TV host Frank Edoho known famously for ‘Who wants to be a millionaire’ talks about his love for sports, supporting Chelsea and more in this interview with PETER AKINBO
While in school, did you participate in sports at all?
Yeah, I played football and badminton. This was while I was at St. Patrick’s College and University of Calabar. St. Patrick’s College was badminton mostly, but University of Calabar, I played football.
Did you have passion for it or wanted to pursue it?
The thing is, how we were raised is that my father said you have to go to school to study to be an engineer, doctor or lawyer. Apart from those three professions, you can’t be anything so football I had to just keep it. I’m very good at football. I still play football at Lagos Island. I play as a central midfielder or attacking midfielder. I still play on Lagos Island Campus Square, and I’m one of the best midfielders, one of the best passers of the ball. My assists are incredible. I would have loved to play football but I ended up doing broadcasting. And I didn’t even study broadcast, I didn’t study mass communications but I’m just lucky to have stuck to my passion and it paid off in the end.
So did you regret not pursuing sports at all?
No, I didn’t regret it because you see sports is a thing about luck. When you look at all these players, for instance, I don’t think Jimmy Carragher is a skillful player but (Didier) Drogba had a phobia for him. Drogba said Carragher apart from the fact that he knows his limitations in terms of skill but in terms of being technical Jamie Carragher knew how to mark. Carragher knew how to rally people psychologically to come and mark you out of the game you know so football, I mean sports is all about luck, that’s what I feel. Apart from the talent, there are many talented people that didn’t get to that echelon maybe it’s because of their attitude towards the sports, the attitude towards work but at the end of the day, I think what we eventually end up with is our destiny.
So, do you have a favourite football team?
I am the president of Chelsea on Twitter, and we don’t even have an association. They just made me president, they call me Presido. I support Chelsea, I’m a card-carrying member, and I’ve been a supporter of Chelsea for years. But these days, I support Chelsea still, but not with the zest that I used to have. Because these new owners, and I don’t mean to be sectional, but these new owners, the Americans, they’re buying players the way you would use statistics to buy baseball players. And of course, obviously, the guy owns a baseball team so he thinks that he can convert that strategy to football. Football is all about looking at someone, feeling that this player can be ours, not by statistics. This player would do well, but you don’t judge it by statistics alone, because statistics may be wrong.
How long have you been a Chelsea fan?
I’ve been a Chelsea fan for more than two decades. Dennis Wise was our captain then. So we had all those people like Wise, we had Roberto Di Matteo, we had, you know, all sorts of players. You know, George Weah played for Chelsea. Ruud Gullit played for Chelsea. We had great players and we were beating Barcelona that time. We were winning FA Cups, but I think our hiatus of not winning the league affected our standing. I think the resurgence came when (Roman) Abramovich bought the club and that’s when I think he changed the face of the Premiership and world football by just getting the best players to play for your team, that’s just it. Instead of going through the ranks and training them only for them to abandon you and go to another team. So why don’t you just have a collection of great players and play and win. So Abramovich changed the face of football. But I’ve been a Chelsea fan for more than two decades.
So what drew you to Chelsea?
Well, the thing is I loved Manchester United in those days but the thing that drew me to Chelsea was the fact that everybody didn’t support Chelsea. Chelsea was like the underdog then. I noticed that and I admired the way they carried themselves in spite of not being at the top, at the peak of the league and all that. So I just went for them. I admired some of the characters of the players. I felt they had character even if victories and success wasn’t coming and it paid off. I mean, that random act, Abramovich was on his way to buy Tottenham then he saw Chelsea by the helicopter. He said, ‘where’s that place?’ He said, ‘alright, let’s go there instead. ‘And that’s it. The same thing literally happened to Willian.
Who would you say is your favourite player of all time to play at Chelsea?
That’s difficult but I can pick a top three. I will start with John Terry, captain, leader, legend indefatigable personality who keeps his head high. Terry endeared himself to me when this stupid guy from Arsenal kicked him. I think he fainted for a few minutes, they took him off the field. But we won that match, it was Diaby that kicked him. Then when Terry ran back, he had a bandage dripping with blood. He ran back to celebrate and everything. I think John Terry wears his heart on his sleeves, great footballer, great leader and a wonderful legend. Second one has to be Drogba, he is the epitome of leadership. You know why Chelsea succeeded when we were flying high or winning titles John Terry was the captain but he was the captain at defense. In the midfield, Frank Lampard was the captain and in attack, we had Drogba. Drogba had leadership, he will be marked by three people and he will still be saying hoist the ball to me so Drogba really was a person that fought for Chelsea even till now, he’s a Chelsea fan and it’s no surprise. Third person has to be Eden Hazard, see Hazard is poetry in motion. Eden Hazard came to Chelsea stayed, deflected all the people trying to approach him, he would go for training, during training he would not train, he would just be dancing about. In the next two days he scores three goals, dribbling everybody on the pitch, running faster than the people that trained. But of course he was going to catch up with him, that’s why his moved to Real Madrid was like that. If he didn’t move to Real Madrid, maybe his following season would have been the beginning of the end for him. That’s what I feel about him. We don’t really know what would have happened if people took alternate decisions. So, Didier Drogba, John Terry and Eden Hazard. That’s it.
Who’s your favourite Super Eagles player of all time?
Austin ‘Jay-Jay’ Okocha, without any doubt. Okocha is a magician. Okocha made Ronaldinho’s jaw drop when they saw him training in Paris Saint-Germain. And he asked, ‘which part of Brazil did you come from?’ He said he’s not from Brazil, he’s Nigerian. Okocha was born with a football. And any football that sees Okocha is attached to him by magnetism, he is the best Super Eagles player ever.