I’m in National team to build my profile, not for money—- Aigbogun

By Esther Egbe

Flying Eagles chief coach and former Warri Wolves and Enyimba , Paul Aigbogun told National Daily recently that he is ready to face the Togolese police and that he is in National team to make name ,not money.

He has been labelled a business man and called all sorts of names by those who are quick to draw up conclusions after he released a list of 20 players, comprising of 11 unknown rookies picked from some notorious academies across Nigeria.

Former Warri Wolves and Enyimba FC chief coach, denied all the allegations, stressing that all the players selected for this championship were picked on merit.

He was also quick to defend his assistants and backroom staff, saying no player made the team from the back door as screening was done in the open and selection was also done in the open.

“We have nothing to hide he said. We are a gang and we work like a family. At the beginning we called for open screening where over one thousand players from the north, south, east and west showed up.

We started by making sure every player was given ample time to express himself. I personally told my assistant coaches that we must allow these players three days to acclimatise with our training regime and get themselves integrated into our plans.

Everyone who came, had his chance to convince us, and those that were not picked know, they were not just good enough. Perhaps they are the ones spreading this ungodly rumour of 200,000 naira bribe.

This is very unfortunate and if you must know, it got me very disappointed because i just could not imagine where this emanated from.

How much is 200,000 naira for crying out loud? I am in this job not to make money buy name. I want to use this opportunity as a stepping stone to a better tomorrow. I am here to build my own profile and will not allow these distractions affect me.

We are in Togo to fly the Nigerian flag and we hope to give it our very best at all time. The ultimate is qualifying for the World cup and that is what we hope to achieve.

The WAFU championship will afford us an opportunity to see some new players and see how they blend with the first team players when we eventually converge for the Africa championship proper, he concluded.