Mikel John Obi Part 2: How Do You Stop Messi? Champions League Glory & His Father’s Double Kidnapping Ordeal

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24:18Alan Shearer:international wise um you also i i saw which i had no idea about so i started reading your dad yeah got kidnapped not once but twice yeah twice obviously the first one happened and yeah just my dad finished work um you know my dad works in he has his own business now which I helped him set it up and everything. He's happy doing his own thing. Finished work, driving home with his driver. And then just a car pulled over in front of him with guns and everything. Gross. Yeah. I said, get out of the car. Took him away. Unbelievable. That must have been a take. How do you cope with that? Yeah, that's hard.

25:08I remember, I think it was AVB. and andrews villas boas was the manager back then when it first happened i think it was on a friday or thursday we had a game on saturday so when i got that call at avb i remember speaking to him it's like oh my god so what what what what do you want to do do you want to go to the game because you know i think before avb came in there was a period where i was not playing and then the manager got sacked and then avb came in and i started playing so for me and that and that happened so i thought oh fuck you know and he actually said michael you do you want to play well no what do you want to do you want to go and we were playing we're winning well i was playing well i was like i don't want to come out of the team right yeah we always want to play you always want to play right regardless as well so for me it was a massive massive shock and he said michael think about it and i want you to play you you become a key player in my team so i want you to play so think about it i was okay i'll think about i'll let you know tomorrow so i ended up playing that game but just the whole situation you know speaking to my mom my brothers everybody was in shock you know family just in tears crying and and and then i got on the phone to the kidnappers how did that how did you do because they cook yeah yeah they called we used my dad phone to call my brothers and then my brothers spoke to them and they said obviously they have to call me because whatever they need, they wanted to get from me.

26:35Or a ransom. Yeah, yeah. So I remember speaking to them, you know, it was horrible. They put the phone. I was like, how do I know my dad? So they put the phone on my, and he was, my dad was shouting and crying and saying, please, whatever it is, just give it to them and just get me out of here. Just get me out of here. I was like, all right, okay. And then they said, this is what you have to pay. So you did actually pay a ransom? Yeah. So we started negotiation. First time making negotiation with kidnappers, which is not what I ever thought I was ever going to do in my lifetime. You know, they say, oh, you have to give us this.

27:20I'm like, come on. It's like negotiation. Like you want to buy a car or something like that. It's crazy. I'm talking about my dad here. It's, oh, give us that. And the other one was on the phone. He's like, no, don't tell him that. He has way more money than that. Why are you telling him? You have to ask for more. Otherwise, I'm just going to shoot his dad right now. It was incredible. And I was like, please, guys, don't do that. You know, let's come to a sensible agreement here.

27:46Alan Shearer:You seek any, because there are people that do this, aren't there, that actually negotiate those. I mean, that's not an area I know anything about, but you were doing it. No, they said they were not speaking to anyone. It has to be me. they said we're not speaking to anybody we know it's Genevieve's dad we're not speaking to him either he talks or he never sees his dad anymore we have nothing to lose, we're going to shoot him and dump him somewhere you know, it's crazy and so that's why I got involved you know, with the negotiation and finally we come to an agreement and I had to pay them some Yeah, a huge amount of money.

28:30How did you do that?

28:31Alan Shearer:Into a bank account or something? I mean, how does that actually work? Yeah, I mean, they told me how to do it. I sent the money back home to my brothers. They went, withdrew the money in the briefcase. They said, okay, we'll tell you where to go drop it. So you go drop it there and walk away and then come back after 30 minutes. We'll come there, see if the money's there, and then we'll drop off your dad there on the street. Did you involve the police? Yes, I did. yes I did but they said if you involve the police well I did but at least because sometimes when you alert them with the police they just they just think oh all right they just should you should you should and go they have nothing to lose they shouldn't go because they don't want to be caught you know what I mean because they think if once they see that your dad is dead the police stop looking well not stop looking for them but and that's why I didn't want it to happen so and then yeah finally negotiated what the payment will be I transferred the money back home huge amount of money and then yeah my brothers withdrew the money from the bank and in briefcase took it to wherever they wanted it and and then it happened again and it happened again second time was in the World Cup just before the game against Argentina getting ready for the game.

