One can hardly remember the last time the recruitment of a
Super Eagles manager was done without much fuss. It might be
way back to the period a bottle of Coca Cola was still sold for 10
kobo on the streets of Lagos.
Well, it would have been surprising if it always went smoothly in a country where more than half of the citizens believe they know better than the man paid to be in charge; a country where the sports minister usually adds the unofficial portfolio of being the minister of football.
In situations where the citizens decided to stay afar and allow the
Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board to decide, the fuss and
controversies would emanate from within the board where a few
usually say they “were not carried along” in the appointment for
whatever that means.
If you are too young to know what happened in the late 1980s and ‘90s you can do some research on how the last three or four managers of the national team were employed.
Real owners of Nigeria Football
Ideally, the answer should be very simple. Nigerians own Nigeria
football, but this is quite different from the way it is in the
countries where football and sports in general thrive as huge
business.
In Nigeria, there is something called ‘Stakeholders' and then
another, called ‘Interest.' These words, without the original
Oxford English Dictionary meanings, own the game of football in the
country.
Jose Peseiro left in February as the manager of the Eagles after his contract expired. When he was employed, it was said he got the job just on the recommendation of the ‘Special One’ Jose Mourinho.
His employment was followed with such comments as “we were not carried along” and “he got the job because of ‘interests,'” and so it was question of “let’s see how he will succeed” from Day One.
The Portuguese took over from Austin Eguavoen, the current
technical director of football at the NFF. Eguavoen served as a
stand-in manager after Frenchman
Gernot Rohr was sacked. It was such an intrigue to get the
European out of the way.
It’s strongly alleged that Rohr's abrupt dismissal was orchestrated by the then-sports minister who was also said to have been instrumental in the injection of a former Super Eagles captain as the team’s assistant coach. Many wondered how he could have been recommended and employed to work with a huge brand like the Super Eagles without any coaching experience or certification.
Qatar 2022 without the Super Eagles
The NFF leadership wanted coach Rohr to continue through the end of
the qualifiers to the Qatar World Cup but the ‘football minister'
mounted pressure and he was eased off. Eguavoen took over and the
Super Eagles were edged by Ghana after an initial goalless draw in
Accra.
AFCON 2021 in Cameroon ended in similar fashion after a good start. The lower-rated Tunisians clipped winger Moses Simon, and the one-styled Super Eagles could no longer fly. At the end of it all, even some of those who rejoiced at the sack of Rohr were sure that the Super Eagles would have qualified ‘anyhow' under coach Rohr.
The employment of Franco-German Rohr was received with a fierce
public fight by a member of the old board. He said he based his
decision to protest on the fact that just a few members handled the
recruitment exercise.
It is time to appoint another manager for the Eagles and the exercise is turning into a long wait for Nigerians.
The reason the followers of the Super Eagles are concerned is
largely because the decision to get a fresh manager for the team
did not come up in February but further way back. The signals were
out and Jose Peseiro, like other people in town understood and had
to move on.
If the Portuguese had any chance to survive the decision, the Super Eagles' second-place finish at AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast would have helped his cause. It is not even certain if winning the trophy would have made any difference for him.
Decision to change the manager
The reason Peseiro could not get a look-in was because the decision
not to renew his contract was not just based on his performance on
the pitch, but raising the funds to pay him had become quite a huge
task for the federation.
Just before Sunday Oliseh was announced as the coach, the federation was able to work out a direct payment of his salary by one of their partners but that arrangement is no longer available. The matter of getting the salary of the new coach properly arranged is said to be one of the items causing the delay.
Moreover, the Ministry of Sports Development has already stated in clear terms that it would not be involved with the payment of the coach’s salary. There may have been one million reasons cited for the delay, but the fact that the coach did not abandon the team abruptly, but it was the federation that took the decision to let go of him is making the fans wonder why the wait.
The wait has given birth to a thousand-and-one rumours. Every day,
since the beginning of April it is rumoured that the NFF would
announce the new manager the following day. However, the following
day passes and it becomes the following day again. Names of the
anointed candidates have been bandied like actual contract papers
had been cited between these candidates and the federation.
Across to Ghana, Black Stars and the World Cup
Whatever happens in Nigeria football does not stay in Nigeria as it
gets to Accra, and whatever happens in Accra with Ghana football
gets to Nigeria. Ghana had a poor run at AFCON 2023 in January, but
they found a quick way to move on.
Cameroon have since announced their new manager although with some tinge of controversy, and are currently planning for their World Cup. It is this World Cup challenge that is giving the fans of the Super Eagles the worries.
Nigeria will resume their World Cup qualifying campaign for in
June, with matches against Gernot Rohr’s Republic of Benin and
rivals South Africa. Rohr would love to prove a point, while the
South Africans should believe that they have suffered long enough
in the hands of Nigerians over the last two decades.
Only this year, the Super Eagles ended the dream of Bafana Bafana at the semi-finals of the AFCON in Abidjan. It was a painful loss highlighted more by the fact that Nigeria’s goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali with quite an outstanding performance plays in the South African Premier Soccer League.
It was just a side of the pains Nigeria has inflicted on South Africa as the country’s big dream of seeing their queens, Banyana Banyana play at the Paris 2024 Olympics ended in the hands of the Super Falcons.
The South Africans are certainly eager to pay back. There are other
countries also dreaming to be at the World Cup instead of the Super
Eagles. The sooner Nigeria gets a substantive coach for the Super
Eagles, the better for everyone.
