Everywhere I went in the past one week the question I am asked has been the same: Who is the foreign coach anointed by the Presidential Task Force to take over from Amodu Shuaibu? It is as if the NFF has surrendered its responsibility to the PTF to select a new manager/coach/Technical Adviser for the Super Eagles! Bury the thought, the NFF are solidly in charge and will soon make their choice known. Their only responsibility to the PTF may be to share the information of their choice before everyone else, explain the process used in the selection, and present the anticipated financial bill the country would have to bear. Unless, of course, if the NFF requests for any other contribution or support from the PTF. Since the Africa Cup of Nations ended a few weeks ago it has been obvious that the NFF would have no option but to swim with the tide of public opinion, make a deft political manoeuvre and relieve Amodu Shuaibu of what has turned into a burdensome job for him. For all the results amassed by the Eagles since he became coach of the national team – the highest ranking on the FIFA ladder in many years, and very the least number of losses in all international competitions and matches played over the same length of time– Amodu has failed to earn the confidence of the public. His greatest challenge has been technical - getting the players to play as a team and to put up convincing and consistent performances. It was not beautiful anymore to watch the Eagles play as they struggle against every team, leaving the public with their hearts in their mouth and scrapping through matches that they would ordinarily have won without much sweat and in great style. Rather than do something about this the NFF declared it would sink or swim with Amodu irrespective of whatever happens. That stance drew the battle line between the public on one hand and the NFF and the national coach on the other. That’s why the pressure reached a peak when the Eagles wobbled through the African Cup of Nations, came away with a Bronze medal and were so badly scarred by the poor performance that the public was baying for blood. Unfortunately the only blood available is that of the coach, and rather than be swept away with the ‘sacrificial lamb’ the NFF let the coach sink alone!

In direct response to the public’s call for a foreign coach to complete the job of taking the Eagles to the World Cup, the NFF is now saddled with the challenge of hiring a competent foreign coach that would meet the high expectations of Nigerians, avoid the controversy of competency and achieve convincing results particularly at the World Cup in June. At the same time, even as he would be completing the World Cup assignment, the coach would be expected also to build a new foundation for the development of the domestic game in Nigeria. It is a tough job indeed! So, it seems the job of the new manager is cut out for him - to do well at the World Cup, and to improve the state of Nigerian football thereafter. It is with that in mind that I believe the NFF have to go shopping for the right coach!

On the issue of coaches and what kind of coach Nigeria needs what I can do is express my personal thoughts. To start with it is important to clearly state the objectives for which a foreign coach is to be hired. Clear goals and responsibilities must also be set for him. The coach’s antecedents and background would give an indication of his capability to achieve the goals. The final consideration would then be the conditions the coach gives to enable him deliver on the goals set for him. Obviously a situation where a coach would propose to live abroad, monitor foreign - based players and have nothing to do with the domestic game and players, would be totally unacceptable considering the country’s last experience with Berti Vogts. The question of opening the vaults of Nigeria’s Central Bank to pay him would also not be acceptable. To eliminate any controversy over the choice finally made the coach must have good records, good credentials, broad coaching experience, must be a known spotter and developer of talent, must be passionate about the game and about winning, and must have the ambition to take Nigeria to the zenith of world football! To succeed he must already have a good appreciation of what is wrong with the present Super Eagles! This last aspect is very important.

The problem with the Eagles

The Super Eagles, like the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon, is a fast ageing team. The true average age of the team will be closer to 35 than 25! Some of the players have passed their peak and there is nothing left to be extracted from them any more. They can only drag the rest of the team down the slope. A good and simple indicator of a team’s age is the rate and spate of injury its players suffer. Injuries are more frequent and recovery rate much slower with age. The Nigerian team needs a boost of younger, fitter, faster, and more athletic players. These can only come from the domestic game. That means the domestic game needs to be injected with new ideas and programmes to breed better players in larger numbers. The tradition of falsifying documentation and reducing true ages by a minimum of 5 years and sometimes even more, has done too much damage to the growth of Nigerian football and must be stopped somehow! A new coach must be aware of this and join with other stakeholders in building a proper nursery that will be hatching good and ready players for the country’s national teams.

