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Uganda: Of Heroic Failures And Cockerel Hairstyles
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The Monitor (Kampala)
OPINION
18 April 2008
Posted to the web 18 April 2008
Famed Kenyan educationist Professor Ali Mazrui has always had an uncanny ability to tickle the mind. Admittedly, I was an impressionable teenager when I first came into contact with Mazrui's TV series - The African, a product of a triple heritage or something like that.
I was later dumbfounded by his ability to articulate points in the Joseph Mubiru annual lectures which begun in the late eighties in memory of Bank of Uganda's first black governor.
One of his most enduring commentaries was on the late Tanzanian leader Julius Nyerere, whom he described as a 'heroic failure'. Nyerere was a hero for trying out African socialism against all odds and a failure because Ujamaa failed miserably. Thus the paradox of a heroic failure.
When Mike Collet described Arsenal's season as one of glorious failure, it was impossible not to recall the vintage Mazrui.
There is no doubt Arsenal can at time play spellbinding football, but Arsene Wenger's naivety in decision making over squad size, frugality over money and Franco-centrism have played a major role in the unraveling of the season. Thus it is safe to say that the heroism of Wenger's effort and the failure of result - this was Arsenal's fourth season in a row without silverware - makes Wenger a heroic failure.
For a man born in the Alsace region bordering Germany, is fluent in German and whose surname can be mistaken for German, the Frenchman is surprisingly jingoistic. Ashley Cole blew the whistle on the Franco-centrism at the North London club when he said, French and not English, was the lingua franca in the Arsenal dressing room. Wenger's first mistake this season was to name William Gallas as his captain.
The Frenchman's poor leadership on the pitch has cost the team dear. Gallas has huffed and puffed like a cockerel (with a hairstyle to match) but has no mettle. His tearful collapse after the 2-2 draw with Birmingham was the catalyst for the team's capitulation in the last quarter of the season.
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For the umpteenth time, I find myself having to reiterate that Avram Grant is simply not a manager meant for the big time. Israeli compatriot Ben Haim told us what we already knew when he said 'nothing good would come with Grant as Chelsea coach'. Such is Grant's ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. In over three years with Jose Mourinho as Chelsea coach, the club only lost five games in which it took the lead.
In seven months as Chelsea coach, Avram Grant has already lost to Spurs (Carling Cup final) and Fernabache and drawn with Spurs, Portsmouth, Everton, Wigan and Aston Villa after taking the lead.
Factor in the FA Cup loss to Barnsley and you understand why Roman Abramovich is in hiding!
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