 It's a marathon program this particular afternoon, of course it's a chilly Saturday afternoon, we don't have sporting activities happening in various parts of the world, but we can continue talking about the same with this gentleman, very passionate about football friend opener, VP. Wasana, how are you? Alright, Tiraz, it's been a minute. It has, man, I've even forgotten what it takes to be on television, so bear with me. Am I allowed to sneeze on air? We are observing one meter distance. At least yes, of course. Alright, let's speak about the headlines as far as matters international football. Sest fabrigas saying that, you know, he's defa, he's 130,000 weeks wages for the sake of his struggling club, Monaco. You know, the financial predicaments have hit several entities, not just due to corona outbreak, but I think this has been the problem with Monaco since Thierry Andrew was there, he was sacked. That's a good move, good guest your friend. I think it's a good gesture and remember it's a personal decision as we can put it, and from one's perspective, Fain is the one who is there and he knows the position of the club currently financially, but I don't think it's that much because trust me, what have these clubs been making when we didn't have COVID-19? Of course, they have lost a lot of cash through whatever losing the TV rights right now, you know, no matches being broadcasted and all that, but still it's a decision that comes from one point of view that you know right now. We have these difficulties financially with our club and then I can forego these weeks. Let's say wages and quotions, quotions in the club from the crisis that is ongoing. Anyway, it's a good gesture generally for me. It's a good gesture. You know, say Skfabriga is doing that, I don't know whether you've seen Immanuel Adebayo rant, you know, the former Arsenal and Toglis international saying that, you know, by the virtue that, you know, the likes of Samuel Ato, Didier Drogba are helping, you know, building high-profile medical facilities in their respective countries, donating equipment, especially during this time of pandemic. He doesn't need to emulate on them and do the same. And he's saying that, you know, African football is crap. Well, he did actually say that African football is mad in a lot of corruption and that's what has made him social distance himself from African football. That's a valid point. We all know and I think those are some of the things you are discussing online with your guests today, Saif Mutie and Bonfa Sosano who are running for the FKF presidency. So that's a fact of our football and other aspects of our lives here in Africa and the world over, not just Africa, but very much so here, very pronounced. So he has a valid point there. Remember in the 2008 when they were going for the African Cup of Nations, Togo after they qualified or was it 2006 and the macho officials, rather the football association officials from Togo flew themselves to South Africa where the tournament was being held. Or was it 2010, those years have flown, gosh. And the footballers themselves were driven through Kabinda in Angola which is a red ball held area. And you take the best ambassadors of your biggest brand which is football that time for Togo through such an area by bus to get to the venue of the tournament itself. You guys fly yourselves and probably your mistresses first class by air. You go like you're the stars of the tournament and guess what happened? These guys found themselves in the middle of gunfire and they lost their goalkeeper. The rest of them had to sort of dive on the floor of the bus. What kind of impunity is that? They would have died all of them from that particular incident. So when he speaks about it, he's speaking from the bottom of his heart. And I remember the World Cup of 2006, Togo qualified for that World Cup. And it was such a shame at the World Cup when it got to Togo's turn to play and the big debate was whether they would turn up because they had not been paid their monies that were due to them. It was very, very embarrassing. I mean, those are those moments that make you hate yourself for being an African. So when he talks about corruption, he's right. Secondly, he's spoken about the African Cup of Nations being given to Africa, the Africa Cup, BBC Africa Football of the Year being awarded. The Confederation of African Football Awards. He says that they are meant for African players featuring in African leagues. There is no need to give African footballer of the Year award to Sadio Manu. We are playing in the UPL. I don't know. Would you read from the same script with him? Yes, of course. That maybe Denis Onyango, who is the goalkeeper in South African League, is supposed to be given the top acoled and not a pure America, bumaya? No, I don't think so because, truly, this guy is, for example, Sadio Manu who was awarded that award last time. It's through personal, you know, let's say, BDM to commit. Yes, exactly. Because they're not there by mistake. It's their, you know, commitment and hard work that they are there. But as he's saying that, you know, there is some corruption. For example, in these African football bodies, you know, that has made him maybe to hold back from maybe giving back to the society in Africa. That point of view, I really don't think it's voice from him because you cannot hold back what you can give back to the society because of what other people have