Edith Agoye played for Shooting Stars in their glory years and scored a goal in their 1995 FA Cup final match against Katsina United at the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. He left to play abroad for about five years but rejoined the Oluyole Warriors as a coach in 2013 before they were relegated in 2017. He stayed on and learned the ropes under Franklin Howard, Fatai Amoo and Gbenga Ogunbote and has now led the team back to the top tier. He speaks with PREMIUM TIMES about the obsession of Shooting Stars to reclaim its position in the Nigerian top tier; the missing basics, and Nigeria’s Flying Eagles that ‘wobbled and fumbled’ at the 1995 U-20 African Championship hosted by Nigeria.
Edith Olumide Agoye PT: For how long now have you been back at Shooting Stars? Agoye: I joined Shooting Stars’ coaching crew in 2013 as an assistant to Franklin Howard and the team won promotion to the NPFL. After that, I was transferred to the feeder team, but I was promoted back to the team in June 2016. I was the assistant coach to Gbenga Ogunbote in the NPFL. The next season, I was the head coach while Coach Fatai Amoo was the technical adviser – that was in the 2016/17 season that we got relegated. At the end of that season, I was confirmed as the substantive head coach – that was November 2017, and I have been in that position since. PT: What was the biggest motivation for 3SC this season? Agoye: First and foremost, the biggest motivation is the [Oyo State] governor. Since the governor came on board, he has done everything humanly possible to make sure we are comfortable so as to triumph on the field of play against any team. That is number one. You know they say, ‘to whom much is given, much is expected’. He has done so much for us; as a club, as individuals, and we wanted to give back to him in a way of showing appreciation. Secondly, when you are trying too hard to succeed at a task and you failed at the last hurdle the first time, you failed at the last hurdle the second time and the third time, something happened that was beyond your control – definitely, it becomes more than ambition. It becomes like an obsession. So, for this season, qualifying 3SC for the Premier League was much more than an ambition, it was like an obsession. It was like something that had to happen at all costs. We had no margin for error; we had no margin for excuses and we went for it from the beginning and we are very grateful that at the end of the season; we were able to grab it. But I must reiterate that the factor of the governor played a very big role in our qualifying for the NPFL.