About that pesky Twitter countdown...

One of the most profound things I ever read, paraphrased, is that everything contains within itself the germ of its own destruction. As boredom was the birth of my professional journey, it was inevitable it would play a role in its death.

There are two types of boredom: there is the type born of inactivity, and there is the type born of routine. The former kicked things off, but it is the latter with which I have mentally wrestled over the past year or so, having spent the previous decade in a state of fervid production. (I will not tell that story, not just because I have done it before, but because I do not think it is very interesting.)

It has been over a decade since I first began to write about Nigerian football, so one would think it has gotten easier to do as time has passed. And, in a way, it has, but because I have always written for an audience of one, I have always demanded a certain standard for myself. Without inspiration, that standard is impossible to meet, and increasingly, on account of the mind-numbing sameness of it all, there is little that inspires about Nigerian football.

Pause and think for a bit: when was it’s last truly transformational event? There is neither a worthy local league to speak of nor the appetite/technical wherewithal to change that; athletes remuneration and welfare is shunted to the back in favour of administrators gorging their bellies; and those whose responsibility it is to shine a light on these things are too busy endorsing the shortcuts that the perpetrators have put in place to cover their rear ends. Even the scandals stay the same—happenings that would be Hiroshimas in other climes, forcing a historic reckoning, are met with shrugs and a zombified commitment to stasis. Year on year, time after time.

There are only so many new, inspired ways to spin the same yarn. And so, I have decided to do something else, something new, something actually stimulating.

Today, I started on a manuscript for a book. I am not ready to say just yet what the subject is (a handful of people know), but if you are a reader/subscriber, it will most assuredly interest you. A lot of time has gone into the research and I have been chomping at the bit to finally begin committing words to the page. As far as writing goes, this is the direction in which my creative juices will flow for at least the next six months, although I will post periodic updates here for the faithful, and will even send an early sneak peek to paid subscribers. Also, at some point, there will be information about how to pre-order the book, as well as a clearer timeline for publishing, so keep your eyes peeled.

I have long despaired of the dearth of literature concerning Nigerian football, and while I have gone out of my way to encourage my colleagues to fill this void, it is time that I take my own advice and be the change I wish to see in the world.

Let me begin and let me end. Speak soon.