Michael Essien’s Dad Doesn’t Want His Son’s Money, Just His Love

When one of my favorite tabloids has an expose on Michael Essien, my least favorite ex-Lyon player, being the dedicated Black Stars blogger than I am, I just have to write about it.

Since the African Cup of Nations is taking place in Ghana this year, and since Essien is one of the biggest players in the English Premiership, the Daily Mirror, always a haven for reliable journalism, is spotlighting his family.

The Mirror’s intrepid reporter, Susie Boniface, tracked down Essien’s father to a “tumbledown mud shack with a tatty tin roof in a tiny village.”

In the interview, James (known as J.K.) talks about how poor he is, how his son doesn’t give him any money, how much he loves and misses his son, and how he doesn’t want money from Michael. Oh, and how he was so upset at the distance between him and his son that he tried to poison himself.

Some of my favorite quotes:

“I just want him to let me be a real dad to him. I want to go to see his matches - and maybe if he could buy me a second-hand fridge, life would be more comfortable for me…”

“He sent home money to help me through his mother. She would ring me and say she had some money, and I had to travel to her to get it. I would spend maybe £3 getting there and then she would give me £25 or sometimes £10. Sometimes if I had not been for six months or so she would give me £50.”

“I would like to be able to go to a match and see him play live. But the tickets are about £30, so I don’t think I will manage it. But I hope in my heart the day will soon come when my son comes back to me - and corrects all the wrongs that have been done.”

You gotta love media exploitation. Though this article is seriously skewed to make Essien sound like the worst possible asshole out there, having followed him since his Bastia days, I remember even back then he and his father weren’t on good terms. So I can believe that Essien ignores the existence of “J.K.”

I’m the last person who would defend Essien, as he’s pretty much on the bottom of my list of favorite players, but for all his negative qualities, he’s a generous guy. He likes his big paycheck, but he takes good care of his mother, who raised him on her own (which even his father admits to in the interview). And if Essien even felt one iota of love for his dad, he’d take care of him too. So though a part of me feels bad for Essien’s dad, a greater part of me feels sorry for Essien as a child. And though Essien could easily change his father’s life around by giving up what he earns in a single day, I can understand why he doesn’t want to.