29:55It wasn't the same people, was it? No, I have no idea. No, you don't know. They've never been caught? No, never been caught. I think, if I'm not mistaken, maybe the first ones were caught. I don't know about the second ones. Yes, okay. So I was in my room, getting ready for the game, as you do, like, you know, getting ready, just lying down on the bed and just resting. And then my phone kept ringing. My brother was like, why are you calling me? Porn and game. You know, I was like, like a few times i'm like okay something must be wrong so i picked up the phones like i said listen we've we thought about not telling you you know it's a massive game we had to we had to like what is it like this happened again dad has been kidnapped again i was like what what the fuck he said yeah he's he's been he's been kidnapped again he's been taken away i was like what the hell is going on i just put down the phone i don't know what to i didn't know what to do i didn't absolutely had no idea what to do going into a massive game like this against argentina against you know the biggest game captain of the national team what do you do the whole country relies on you your players your team you know what do you do um i took about 30 minutes thought about the whole situation i was gonna go down for pretty much a meeting before we head to head to the pass to the stadium i was like should i tell the coach should I tell the FA should I tell everybody um I I just decided not to I decided not to and how do you play a game with your head scrambled like that at some point I thought I was going to throw up on the pitch I thought I was gonna just fall down and just something was gonna happen I thought I was not gonna finish the game because my head was all over the place I thought I was I feel I was going to throw up.

31:58My stomach was just rumbling. I was all over the place. And I just did not concentrate, not for one second in that game. All I was thinking about was, how the hell am I going to get my dad out of this situation again? I know how the first time was, how difficult it was. Not just the money, but to my parents, to my mom, my brothers. I knew what they went through. And this happening again. And look at me here on the pitch, running and chasing the football. Like, where my dad is sitting somewhere. Again. And just the whole thing, it's just like, I was blacked out on the pitch. I just, at some point I was not seeing what was going on.

32:46But then I finished the game. That was a great game as well. Yeah, it was a great game as well. Yeah, it was a great game. We lost by, I think it was a 1-0 or 2-1 or something like that. Yeah. and I remember after the game telling the manager and telling the players and the FA and everybody was like, what the hell? How can you not say something? Like, how did you manage to play this game? How did you strong enough to play this game? It was incredible. And straight away, once I finished playing that game, guess what? I got on the phone again, started negotiation. Same story. Same story. Same result.

33:24Same result. Same, same, absolutely same.

33:26Alan Shearer:Do you know, I mean, this is obviously, I mean, I don't know, you go through something like that. Do you have, like, security for him now and stuff? Or do you, I mean, do you think because... Yeah, I do. He's more, he's more careful now.

33:44And doesn't work as much, you know, as he used to. So, in that sense, I think we're pretty much safe now. So, I... fingers crossed on that.

33:56Alan Shearer:I'm glad he's okay. How important is the national team to you? Very important. Very important. National team is so important to me. What I've done for the national team in terms of playing and captaining national team. Winning the AFCON. Winning the AFCON as well. I saw what it meant to, not just to my family, but everybody in the country. Because in Nigeria, football is everything for us. In Africa, it's huge. It's huge. You know, football brings people together. It can stop wars. It can stop anything. We love the game. We love football. Football is culture for us. It's not just a game. It's a culture.

34:31It is our culture. We dance to football. We eat and drink and watch football. It's just, you know, you have a kid, you have a child, you bring a child into the world, and the first thing you teach them is how to love football, how to enjoy football. It's just incredible how much we love. So that's why when I saw the whole disrespect, I just felt not just to me, but just to the people of Africa, because I know how important football means to us because, yeah, we live and breathe and die for football. It's incredible how much, you know, we love the game.

35:15Alan Shearer:What are your ambitions now going ahead? Would you like to go into some form of football or just do media? and you've got obviously your podcast, Obi-Wan, we'll give it another mention. Make sure. Thank you very much. Make sure you listen to that one. I look forward to appearing on it. Yeah. And so what's the plan for you now? Plan now is to obviously continue what I'm doing. You know, media is something that I'm obviously getting into. You're good at it by the way. Thank you very much. You know, you're fairly new to it, but you know, I've seen your progress. Very good, very excellent. Yeah, it's a compliment.

