Former England forward John Fashanu has cleared the air on the reports that he accused former Super Eagles Coach Otto Gloria of demanding a bribe for the National team invitation.
Born in Kensington, England to Nigerian Parents, Fashanu opted to represent England ahead of Nigeria at the international level.
Explaining the reasons behind his choice at the time, Fashanu admitted that, Coaches demanded bribe from him, but refused to call them out.
“I said I wouldn’t name the Coach, but I said that you can start with Otto Gloria. I said it is down to you to find out when I came.”
“You look at the date and you’ll see who the Coach was. I don’t want to put the Coach in a bad situation. I wouldn’t want to do that to anybody. Like I said to Big Segun when we spoke, It is not something which is new, this goes on all the time; everywhere.” He told brila.net in an exclusive interview.
Fashanu who earned just two caps for England, stressed further, the Coaches in charge of the team at the time , denied him to debut make his dream debut for Nigeria, because he was unwilling to pay the bribe.
“I had only just signed on as a Professional footballer when I came into Nigeria, the late MKO brought me to play matches. I came the first time the Coach asked me the specific amount. I can’t remember whether it was 1 million naira exactly, whatever, but they asked me which I could not do. I went back home again, I didn’t even play, I wasn’t even a substitute.”
“They then brought me back again after four months, yet again the Coach asked me for a certain amount of money I couldn’t pay. Now if he had not asked me I would have played and if I didn’t want to play for my Country I would never have come a third time.”
“The third time I came, and that’s when he told me, look, Yoruba boys don’t like you, you don’t speak your language, Hausa boys don’t like you and Ibo boys don’t understand you, why don’t you go back to England? That’s what he told me the Coach, go back to England you’re not bringing cash. And I was not bringing cash because the truth was I didn’t have any money. ”
“So, it was a year later when I now transferred and I now started to play for England, and that was because I was exhausted coming back and every time I came back I was having different experiences. And that’s just actually the truth. ” He concluded.
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