The future of Nigerian football and in particular the Super Eagles is to move away from patronizing and aggrandizing white and all foreign coaches especially those without pedigree.
This is the position held by Nigerian football Legend Segun Odegbami concerning the ongoing debate over the NFF handing Gernot Rohr a renewed Contract as Super Eagles Coach.
Rohr will start discussing with his employers a the terms of a new deal that will extend his stay beyond 2020, four years after he was first appointed.
The 66 year-old who had previously Managed Gabon, Niger and Burkina Faso guided Nigeria to the FIFA World Cup in 2018, but failed to progress beyond the first round.
He also led the Eagles to the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, where the team finished third, having lost to Algeria in the semi-final and defeating Tunisia in the third place playoff match.
However, Odegbami views the Franco-German has disappointed Nigerians, falling short of any real expectations with the Eagles.
The 1980 AFCON winner and former Captain of the Eagles insists, Rohr would have been sacked by the NFF rather than prepare to offer him a new deal.
Odegbami argues that the Nigeria national team job is bog enough to attract foreign Coaches with Pedigree; in the ilk Zinedine Zidane and Jurgen Klopp.
‘I think we have had enough of these foreign coaches, especially ones that don’t have pedigree. Especially with the Super Eagles we should go and get the Zinedine Zidanes and Jurgen Klopps not Coaches without pedigree and that we end up paying stupendous salaries,’ said Odegbami on a Radio show with Godwin Enakhena [Global Sports Update].
‘With Gernot Rohr, he has taken us to the World Cup and brought us back and to the Nations Cup, but has disappointed us.’
‘We have a generation of Nigerian players who have played at the highest level that are capable of training our national teams. It is time we start looking in their direction to bring them in.
‘If they are good enough to play for the best teams in the world under some of the best Managers in the World, then why aren’t they capable of handling our National teams?’
‘In the past Amodu (Shuaibu) took us to the Nations Cup won Bronze, he also qualified us for the World Cup.
‘Augustine Eguavoen won Bronze at the Nations Cup and Keshi won the AFCON, these people did this under the most inconducive environment, but still won something.’
‘They keep telling us that our own are not intelligent enough to Coach or Coach our teams, but I say they are intelligent enough to play for the biggest teams.’
‘Honestly, we should start looking at the generation from Yobo (Joseph), have them understudy with top Coaches in Europe and in two years we can have them back home coaching our teams.
‘It isn’t just about winning, but if you want to win, who else can go out and give their all if not former players and Nigerians,’ he concluded.
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