done. Especially right now, we have this pandemic, you know, you can go back to your village, you know, say, you know, let me put up a host player that can help the village. You cannot sell us that, you know, because of the corruption in African football, you cannot be able to do that. I think that's... No, that's okay. That's perfectly okay. Exactly. That's what I agree with. My interpretation of what he said is that why he himself keeps away from African federation, football, management, politics and all that. And like Saif Mutia here who wants to gun for the Helm and Zipo, my interpretation of what Adebayo was saying is that he would rather not involve himself in management, management, administrative side of African football. That's what he's kept away from. Actually, that's what I can agree with. I can read from the same, exactly. That is what Adebayo was trying to seek for top seat in Ivory Coast, getting snubbed. He's can't get snubbed by, you know, form a field of layers. The likes of, you know... Zokora. Zokora. He's vice captain. He's vice captain. You know, sometimes when you look at this march as we are seeing, actually, when Adebayo says, now I get your point, when Adebayo says, you know, I don't want to get involved in these administrative issues in African football because we have a lot of corruption. Maybe this guy is the likes of DDS Zokora, you know, snubbing Drogba from his turn to give a chance at the leadership of Ivory Coast football association. You know, you feel to understand why. Is it because, you know, they don't like what he wants to do or is it like they have been told, you know, you just snub this guy, maybe you can get a few chums as Adebayo is saying, you know, we have a lot of corruption in African football. So I would like to have the reasons why they are snubbing because someone was saying maybe it's lacking touch with the reality now that, you know, Drogba played prominently in overseas leagues in Europe, in France, at Chelsea in English Premier League. Maybe he lacked, you know, being close to the ground and that's why, you know, his candidacy was snubbed. Drogba left Ivory Coast at the age of five and went to France, joined his uncle to better his life and he's never quite lived in Ivory Coast ever since because he's got his children who are born outside of Ivory Coast, the land of his birth. So you can say in that regard there is a disconnect but at the same time he's done so much for the country. Ten years ago, about nine years or so, 2011, the country was almost burning. It took Drogba's voice to go back to Ivory Coast and tell the people, listen, let's negotiate instead of fighting. There's more at stake to lose if we fight and less at stake if we negotiate. That shows you he still has a huge influence in the country of his birth and he loves the country of his birth and he's very determined, maybe even more than some people who've never left the country there for the betterment of Ivory Coast and he's done a lot of other things in terms of development maybe charity, let's call it charity overall but then again, Africa, you need to connect with the people and the people especially when you're endeavoring for such a seat you want an endorsement from your peers. These were his peers who rejected him. I don't know why. I really cannot tell you why, all of them in total because those who abstained and abstinence is as good as a veto. You cannot help. You're simply saying I am totally against this in total. You have no preferred candidates. Yes, in this race. You're as good as those who are voting against Drogba or whoever else. Which is not an endorsement. Of course time is not on our side. Anytime from now we shall be expecting Cabinet Secretary for Health Hon. Mutai Kagwa addressing the nation of course during his daily briefings on the state of coronavirus pandemic which has hit the country and of course it will be getting laid on Y-25 and our Mother's Station KBC. So stay tuned, don't go away but we continue with the touchline, Katozo Fadili and the crew are humanists have been added to us so we can continue to stand guided in case of anything from the AFI house. So another headline is clubs in Europe especially in English Premier League committing that they want to end the season despite this pandemic and of course three gentlemen have always been in discussion I think that the influential players as far as English Premier League is concerned Jordan Henderson Mark Noble West Ham and I'm forgetting another one of course I will remember So I think that the determining factor as far as when would the English Premier League resume Is it possible in June? Okay for now I can't really say because it depends on the developments from whatever we are facing right now the pandemic really is affecting a lot of economies of this world and if in England we would see a decline in the number of infections we see a rise in the people you know have recovered from from COVID-19 then why not we can come back to football but remember when it's safe to do so we saw the other day one being ended and PSG were crowned the champions and I think England and France are not that far off once you just across exactly just across the channel but you can see France exactly from the white clips of course I don't see the need why we should force the EPL to be completed and we have seen our neighbours across ending saying that maybe all the footballing activities whether indoors or