President of the Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick has declared that Sunday Oliseh will be the last Nigerian coach for the Super Eagles under the current board. Pinnick made the position of the federation known while speaking at the 18th Annual Africa Business Conference of the Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States according to hotsports.tv.
The FA boss told the gathering that the federation had reached the end of the road in keeping faith with Nigerians as head of the Eagles coaching staff.
He said, “After this Sunday Oliseh debacle, we have definitely turned the corner. We are now going to start shopping for a well-grounded and qualified foreign coach to tinker the team. Enough is enough. “What we have learnt is that there is a world of difference between being a good coach and being a good manager.”
The Olympic Eagles coach Samson Siasia was announced as a quick replacement for Oliseh last Friday in what is seen as a temporary measure. And with Pinnick’s statement any thought of keeping Siasia for a long period as the Eagles coach may have been laid to rest.
Oliseh and the NFF parted ways last week after just eight months on the job. The former Eagles captain made public his resignation in the early hours of Friday via Twitter.
In his Twitter message Oliseh said he was quitting, “Due to contract violations, lack of support, unpaid wages, benefits to my players, assistant coaches and myself, I resign as Super Eagles chief coach. I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having had the honour to play, captain and coach this great nation of ours, Nigeria.”
The NFF members had first talked about getting a foreigner as the Eagles coach soon after asking the former Eagles coach Stephen Keshi to go last year. Oliseh’s appearance on the scene ended the talks about getting somebody from Europe.
No name has been mentioned but if the NFF go all the way, it may mean having foreigners in the two senior national teams as the FA had announced in February that they are in search of a foreigner for the Super Falcons too.
