Local Vs Foreign Coaches: Onigbinde, Mitchell, Bonfere Jo,others disagree

By EDIALE KINGSLEY & ESTHER EGBE

FORMER Super Eagles Manager, Bonfere Jo, supports Amaju Pinnick’s latest announcement to consider foreing management for the super eagles, as he told National Daily that the NFF should consider looking outside the shores of Nigeria for its next manager. Bonfere Jo coached the under 23s of Nigeria to Olympic gold in 1996 feels the NFF have to hire a foreign manager if they are to return to the summit of African football. I think the NFF need to hire a foreign coach to take charge of the Super Eagles,” Bonfrere told our reporter. “The Super Eagles have failed to make much impact since they won the African Cup of Nations in 2013 and it has to do with the inability of the coaches to take the team to new heights.” The NFF has since fired Stephen Keshi and recieved a resignation letter from Sunday Oliseh. But many sport pundits are saying we do not need a foreing manager after Berti Vogts and Lars Lagerbach both failed woefully as super eagles managers. One of such school of thought is the veteran sport’s presenter and analyst, Mitchel Obi, who says the situation is uncalled for. According to Mitchell, the NFF president must have made such statement base on the heat of the moment. “I don’t want to believe we are back at this debate. What’s the definition of a foreign coach? we need to clarify on that”. He stated that Amaju’s resolve is a premature speech that came out of a broken marriage sealed with a kiss of Judah.

Mitchell Obi went further to say that it’s a show of shame for Nigeria to say that we can’t produce a good coach from Nigeria to take charge of the super eagles. Especially when the league management seam to be getting it right. Mitchell feels the problem isn’t much about the coaches “even though Sunday Oliseh had no experience like Stephen Keshi, but it was a bright hope that needed encouragement and Nigeria would have been good for it”. He spoke about Stephen Keshi and his doggedness, “despite having a dying wife he could stomach it all and kept to his duties. The argument for foreign coach is that he will be respected by players, but we have seen that our players respect our local coaches nowadays”.

Foremost Nigerian sports lawyer Barrister Johnny Precious Ogbah advised against continuing with Nigerian coaches. He posited that the Federation should instead go for Ugandan coach Milutin Micho Sredojevic whose Ugandan Cranes beat the Super Eagles in the international friendly played last time in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. Barrister Ogbah told National Daily Sports.”Nigeria needs a foreign coach because like Nigerian coaches has shown, our local coaches call up players based on sentiments over form”. He said Nigeria may not be able to hire the Gullits, Mourinhos and Arsene Wengers of this world so instead of hiring just any other expatriate coach with no pedigree, Ogbah stated that the NFF should employ a coach who is grounded in African football.”Someone like Milutin Micho Sredojevic comes to mind. Micho has been in Africa since 2001 and has managed some of the big clubs here like Orlando Pirates of South Africa”. He told our reporter he has closely followed the Coach’s career from his stint at Ethiopian side St. Georges FC and gives his verdict that the coach is sound tactically with proper match reading ability.

”He is also a coach with an eye for talent as he is the person that discovered ex Manchester United captain Nemanja Vidic back in his native Serbia. ”Micho loves Africa and never coaches any of his teams from abroad but is always on ground. He is the type of coach you will find at league venues in search of new talent,” Barrister Ogbah concluded.

ALSO SEE: Onigbinde, Mitchelle and others react as Oliseh, NFF show of shame lingers

As for former Nigeria U-20 coach, John Obuh, he is condemning the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), to hire a foreign coach for the Super Eagles. Obuh, while speaking with our reporter, posited that a foreigner cannot be the messiah of Nigerian football.“I don’t believe a foreign coach can be our messiah before Nigerian football can be developed, but if it is a foreign coach that will move our football forward, I will give my total support for it.“People always say Clemense Westerholf performed excellently but do we know how many years it took him to form a formidable squad? Do we know the extent of support he got from the authorities then? Because the quality of success of a coach depends on the cooperation he receives from the employers,” said the Rangers coach. Obuh, who coached the Golden Eaglets to a silver finish at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup stated that indigenous coaches onl need encouragement to perform, saying they are well groomed to face emerging challenges.“What I believe is that if our local coaches can get similar support like the one Westerhof got then, they will achieve even better results than the so-called expatriates. We have a lot of competent coaches in this country who can handle the team.“A coach must get total support of all the football stakeholders to succeed and there must be enough time for him to meet what you want set as target. Westerhof was allowed to work directly with the government and that is why people are still referring to him as one of the best coaches this country has ever employed,” said the former Kwara United coach.

Another former Super Eagles Gaffer, Adegboye Onigbinde believes that the indigenous coaches are just a few steps from their foreign counterparts. Festus Adegboye Onigbinde Speaking to us stressed that coaching programs should be organized for local coaches outside the country which he believes is pivotal to the development of football in the Nigerian scene. “I have always said that we should invest in our grassroots”, he said.

“Other countries organize coaching courses for their coaches, we should also do the same to our local coaches.” Onigbinde reacting to a Amaju’s statement that the football governing body will no longer employ indigenous coaches for the Eagles due to the stormy reign of Stephen Keshi and Sunday Oliseh (who resigned at the end of February). The Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA), (umbrella body of coaches in Nigeria), reacted to the story by saying it would direct their colleagues in various national teams to withdraw from their positions unless Pinnick tendered an apology. The NFCA said in a statement: “We may have to ask our colleagues like Samson Siasia and others to step down because if they eventually qualify the Super Eagles, they wouldn’t be given the job. “Amaju should bring his foreign coach now to prosecute the two-legged matches with Egypt and not use Siasia and others as spare before carrying out his plan,” the statement said. In a related developmnent, Siasia is expected to announce his list of players invited for the match against Egypt today after submitting it to the Technical and Development Committee of the NFF. Nigeria will first welcome the seven-time African champions on March 25, before travelling to Cairo for the reverse clash on March 29.