outdoors cannot be resumed until October why should you if the country is not safe try to force to complete the season I don't know whether it's because Liverpool is supposed to be in the league should the FA do the same way Kenyan did suspending the league indefinitely and determining the winners as per the standings and basing on that of course Liverpool will be the champion something that Man United fans won't don't want to hear objectively speaking what should happen objectively they should follow the letter of the law of England the standard practice of the FA if the law permits them to give Liverpool the premiership of this season fine well and good because in actual fact Liverpool deserve it no team was going to close that gap this is not stealing in any way it's not going through the back door it's not rigging of any standard this is just fair play really but remember we are talking about Liverpool what about the top four we have European football everything is determined as per the standings everything I think as per the standings but still now when you come to that and you mentioned that and I'm glad you did and I was coming to it now that has to fall on under what UFO says because UFO is the umbrella governing body of European football so whatever the decision the English football association make in that respect of what you just brought in then it has to fall under the statutes of UFO so England in the case of England four teams the first top four teams in the Premier League those are the ones that qualify to play in UFO in France is the top three it varies depending on the strength of your league so then of course that has to fall under UFO and then there is the issue and who gets promoted from the championship or will there be no promotion and it ends as it is now that one I would say that one there's no need to demote any team and there's no need to promote any team because really I mean that's what I would say what if the league has to resume but games being played during closed doves no problem I'm against remember I saw around eight rules that were brought forward to the prime minister to check out this is what we are planning if we resume the league then these are the guidelines that we are supposed to follow have you seen how many people have died in England have you seen how many people are infected that's why you see for example like Holland Netherlands they said this season is not an void this is what we need to sit down and talk about because remember the FA has its rules and I don't know when they were making those rules when they were coming with the certifications we would not expect that we had a pandemic so maybe they did not come forward with the rules if this happens for example if we have played 80% of the matches of the season if at that time it ends then we declare whoever at the top as the winner like Kenya where I saw president Nick Mwendwa saying was it 75% if 75% of the matches have already been then at that time you just declare the one who is at the top as the winner I don't know why Iceland fans are pushing for the league nothing to lose Kenya has not been that affected with the coronavirus if we were to go with the government figures but the league has been suspended in definitions but you can see we have suspended our league in definitions applaud those in charge of our league if they dare resume in England one person just one infection is all it takes and I'm telling you the reputation of English football goes down on the wire people will tell you resume but those are the same people who will be on your neck on social media everywhere that will be the end of so many careers really speaking and strictly speaking you've seen what's happened in Germany which is less affected than the England and the rest of the UK in as far as the coronavirus is concerned they went into training last month and after just quarantining themselves for about 14 days or so and then you can see what's happened with FC Cologne at a Bundesliga site three players and staff already have been have tested positive with the coronavirus into self quarantine just imagine they've been training and exercising all those social distance rules and everything a lot of these guys are young guys in their 20s and stuff so they have very young families very young life and very young children especially the children 2-3 year olds whose antibody system is at stake this thing is a change it's a virus it's not something you can contain internally it spreads, it's beyond they should not there in England just go back to them they should not there you know when Tairas Oyaki speaks and insists on the same maybe it's because of his stay in England to Newcastle the prime favourite to land after you know the takeover that happened at St. James Park I'm telling you look at Man City a few years back imagine that Man City would have made the steps that they have made but right now Newcastle have got a new owner the money bags from Saudi if they want to make Newcastle a Man City of this time they can because they can get the good coaches they can purchase the good players and a man like Pochettino is a young lad understands the EPL and if trust me if they get him I cannot see Newcastle falling anywhere below below position 10 in the EPL because if they get the good players as Man City did a few seasons ago they are gonna perform they get that chemistry of Pochettino remember what Pochettino has done with