How soccer team coach Michael Noone pretends to do good in Tanzania.
Michael Noone from Manchester is in Tanzania on the lookout for football talent and pretends to help the youngsters with it.
It may be that Brit Michael Noone’s idea of recruiting talent for European football in Tanzania is initially a win-win situation from which both children from poor areas of Tanzania and football clubs in Europe – above all Manchester United – could benefit. But is it really the case that Noone runs his football academy in Mivumoni, 300 kilometers north of Dar es Salaam, on a selfless basis? Or is he rather attracted by the big money that he can expect when he really meets an exceptional talent? How easy it is to bring boys and girls in Africa together in an academy and coach them, especially when doing it on the backs of other poor Tanzanians.
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Update 11 NOV 2022: Eazy informed us that several shopkeepers and taxi drivers from Dar es Salaam have obviously been cheated by Michael Noone.
Update 28 NOV 2022: We were informed that Michael Noone left Tanzania leaving behind a poor African family of 5 who were defrauded of their money, as well as other people in Dar who are still waiting for payment for their services to this day
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This is what happened in Dar es Salaam, where Emil Mjema (Eazy) runs a backpacker hostel called Eazy’s Place. Noone had booked rooms there for 10 days via booking.com and told the host that he keep young people staying with him. Since business at Eazy’s Place is currently very slow due to the Corona Pandemic, Eazy was enthusiastic about Noone’s suggestion and agreed to take in boys and girls of all ages. It was agreed that the young people would be fully catered for and that a price for accommodation and food was set. Michael Noone himself booked a room in the hostel, left his luggage there and traveled around the country recruiting young people for his academy.
Once he had found potential talents, he would take them to Eazy’s Place until the group was large enough to continue to Mivumoni. Emil Mjema and his wife provided the young people with everything they needed to survive. Of course, after about 14 days Mjema ran out of money, because the boys in particular ate a lot and he had to buy the expensive food and coal for cooking. He asked Noone to reimburse him for his expenses and also to cover the accommodation costs for the young people. Noone transferred him 100,000 TZS, about €50. Costs of €200 had already accrued. Nevertheless, Mjema continued to entertain the kids, since he saw an opportunity for himself to earn money on a permanent basis. After all, his three children and his wife wanted to be taken care of and Noone seemed trustworthy. Emil Mjema also remained unsuspecting when, when asked again to pay a partial invoice, only 100,000 TZS were transferred from Noone. More and more young people walked through Eazy’s Place, stayed overnight, washed their clothes, drank and ate.
The invoice amount grew and grew and was still not paid. When Mjema was no longer able to advance the costs of housing the football kids – the costs now amounted to 1,600,000 TZS (approx. €520) – he urged Michael Noone to finally settle his bill. On the same day he packed his things and left without leaving an address. He could not be reached by phone either. He had left behind two boys that Eazy now had to take care of because he couldn’t just throw them out.
Eazy’s Place is a help-to-self-help project by the couple Bernd and Xenia Marita Riebe from Germany. The couple set up Eazy’s Place more than 13 years ago to lift Emil Mjema out of poverty. Since then, the two have taken great care of Emil and his family.
So it is particularly bitter when such a project which was built with a lot of effort and passion and can only survive with various logistical and financial support is misused for fraudulent purposes.
Xenia Marita Riebe
Here is the story about Michael Noone by Ed Aarons The GUARDIAN June 2022: https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jun/23/tanzania-untapped-football-talent-michael-noone
Update FEB 2024 We were informed that Michael Noone is still active in Southern Africa. For more information please contact Eazy Mjema: Eazy’s Place
Michael, till today I thought you were just a scammer, but now I know, that you are also a thief. Shame on you!
Hi Michael-remember me?! From the adult women’s soccer team in Canada that you also scammed, multiple people in many ways? I saw a podcast about con artists and it reminded me of you, so I decided to Google you. I figured you must have done something else by now and while this isn’t necessarily shocking, it is certainly disgusting no no doubt true. This man has a history of this sort of manipulative behaviour, posing as a ‘do-gooder’ to gain the respect and admiration of others, all while taking advantage of other peoples goodness. What else have you done Michael and why??
Thank you for this insightful comment. It becomes clear what a person this Michael Noone is. I hope that other affected people will also come forward to protect other people from being scammed too.
Hi, this is untrue and needs to be removed, or else I shall have to contact a lawyer.
There are many witnesses who can confirm that everything reported here is true.
Once you’ve paid the still outstanding bill, we’ll remove this item. Eazy is still waiting for his money.
Michael I’m not surprised to read this article about you. Your true colours have been highlighted here. You posed as a football coach back in 2014 and we let you into our family home with open arms. Through this time various items went missing from our family home. When questioned you shrugged it off and then suddenly disappeared after one day. What else are you hiding Michael ?