coach unless the National Sports Commission stops the Nigeria Football
Federation.
Goal exclusively gathered from a top NFF official at the weekend that
the Super Eagles' poor results against Congo where they lost 3-2 in
Calabar as well as the goalless draw away to South Africa has blotted
the impressive record of the trainer.
A top official of the Nigeria Football Federation disclosed that
"there are many factors standing in the way of Stephen Keshi to be
re-appointed as the Eagles chief coach and I will give you a
break-down but before that I must say that Keshi must be most grateful
to the Honourable Sports Minister (Tammy Danagogo) for fighting for
his retention as the chief coach.
"The minister has never hidden his love and preference for him and he
based it on Keshi's past achievement which he said was more than
necessary for him to continue his job. The minister still believes
that the Eagles under Keshi could still bounce back and qualify for
the 2015 Afcon in Morocco.
"But we at the NFF here know that the problem with the team is more
than what we are seeing from the surface. Firstly, there is no
commitment on the part of the players Keshi is parading for the 2015
Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and if something drastic is not done,
Nigeria may not be among those nations that would campaign in Morocco
2015," the source who begged for his identity not to be revealed told
Goal.
The NFF source also revealed that most of the members of the NFF
Executive Board are no longer at ease with the alleged antics and
disrespect of Keshi towards them and now want another coach who would
listen to them and respect them as his employers. They have also not
forgotten in a hurry the way Keshi allegedly humiliated the Aminu
Maigari Board members during the Africa Cup of Nations which Nigeria
won in South Africa in 2013 and felt highly disappointed with the way
the Coach received all the accolades and praises from all and sundry
without mere mention of the NFF Board and Secretariat.
"We all know how Keshi threatened to dump the team in South Africa
shortly after the Eagles won the 2013 Afcon. The controversies
generated by this singular action of his put the NFF then in a bad
light and so many other crises including the Eagles threatening not to
play one of the qualifying matches for the last World Cup as well as
during the World Cup proper when the players demanded for their
bonuses are all crises that have put negative mark on the NFF.
"So unless the National Sports Commission decides to use its veto
powers, I don't think Keshi would be retained as the Eagles coach.
Even the N6 million that the minister said he is requesting for cannot
be met by the NFF as a matter of fact. The NFF is broke for now and
the crisis has not helped matters.
"It seems everybody is speaking favourably about Samson Siasia to come
back to the post he left in 2011. Some of us believed that Siasia has
learned his lessons and he would adjust where he has failed to bounce
back with the Eagles. Another thing is that it will be very difficult
for us to pick the 2015 Nations Cup ticket if we continue to parade
the same players Keshi is using to prosecute the 2015 Afcon qualifiers
so it is preferable Siasia comes to the rescue and bring new ideas and
players that are fighters to salvage the situation.
"The reason for the choice of Siasia is that the NFF cannot afford the
salary and emoluments of a foreign coach now, so employing a foreign
coach to replace Keshi now is out of the issue. But we will know
precisely how it goes after Tuesday when NFF elections will take
place," the source concluded.
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