The second thing is that the present Eagles are deficient in the area of team tactics. This is the direct product of a coach’s depth in the game, his experience and his impartation skills. That’s why the same team with the same set of players will play differently under two different coaches. That’s why a new coach will take over a team with a losing streak and within a few days be able to transform the same set of players into a winning side! Team tactics are key to success at this level of the game. Nigeria must, therefore, get a coach sound in team tactics. That’s why a foreign coach with a deep experience in European football is preferable to one whose pedigree is limited to coaching in Africa.

Finally, the Nigerian team has lost what used to be its greatest asset (a very clear and discernible style of play) - wing-play; fast breaks from defence to attack, with very fast and athletic forwards running at defenders and creating wave after wave of goal scoring chances! That’s the Nigerian style maximally exploiting the physical attributes of the players. It is beautiful to watch and behold. That’s why Nigerian football provides an almost irresistible attraction for many top coaches from around the world. It is only the history of our poor administration by those that have passed through our hands that dampen the initial enthusiasm of foreign coaches who would otherwise have given an arm and a leg to handle Nigeria’s Eagles.

Teacher or Manager coach?

Broadly speaking, there are two types of foreign coaches. In the early part of the 1970s, Nigeria had a number of foreign coaches under the employment of the National Sports Commission. Most of them, including the great Father Tiko, came from Eastern Europe mainly because coaches from that part are recognised for teaching the art of football. They are born teachers of the game. They are suited for academies, institutions, junior teams and third world football teams, that is, those not grounded in football at the highest level, or that do not have a well-defined grassroots football development programme. The coaches came to Nigeria and started teaching footballers in the clubs the basics of the game – proper skills, correct passing, heading and shooting techniques, crossing the ball at speed from the flanks, correct use of different parts of the feet, etc. They took players and teams through the basics of the game before finally introducing them to team tactics! It is a whole lot of work. Aside from that, the players were trained like athletes, running and pumping weight. So, apart from developing the players for individual skills and techniques, the players were also transformed into superb athletes. Team tactics, how a team played to a formation on the field in every match, came at the end of everything else, often always achieved through the careful selection of players that naturally fitted into specific predetermined roles. Apart from the foreign football teachers Nigeria also had a rich pool of this category of coaches in the early days of the game in the country – Teslim Balogun, Dan Anyiam, Ayo Adeniji, Joseph Deshi, Jide Johnson, Isaac Nnado and so on! These were all great indigenous football teachers!

There is a second kind of coaches. They are more appropriately called managers. In this mould was Otto Gloria that succeeded Tiko. He started the era of managers in Nigerian football. In this group belong the great names of world football – Ferguson, Wenger, Hiddinck, Van Gaal, Trappatoni, etc! They do not teach football. They buy the best ready-made players, players that had already passed through the crucible of training in basic skills and techniques of the game either in junior club programmes, academies or schools. Managers instruct the ready-made players according to the tactics they choose to deploy from match to match. They observe players and create strategies for how best to use them. They do not do all that teaching stuff, how to pass the ball, control the ball etc. That’s who Bora was. That’s who Vogts was. They were both managers.

So, having said all of that, which of the two categories of coaches would suit Nigeria’s purpose at this time, the teacher or the manager? Or one who is a little of both? That’s what Westerhof was, that’s what Father Tiko was - teacher/manager! Between them they won the country’s two highest honours at senior level to date! If we look at the objectives and goals set for the present coach being sought the answer becomes clearer. The coach will teach at the domestic level and manage at the senior level. Even if I cannot name here who will best fit our expectations, I believe I know the category that would not fulfil our twin goals! Over to you NFF!