AfricaNews: From the sidelines, you have watched the Junior Lions of Cameroon and the Mena of Niger play, what memories does it bring to you?

Bell: I do not like to talk about memories. I do not want to get back to my memories. I came to Kadji Sports Academy, KSA, because of friendship. I came to see Mr Roland Courbis, who is part of the Niger Football Federation. He was my coach when I played for Toulon in France.

We had a good relationship. I wanted to let him know that friendship is above everything. If he is in Cameroon, no matter where I am in the country, I will get up and look for him. In the course of our meeting I was bound to watch the game Niger against the Junior Lions of Cameroon. I followed the match with a very open eye.

AfricaNews: You have been party to and won some AFCON tournaments, have you told him what it takes to win that trophy?

Bell: The Mena of Niger should not go to Gabon & Equatorial Guinea, thinking that they will win the Orange AFCON 2012. When you manage a team, you have to set your objectives, at a place where your players will get to. If it is too high, they will be discouraged and they will not bother to try.

AfricaNews: Why are you hesitant that they can’t make it, in the absence of some big names?

Bell: That is football!! It is very difficult to have a new team come into a competition and win. We professionals, we know the way we look at the games. Niger qualified in a group where three teams had nine points. They had nine points by winning their three matches at home. They never won an away match. It means something in football.

AfricaNews: It’s said that football is round for everybody?

Bell: Yes! That’s what I’m putting through to you. That is the way you should analyse football. Three wins at home and not a point away, the AFCON 2012 is taking place away from home, then you cannot expect Niger to win the competition.

Winning AFCON 2012 will mean that they should win all their matches, especially the two last matches; the semis and the final. A team that never won a single game away, during the qualifiers, cannot win the semis or the final of the AFCON. That’s for sure!

AfricaNews: The Orange AFCON 2012 is at the backyard of Cameroon and they are absent. As a football observer, what went wrong?

Bell: Our football is sick and things are not in the right order. I said this long ago and nobody listened. Do you remember the way we qualified for South Africa 2010? Angola 2010? The way we behaved in Angola? A few years ago, we lost a game in Equatorial Guinea. Do you remember that a team from Equatorial Guinea came to Yaoundé, beat Impot FC and qualified for the CAF champions League?

Nobody remembers that. We do not realise what is happening. Like in politics, we always say that everything is OK, during competitions some people are working hard while others are enjoying. If we do not learn to take blames and responsibility for some of our acts, we will never correct our wrongs.

AfricaNews: You are a consultant at the Ministry of Sports & Physical Education, what advice have you been giving?

Bell: When you are an adviser, you should never say to your boss, what you think about him. I cannot tell the public, what I have said in the Ministry and tell FECAFOOT officials, what I told the Ministry.

I can recall what I have said publicly but I cannot tell the advice I gave the Ministry. I will not tell you whether they followed the advice or not. It is up to the Ministry to listen to the advice, follow it up or not.

AfricaNews: Some observers say that with your long stay in the Lions’ den rather than tell the FA what to do; you are instead very caustic in your criticisms towards them?

Bell: If you think that not going to the AFCON 2012, taking place in our backyard is not nice for our image, then my criticisms are welcomed. Today, we can all see the result of our behaviour. If we manage our football very well, then there is no criticism we can consider to be hard.

AfricaNews: In 1994, you raised some of these problems in the USA, more than 20 years after; we’re still in a mess. What has gone wrong?

Bell: You can now understand why I am very hard on my criticisms towards football managers in Cameroon. What stops our people from correcting the mistakes of everyday?

Our real problem is the inability to put our capabilities together, build something good and the country. We must be willing to improve on ourselves and our activities.

AfricaNews: Do you share the view that we needed an Eto’o to jolt the sitting FA management to make a change of attitude?

Bell: I did not wait for Eto’o to come and have a problem with FECAFOOT before I say that things were going wrong. For long, I have said that there is a management problem at the FA. In today’s world, you cannot continuously tell lies to people on what is happening.

Sometime ago, it was bandied around that Bell was not patriotic, now, I am no longer bringing problems, the worries are still stirring us on the face. Therefore, we need to confront our problems head-on. We need to be courageous to raise the issues and talk about them and together proffer solutions.

The problem is not only FECAFOOT. We as Cameroonians must be ready to tell the FECAFOOT officials that they are not doing the right thing. There are some journalists who are taking bribe and writing foolish articles. We must stop that bad attitude.

AfricaNews: How should we craft the platform for solution-mechanisms?

Bell: First, we must be realistic and honest to ourselves. In 2006, we did not make it to the World Cup, people say it is nothing. 2012, we are not at the AFCON, some say it is nothing to write home about. We were the first team to be booted out of World Cup 2010 in South Africa, according to Cameroonians it is not a problem. We were beaten by Gabon in Angola 2010 AFCON, others say it is not issue. We keep going down the drain and before long; Cameroon will become an ordinary team.

AfricaNews: You are a consultant at RFI, Africa24 TV, what’s the explanation for this transition from a football icon to a media personality?

Bell: Those who hired me believe in me. They think that I can bring something to their media houses. I have been with RFI for fifteen years and never heard of any problems, which means that what (some) Cameroonians say about me is baseless.

Africa24 has come for me and there is no problem. They are happy with me and a lot of Cameroonians are proud of what I am doing out there with these media houses, therefore how can Cameroonians be proud of my international exploits and they (Cameroonians) will not allow me to do same in my country.

That national recognition has come, that is why you are a consultant in the sports ministry.

You can say that again!! If you are happy with it! Then everything is OK.

AfricaNews: Will you be in Equatorial Guinea & Gabon to comment the matches on behalf of RFI?

Bell: Of course! You have caught me at the moment of taking my flight.

AfricaNews: How do you see Orange AFCON 2012? Will Ghana, Senegal, Ivory Coast make it?

Bell: Ivory Coast, Ghana, Senegal, Morocco have the potentials to lift the trophy.

AfricaNews: Will the home-crowd not push Gabon & Equatorial Guinea to victory?

Bell: No! It is not the crowd that play. You cannot put forward an ordinary team and think that the crowd will do the magic for them. The crowd is around the stadium while the players are on the green turf. And if the crowd dares on the green turf, they will be punished.

AfricaNews: Some people call you a Buea-boy, after haven played with Prison Social Club of Buea, but today, not much is heard from you about Prison, considering all what you have and what you can do?

Bell: I played for Prison, but do not forget, I played for Oryx, Eclaire, Union, Africa Sport of Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Arab Contractors of Egypt, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Toulon. You cannot expect me to come and say from now, Prison Social Club of Buea is mind. I played for Prison for a year and a half and played for the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon for nineteen years. Why do people not say the Indomitable Lions should be mind? There are people around the team, who should look out for the needs are.