The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has come under stinging attack for wasting time in naming a substantive manager for the Super Eagles since erstwhile handler,Sunday Oliseh resigned on February 26.
After the attempt to sign former Lyon and Cameroon manager, Paul le Guen hit the rocks, the NFF has embarked on another round of search for a foreign coach for the Eagles, who recently posted their worst ranking in the monthly FIFA ranking.
While the search for an Eagles coach goes on, a football stakeholder and title sponsor of the ongoing Delta State Football League, Stanley Okafor has come out to chide the Amaju Pinnick-led NFF board of a lack of drive in actualising the dream of taking the Eagles to Olympian heights.
Speaking to nigeriasoccernet.com recently, Okafor, who owns Basalt Oil and Gas Limited, said the delay was capable of ruining Eagles chances of picking one of the five tickets reserved for Africa at the 2018 World Cup in Russia. According to the oil tycoon, “we are so blessed with sporting talents, who with visionary leadership should be at the zenith of their sports.
We don’t have any reason lagging behind or failing to qualify for the Nations Cup as has been the tradition in the last two editions of the continental tournament.
“As a big fan of the Super Eagles, whether they are doing well or not, I am not happy with the way the NFF is going about the search for a foreign coach to handle the team.
In other developed climes, the NFF would not need to go about the search for Oliseh’s successor the way it went with le Guen’s announcement and is still moving as I speak. “What ity should do is identify who it wants and go for him, talk to him and strike a deal for the good of our national team. It is simply untenable for our national team to be without a coach, and with few months to the start of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the signs are not looking good.
NFF must put its acts in order or else Nigerians would hold it liable for any bad occurrence that our Eagles might suffer on the road to Russia”, added Okafor. Continuing, Okafor said the problem of Nigerian football has to do with management, noting that “administration is a big deal in Nigeria but the issue is that when people are at the helm of affairs, you expect them to do well but the reverse has been the case with the NFF”.
He said the case for a quick resolution of the coach sag has been made more expedient given the unveiling of Sam Allardyce as the new England manager, just few weeks after the end of the Euro 2016 in France.
“Why can’t we learn good things from other countries, even our colonial fathers, who have since appointed a new coach for the Three Lions? Must our own be different, especially in the wrong direction? It’s high time the NFF got its acts together””, said Okafor, who also carpeted those against the appointment of a foreign coach for the Eagles.
“We need the best coach to get the best results for our national team and without mincing words, the facts show that the best coach for the Eagles is not a Nigerian, given the results posted by our teams under the very best Nigerian coaches in the recent past.
“I believe in our local coaches but they like other Nigerians have their limitations, thereby making it unwise for them to pilot the Eagles in these critical times. I admire our coaches but my position is that they should understudy the foreign coach and after such a time, they can later take charge. ‘’Our local coaches need to learn the latest techniques from the foreign coach and if we see that they have imbibed the winning culture, there is nothing stopping them from taking over.
But it must be a process, which must be strictly followed. “It was the same local coaches that qualified us for the 2013 Nations Cup, which we won, but we did that not because we were the best team in the tournament, because if we were, how come we did not qualify for the next two editions under these same local coaches?
“It is so because our local coaches have limitations in technique and tactics and the only way to get them abreast of issues is to learn from the best hands in the world. Our local coaches are not technically as sharp as the foreign coaches but we can get the best foreign coaches to come and coach.
“We have the money in Nigeria but the problem is that we don’t want to spend it on the right person. NFF cannot tell me it does not have the money but if it says so, I urge the members to engage multinationals like Chevron, Shell, Cadbury, Nigerian Breweries, MTN, Glo, Airtel and Etisalat. “Football is a top sport and the Eagles are a top brand, who if well marketed can generate enough money to run other sports in Nigeria. But the way out is by being sincere and having the marketing drive to turn things around for good”, added Okafor.
credit: vanguardngr
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