Tottenham of course they can come and cause problems and I'm for it because Newcastle has had a manager of such caliber Rafael Benitez has been in charge some time back he enabled them to get promoted back to Premier League from Skybeat Championship exactly because they have to go on market and acquire new high profile players who can help them compete yes definitely and we're talking of Arab money here oil money oil has gone down in value but obviously these guys had stacked up quite a bit and you can just tell with the kind of money they bought Newcastle United for we're talking of competing and I like the fact that you used that word because Newcastle United has the best fan base exactly in England you go to a Newcastle United game my friend you will feel like you're in heaven you'll admire them those fans they don't sit down and this is a Premier League game they don't sit down they came in probably started drinking the night before they were drinking the entire week they've come by train all the way from the northeast of England coming making noise singing and they'll sing throughout the game win or lose snow or whatever hello high water they will be there for their team that's the kind of team that Pochettino is being linked with it takes him back to South America he's from Argentina and that's the kind of the passion that he's used to in Argentina the kind of passion he relates with and if he goes to Newcastle United I can think of no better link I mean that's a much made in heaven I'm telling you with the right backing financially and obviously from the supporters Newcastle United will be taken back to the days of Sir Bobby Robson when they were ruling the rules in the UFHC but he needs proper backing because owners now can determine if they put in money or fail to put in money whether that team will end up making sense or not we've seen it with Arsenal we've seen it with Newcastle before it was sold to the Arabs Mike Ashley very wealthy I mean very well to do but very tight when it comes to Manu so Newcastle was always finding itself between Premier League and hand the champions and if they missed that cut of going down it was wooray for them I'm telling you serious players and there was these whispers rumors in the football corridors that they might be signing bell if things after this Covid-19 thing ends then they have the money right now to sign bell and he would be interested actually to come back to England you get 3-4 players of good quality then you can now imagine I can try and finish first maybe top 10 can be a target for him for the first season and then from there once that reinvesting in the team continues trust me we are going to see a man sitting in Newcastle whether he'll go with his technical bench because usually a manager or a coach if you prefer to call him so likes to go with the guys he's used to actually they'll give him that he trust exactly they'll give him that position he's a likelihood that Ari Ken has joined Newcastle very possible and the technical bench and also but now there's a controversy I controversy I would like I love during this coronavirus now there's a controversy but I usually have that problem you need to come I must have been loo in my previous life there's a controversy about whether this sale of Newcastle united has followed due process whether it's due process so let's not jump the gun here let's wait and see whether that bridge will be crossed and then we can start looking for it to happy days we have to end this transfer rumas upe makano after his contract extension at Leipzig and we've also had the stories of Jadon Sancho Borussia Dortmund Manu is English international being linked to united I don't know what you make of all this transfer gossip now that we coronavirus is with us and no football so people are talking you should go to united I think because Chelsea are also interested he's united also because he has played outside of the country and what that does to a player when he goes back to England is he introduces a different cultural aspect of how the game should be played usually homegrown players in England stick to the way they've been schooled football, the English football and philosophy of football they don't bring something new to the table look what happened to David Beck when he went and played for Real Madrid I went and watched him now play for England in Wembley and he was a class above the rest of the English squad Gerard Lampard who Beckham was playing in a different league of his own and they couldn't measure up to him and this is something I saw with my naked eye so I'm really for Jadon Sancho going back home to England I don't think so you know why we are going to put a lot of pressure on this young guy what I would expect Jadon Sancho to do is just continue gaining the experience you're getting right now at Dortmund maybe once he's around let's say 25 then he can come back but for now just tell me was the young man who joined a few seconds the young man who united and then was crap Pauline supports what he said wow we have a fantastic show of course it's supposed to be from 1 to 3 but due to public outcry then this guy can talk like Musaikagu and we appreciate of course we will be on the show on Saturday again 1 to 3 touch line but we are keeping tabs waiting for press briefing from Kote House by Cabinet Secretary for Health Mutai Kagu keep it sport and always keep it safe thank you for tuning in God bless