By Hassan Osman Kargbo
Following another successful elimination for Bo Rangers in the CAF Champion League, A renounced Africa sport Journalist writes to the Chairman of Bo Rangers football club.
According to the Journalist, he is writing his note as an African sports journalist and a big admirer of the works of Babadi Kamara.
He said he has always spoken out about Bo Rangers because he loves the club’s projects and it will please him enough to see the club brand grow to a bigger brand in Africa and the world.
Over the years, he said, Babadi has transformed Bo Rangers. In less than five years, “he’s taken the club from battling relegation in the Sierra Leone Premier League to winning the league three times in a row. The club is at the level far above the rest of the Sierra Leonean clubs,” he said.
He added that, Babadi had changed the face of the club, transforming it to a modern one with one of the best facilities in West Africa. Building an ultramodern club house and an ultramodern football stadium tell me that he wants the club to be not only a big club in Sierra Leone, but Africa and the world at large.
He noted that, to get Bo Rangers to the international level, it requires lot of investment which Babadi has already started by building a very conducive environment for players, signing some of the best players in Sierra Leone, and having a good technical bench led by one of the best coaches in the history of Sierra Leone. Those are steps forward to living the dream of competing internationally.
With these moves, the message is very clear that Babadi wants Bo to be a dominant club beyond Sierra Leone.
But, he asked that 𝗪𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲’𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘀𝗼 𝗳𝗮𝗿, 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗯 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗔𝗙 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗴𝘂𝗲?
His answer is NO! And here are my thoughts
“To compete at the international level is way different from competing at the local level. What Babadi honestly needs to do now is to invest in his squad by going beyond Sierra Leone talents and signing some sharp talents from across Africa, especially West Africa.
The CAF Champions league is competition that requires having the best talents. If you look at most of the teams that are playing in the group stages every year, majority of their best players are foreign players.
Take a look at the Sundowns squad with talents from across Africa and South America. South African Percy Tau, Tunisian Ali Maaloul are just some of the best players that have been the driving forces behind Al Ahly’s recent success.,’ he mentioned.
“Tunisia’s ES Tunis was a formidable side last season with Algeria’s Youcef Belaïli, Brazilians Rodrigo Rodrigues and Yan Sasse. The same with TP Mazembe, Petro Luanda, Simba and YANGA.
Am I saying that Babadi should go Brazil, and other bigger countries to buy players? No, because the financial strength of Bo Rangers cannot be measured with the above mentioned club.
However, Bo Rangers under Babadi Kamara, can learn a thing or two from Guinea’s Horoya AC under Antonio Souaré. Between 2018-2022, Horoya was the biggest club in West Africa, reaching the CAF Champions’ League group stages, going as far as quarterfinals and reaching the CAF Confederations Cup semi-final.
The Guinean club was the only club from West Africa going toe-to-toe with other clubs from other regions of Africa. The squad was built with some of the best talents from across Africa.,” He said.
Just to name few, they had Khadim N’Diaye from Senegal, Germain Berthé from Mali, Godfred Asante from Ghana, Boubacar Samassekou from Mali, Jean-Noël Lingani from Burkina Faso, Mohamed Djibo Wonkoye of Niger, Ivory Coast’s Bernard Konan and Nigeria’s Bolaji Simeon Sakin.
Horoya went across West Africa, got some of the best talents from the various West African leagues and build a formidable squad that was a top nut to crack in the CAF Champions League.
I’m not saying that Bo Rangers cannot break the barrier by heavily depending on the Sierra Leonean talents, but it’s going to be real mountain to climb. Also, I’m not saying Sierra Leonean players aren’t good to get him to the group stage. The reality is that he needs the sharpest talents and all cannot be found in Sierra Leone alone.
𝗗𝗶𝗱 𝗕𝗼 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗦𝗶𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮 𝗟𝗲𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗔𝗙 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻?
What the club did over the last two seasons for the CAF competition is what I refer to as short term project. For me, going on sign some of the best players’ right after the end of the season on short term contracts, and they return to their clubs after the CAF competition is not a progressive move for the club. It was done last season with Samuel Bekoe and the rest, and done this season with Musa Tombo and others. The club didn’t go through and the players are about to return to their respective clubs.
The transfer window is still open. The club must now look beyond the short term projects, invest in quality players from across the region that will play permanently for the club throughout the season and form a bond that will be stronger for the international competitions.
I love Sierra Leone football; I’m a huge fan of Sierra Leone football, a big admirer of Babadi Kamara for his true passion for the football.
And one may ask why as a Liberian, I cannot push my recommendations to Liberian football stakeholders. The answer is, dozens of times, I’ve internally met with some football stakeholders in Liberia and push the very same idea and I’ve done so openly through my social media platforms,’ he said.
