Former Super Eagles’ captain, Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha has gained another milestone memorial about the exploits he achieved during his career, as British multi-media outlet, Sky Sports has featured him in a new series about legends of the round lather game.
Megasportsarena.com reports that Sky Sports’ package on Okocha is the fourth installment in what has been tagged a series to celebrate stars who mae fans tickle with excitement anytime they were on the pitch.
The write-up, titled ‘Jay-Jay Okocha: The Greatest Showman,’ depicts how a holiday for the star in Lagos turned into an epochal soccer career that criss-crossed Germany, France and England.
Highlights of the profile include how Jay-Jay dazzled Jurgen Klopp with his dribbles that floored Oliver Khan, turned up to mentor Ronaldinho at Paris-Saint Germain and was ‘so good that they named him twice’ when he played under Sam Allardyce (Big Sam) at Bolton Wanderers.
Sky Sports’ script noted in part: Pubs – dressed in shirts of Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea – become a battleground for control of the television remote as Premier League kick-off approaches.
But during the early noughties, there was another, unlikely team that took precedence, and any attempt to change channel would be met with unanimous outrage.
“Oh my goodness, people nearly tore the place down,” says Colin Udoh, Nigerian football expert. “No way, Jay-Jay is playing – we’ve got to watch Bolton!”
As Peter Kay depicted life at a Bolton working men’s club on Channel 4’s Phoenix Nights, Sam Allardyce was turning the Lancashire town’s football club into a symbol of cosmopolitanism with global appeal.
Ivan Campo, Youri Djorkaeff, Fernando Hierro… the list of players with genuine international fame goes on, but it was Africa’s most flamboyant star, Jay-Jay Okocha, that most defines one of the Premier League’s iconic teams.
Here, Football’s Cult Heroes tells the story of how the man that mentored Ronaldinho at PSG came to lead Bolton’s ‘galacticos’ to the brink of the Champions League, embarrassing defenders and upsetting the elite.
Team-mates speak of the “humble” captain that led by example whether on the pitch or on nights out in Manchester, journalists reveal the “business-like” character behind the entertainer image, and fans tell of the man that made Bolton cool.
This is the story of Jay-Jay Okocha, the greatest showman. Subscribe to Football’s Cult Heroes on Apple or Spotify.
