CHOOSING A COACH FOR
THE EAGLES
Despite all efforts to get the best coach for the Super
Eagles, we always arrive at the same point where we are right now. When we
consider local coaches, we keep recycling the existing names. Attempts at
employing foreign coaches leaves us with mostly uninterested Europeans who take
our monies and are on holidays almost all year round. The NFF needs to
appreciate the importance of a robust football development plan and the need to
appoint a coach whose philosophy will fall in line with the plan.
We do not have key players in top clubs in Europe, it is
almost impossible for clubs in the local league to conquer the continent, we play against other African countries and
cannot even show co-ordination on the field of play. These are some of the
points that show how low Nigerian football has fallen.
The NFF needs to constitute a working technical committee,
one that will design a long-term football development plan for Nigeria. The
committee should comprise a few ex-professional footballers, few local coaches
in the likes of Amodu; Keshi; Siasia; Ikhana, seasoned football analysts and
the coaching team of the super eagles. This committee will develop a football
philosophy for the country, one that will guide national teams at all levels.
The philosophy will also be adopted by football academies and clubs in the
local league. This plan will consider regular trainings and refresher courses
for coaches of clubs, academies and national teams in the country.
The foreign coach to be hired should not be seen as coach of
the super eagles. Instead, he should be seen as one saddled with the
responsibility of developing Nigerian football. This way, the coach will need
to work with coaches of the U-17, 20 and 23 teams, not forgetting the female
teams. In addition, he will work with coaches in the local league and
academies. We will need his input and technical support for teams who make it
to continental tournaments/competitions.
Guus Hiddink will leave Chelsea FC at the end of the season,
I hope the NFF can approach him and get him to take up the job available in
Nigeria- Preferably as NIGERIA’S COACH and not SUPER EAGLES COACH.
