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Egypt - The Land Of Discovery Finally, after eight years of trying, I have managed to clear a large enough gap in my touring diary, to enable me to make it to this year’s African Cup of Nations. Over the last six months Jacob Amaning, our Chief African Scout, has worked diligently in assisting me to sign a small group of African-continent players to our company (for the time being, mainly Zambian and Zimbabwean). However, while we are down in Egypt, we are quietly confident of securing the signatures of a selected handful of previously targeted players. Colourful CompetitionThis year’s sixteen-team line-up includes several of the consistent qualifiers of this competition, over the years: Nigeria, South Africa, Tunisia and the host country Egypt. Surprisingly, of the above-mentioned four countries, only one of them has made it to this year’s World Cup, namely Tunisia. On the other hand, it is most surprising to find that the likes of Mali and Algeria failed to qualify for this year’s African Nations Cup. In fact, three of the teams within the ranks of this year’s African Nations Cup are qualifying for the latter stages of the World Cup, for the first time: Angola, Togo and Ghana. The Dream Lives OnHere at Showtime International Ltd we remain committed to the vision of becoming the recognised and trusted footballing operation throughout the African continent and are hopeful of enjoying a long and fruitful relationship with many of the leading footballing nations on the African continent. Our basic plan is always to meet up with our established contacts, in their own country if possible, thereby consolidating a trusted network: consisting of a “local” scout in each relevant territory. Those scouts, in turn, report to Jacob, who would then filter the necessary information through to our company base in the UK. Our immediate priority is to continue to gain respected acceptance as the recognised and trusted operative throughout the African continent. We may then consider turning our attentions to the many African players already located on the European continent, to ascertain their current position in regards to professional representation. Networking Is The KeyJacob and I will use our time, while in Egypt, as effectively as possible. We are aware that as well as many scouting representatives of the major UK clubs being in attendance for the main part of the tournament, there will also be several of the bigger footballing agencies on the lookout for new clients. We will attend as many games as possible, while looking to concentrate on the countries, not only with whom our own clients are featured, but also where Jacob has worked hard over the last few years to establish trusted relationships with certain national associations - relationships which will undoubtedly stand us in excellent stead for the future. Only The Strong SurviveIf you are a professional African footballer who wishes to further his career in Europe, then having the talent to do so is the easy part. You must consider the many changes that will happen in your life as you look to learn about (and live with) a completely different culture. You must become used to different weather, different food, and different customs and – possibly most challenging of all at first – a different style of football, depending upon in which country you decide to play your football. Being physically tough is easy – but can that be matched with mental toughness? If you acclimatise to all of the changes and challenges as mentioned above, then the possible rewards could ensure your security for the time when you cannot rely on football. We are keen to see that you can demonstrate all the necessary characteristics and, if so, we are keen to work alongside you, to take your career to the next level. We Can Work It Out As you may be aware, there exist fairly stringent restrictions in the U.K. regarding Work Permits. Therefore, it remains considerably easier to locate a non-EU player with a European mainland club than it does to secure him a contract in United Kingdom. However, once again (having been through the Work Permit processes in relation to Eliphas Shivute) we are well versed in the various interim procedures and continue to maintain a healthy working relationship with many of the staff at the UK offices of the DOE. In fact, as an interesting aside, and as further testament to our organisational capabilities, we succeeded (with the close association of Motherwell F.C.) in securing Eliphas Shivute’s Work Permit in nine working days – a Scottish “record”, we are led to believe. In SummaryWith several African nations now involved in the final stages of the 2006 World Cup and the next World Cup itself being staged in South Africa in 2010, I believe The African Cup of Nations surely presents a unique opportunity to establish the credentials of a select number of international, African-continent, football players, within the UK & European football market. Many thanks for the time taken to listen to these views.
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