A member of the region committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) has dropped a huge hint on how the next coach of the Super Eagles will be decided, OwnGoaNigeria.com reports.
Nigeria is without a substantive coach following the departure of Jose Peseiro as coach upon the expiration of his contract after the Africa Cup of Nations, where the team finished as runners up losing 1-2 to the host Cote d’Ivoire.
It made the NFF to appoint Finidi George in temporary charge for the friendly games against Ghana and Mali. They made a winning start beating Ghana 2-1 and will take on Mali today.
There has been calls for an indigenous coach to be left in charge with the duo of Emmanuel Amunike and the current interim coach leading the pile, but according to former Nigeria international Victor Ikpeba who is a member of the technical committee of the NFF, the body responsible for making recommendation for a new coach, they won’t be sway by sympathy.
“I personally think that; though I’m a member of the technical committee and I’m not here to dwell on what the members think on who is going to be made Super Eagles coach. I can tell you that it has nothing to do with colour, who is best qualified will be given the job”, he was quoted as saying by Totorinews.com.
“Sentiment was on ground two years ago when the job was given to Eguaveon, with due respect I think he did his best, unfortunately Nigeria did not qualify for the World Cup.
“You can’t really blame him because he was not the architect of the team. So for me personally and the other members I think decision will be made and it will be very objective for the desire and the inspiration of football followers in this great country,” he further said.
“We did things in a rush when Gernot Rohr was sacked and we all remembered what happened after. We failed to qualify for the World Cup. We saw how ; may his soul rest in peace; Amodu Shuaibu qualified the Super Eagles for the World Cup. Remember that in that era many people did not believe in black coaches, so if there is a new wave towards that now, it is good, but Nigeria is too big enough to talk about colour.
“Football is beyond colour. We need to educate our fans. It is very important and fundamental, most of us that made a name through football the Europeans gave us that platform, that opportunity to become who we are today, it’s the truth so we should be careful when we talk about colour , there’s no colour in football.
“Football is just a unique sport anybody can be a manager in this country. The technical committee members will not take the decision of who becomes the next coach of the Super Eagles based on colour, that is the fact”, he concluded.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
