1 and we dedicated the point to our fallen hero. As a matter of fact, Udoji’s spirit will continue to propel us.
Coach what has been your most difficult match this season?
I can say our most difficult match this season was our match against Abia Warriors which we won 2-1 and our last home match against the underdogs, Go Round FC. Although we recorded victories, these two teams gave us very tough time. Many people thought we would find it easy against Go Round but they proved a hard nut to crack.
I know some people may be surprised by this but our easiest match so far was our home match against Enyimba. Although the match ended 1-1, that was our easiest match. They did not even attack us for once. We dominated every department of the match but luck was not on our side. And if you ask me, our best match was against Plateau United. I was so happy when we defeated them in Kano.
I wish to keep our tactics and techniques a secret but our strength is in ball possession. We keep possession of the ball and play like Barcelona. The tika-taka style is what we have successfully imbibed and it makes it difficult for our opponents to take the ball from us once we have possession.
They are giving me hundred per cent support. We have everything we need to do well and that is why we are doing our best to reciprocate this gesture. It may interest you to know that they have increased our bonus for away victories. And when we are travelling to honour some away matches like in Calabar, Lagos and Uyo, we usually go by air. These are incentives which other clubs do not enjoy.
My advantage is that I am an indigene of Kano and I know what to expect from the fans. I know they are so passionate about their club so what I do is to try and get the results they need. However, it is not possible to satisfy everyone. So you still have few people who would grumble no matter what you do. Some have players from their area that they feel must play. And once such a player is not on the field, there is a problem. The good thing is that most members of the fans club have understood how things are done at this level. It is just few who have refused to change. So in summary, I am enjoying my job.