Super eagles assistant coach, Joseph Yobo has gone down Memory Lane as he puts former Super Eagle’s right back, George Abbey on the spotlight. Yobo, on his official instagram page recalls the good old days both players were in the city of Port Harcourt playing academy football together with SSK Academy and Micheline FC in the Garden City.
The former Everton full back portrays Abbey as a dear friend whom he will always remember, respect and be proud of. His reminisce on the special qualities of George Abbey was that of admiration and nostalgia of both his good qualities on and off the pitch and that of a good friend as a co-academy player which distinguished him from every other player in the game as at then.
As he said, Abbey was the best passer and shooter of the ball back then while he, Yobo, was an all rounder. It is believed that Yobo used to play as a striker before being converted to a defender in the earlier part of his career. He went one to highlight the synergy that existed between them. In his words “back then, we always knew if we were in the same team against the opponent, we had a better chance of winning…i remember when we represented Rivers State at a national youth level, we were also recognized” Yobo posted on his instagram page.
Though true friendship existed, and still exists between the duo but that didn’t stop fate to come to play too. Both players parted ways later in their career but not for long, even as the duo went on to get signed for different club sides. Abbey George went on to sign for Sharks FC but Yobo failed to secure a move to where his bosom friend has gone. ” I could not join him but I didn’t know God had another plan..” Yobo said. But as luck may have it for Joseph Yobo, few years after parting ways, they both came together again and played together in the Super eagles team. Abbey George was invited to the National team that hoisted the green and white flags of Nigeria in Tunisia 2004.
Abbey is of a Nigerian and Welsh parentage. He started his career with Sharks of Port Harcourt . In 1999, he moved to England to play for Macclesfield Town later on. After five years at the club, he signed with
Port Vale in December 2004. He moved on to
Crewe Alexandra in the summer of 2007, and left the club after a two-year stay. In 2010, he moved to Cyprus to play for Akritas Chlorakas.
Abbey George was in the Nigeria squad led by coach Christian Chukwu to a Nation’s cup third place finish in the 2004 but has since stopped to play for the Super Eagles.