35:50I mean.

35:50Alan Shearer:If only you had an interest in life that you could tell people about. Exactly right. Boy, oh boy. You know, I just, I feel it's the only, it's my way of still being part of the game and, you know, giving my own perspective on how I see the game. You know, I don't know if coaching is what I want to go into. So I just feel like, you know, media, analyzing the game is how I see myself. I think sometimes a lot of people are very politically correct. I just feel like I am probably, but you kind of find the balance of saying what you actually think and not what everybody wants you to say, because I see the game that way.

36:37That's how I play the game. I just feel like saying it the way it is, sometimes it doesn't go well with a lot of people. but when I see the results, that's when I'm very happy with saying exactly how it is. Just like what I've said about the club, bringing in on with a striker, and everybody thinks I have an agenda against Nicholas Jackson, I don't. Now we can see that the club doing the right thing and bringing two, three strikes. Now we have three strikers that can compete for a position, and now we can see that it's the impact. And that's just what gives you the joy. I know the club didn't take it well when I said it.

37:16the way I said it because I know they didn't because I heard about it.

37:19Alan Shearer:Well, when you go into the media world, believe you me, you will upset people from time to time. I speak from experience but you will because and it's quite hard particularly in I think when you've just finished playing not that long and then you go into it and you talk sometimes you're talking about players that you perhaps played against or played with because we always I think we're always more critical of our own club than we probably are any other club because you care more. Because you care more. You care more. But honestly, you'll get a bit of stick during a media career, but probably not as much as if you go into coaching.

37:53Alan Shearer:But that's what football is because people care. It's important. Yeah, yeah. No, it's important. It's important, but it's not important. Yeah, true. Exactly. But that's where you, you know, a lot of the fans, you know, you have, it's a bit of a divide. You know, a lot of fans are with you. Some are not. Obviously, they think you're a bit too critical of the club, but it's just how it is. like you said, because it's our club, we care a bit more and that's how I see it. And obviously, with my podcast, the Obi-Wan podcast, it's, you know, just a podcast started about a year and a half ago, almost two years now.

38:27You're getting great guests. Yeah. And that's about to end, but...

38:32Alan Shearer:I think you're going to become the biggest next time you come on in. I don't think so. I'm just just saying for one. Let me... I want to finish with this. best moment of your career? Best moment of my career. I've always said for me, I have two. And my two is obviously winning the Champions League with Chelsea 2012. And of course, following up with winning the African combination 2013. For me, this is my best moment of my career. Tell us, describe the emotions of both, which start with Champions League. Oh, Champions League. I mean, I'm still not sure how you won that game. Still not sure how we did it.

39:10I mean, the amount of chances they had, missing the penalty, hitting the woodwork a couple of times. Absolutely dominated us as well. It was like it was meant to be that year, wasn't it?

39:20Alan Shearer:Because each, I mean, the Barca, I'm not going to say outplayed, but let's say you were slightly fortunate in all three. But it was like it was meant to be. It was meant to be. I think when you look back at the games as well, that's how you know, yes, it was meant to be. Because the Barcelona game, playing with 10 men, John Terry getting sent off. and then coming through that tie, you know, both legs as well was absolutely something incredible. You know, like I said, Messi missing the penalty. They absolutely dominated us in that, in the game at New Camp, you know, we had to defend. You know, at some point we just parked on our edge of the box.

39:58We couldn't get out. We just couldn't get out. And of course, Torres went on and then Ashley caught with that clearance and then Torres was just there to go on and finish that. and just absolutely fantastic, fantastic. And that's where we thought, okay, now we have to win it. This is our time to win it. And we just believed, we know, okay, yes, we're going to play Bayern at their backyard, in Munich, in front of their fans. We're going to be up against it. But we thought, okay, if we can overcome Barcelona and we've done that, this is our time now to win it. And to be able to do that. And of course, to give Roman Abramovich the one trophy that he's always wanted to win was just the most proudest moment ever.

40:48Like you could see Roman. It was like a little child. It was a little child just giving a little kid candy for the first time. That's how happy he was, you know, because we knew he was always telling us, guys, enough winning the FA Cup. I don't want it anymore. You want it four, five times, six times. I don't want it anymore. The Premier League, you've won it four or five times. I don't want it anymore. The Champions League, you have to win me the Champions League. And for us to be able to do it, that core of players, to be able to do it. And I think that's the important thing as well, that core of players, because we've sacrificed so much.

41:27We've pushed ourselves so much. That's the one trophy we wanted to win. And to be able to do it in 2012, give him that trophy and say, Roman, here you go, was something absolutely fantastic. and the emotions after that. Yeah, what was the party like? Oh, the party. I mean, it just couldn't sink in. Like the whole thing didn't sink in, you know. You know, I remember going back to the hotel and seeing Roman. And then the whole party just started. Everywhere was just, it was incredible.

41:58Some of the players, we didn't know where we slept that night. It was crazy. yeah i mean everybody was just absolutely hammered absolutely hammered

42:14i mean we were supposed to fly back to london the next morning i remember just calling everybody's phone just trying to find where is everybody nobody was in the bus they have to come to the room wake you up help you pack your suitcases put it and just ship you into the car and yeah the party was the party was crazy and the emotion was just absolutely brilliant and of course the african couple nations was just something special uh meant so much to the people of nigeria and because we haven't won it for such a long time and i remember back then because i was winning everything with chelsea and then i have a sort of a hate love and hate relationship with with my nigerian fans

42:59Alan Shearer:Why? Because they always think, just before that, they thought I've been always successful with Chelsea. I put in more effort in terms of winning trophies with Chelsea. But it doesn't work like that. Sometimes when you come to play with national, it doesn't work. Because I come, I see the players for two, three days, four days, I play a game. Playing international football is hard. It is hard. It is difficult. I always say it's the most difficult trophy to win. When you win with your national team, it's the most difficult. so the fans were like oh he's always winning with Chelsea he doesn't care about winning any trophy with the national team and he's never going to become a legend for us because he doesn't care so I had that sort of a love and hate relationship that must have been frustrating to get that because you know you care I definitely do care because I was the star of the team and that's why they put so much pressure on me as well that the whole country put so much and I remember going in winning that 2012 Champions League and they're like oh again he's won again with Chelsea they were happy very happy but they were like oh yeah but then they were like okay next year is the African Cup of Nations you have to win this win for us you have to it's almost like Messi with Argentina that was leveled against him for so long yes yes and then going into the 2013 Nations Cup see I just mentioned you in the same breath as Lionel Messi.

44:25I was going to say that. You can't be happy with that, haven't you? No, I was quite. We're talking about Lionel Messi here. No, sorry, carry on. No, I was quite. But to finally go on and then, and just before the tournament, they're like, oh, you have to win this for us now. And to have that weight on my shoulder, that pressure going into that tournament, I just remember, I remember the first game we didn't, I think we drew, I think we drew, and they're like, oh, here we go again. You know, he doesn't care. And I was getting a lot of backlash on my family. They were sending messages to my family, to me, saying, oh, he doesn't care, blah, blah, blah.

45:06And then we sort of, second game, we got better and started playing as a team and then went on to win the trophy. And that's where I think the love just turned to, the hate turned into love. So it's all love right now. and they're all happy. They all love you when they're winning. They all love you when you're winning and that's exactly what happened. So the emotions after winning was just absolutely brilliant. And just to finally take that weight off my shoulders was just something incredible. And no, it was absolutely fantastic.

45:37Alan Shearer:Final question. Which part was best, the Chelsea one or the Nigerian one? Ooh. I've always had both. I'll allow you on that. I'll allow you on that. Mikel, thank you. it's been an absolute delight thank you for having me great to get to know you properly we should do it again soon on the Obi-Wan podcast on the Obi-Wan podcast we'll give it another plug before we go thank you very much that's it for this episode of The Rest is Football goodbye from me

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