With the recent saga surrounding the supposed appointment of Paul Le Guen as “Technical Adviser” of the Super Eagles, one is forced to fully come to terms with the maladministration of the Glass House.
The Nigerian Football Federation is falling to new lows and at the rate its going, not only would it find talents at the grassroots but crude oil as well.
The Nigerian Football Federation is falling to new lows and at the rate its going, not only would it find talents at the grassroots but crude oil as well.
The football federation had promised to announce the new man of the Super Eagles on the 18th of July, 2016 and a shortlist had been made comprising of French Paul Le Guen, Nigerian Salisu Yusuf, and Belgian Tom Saintfiet.
Rumors of Paul Le Guen already having the job and Salisu refusing to work as assistant spread quickly and the hiring of the French man got tagged the worst kept secret in Nigerian football and so the country waited.
Rumors of Paul Le Guen already having the job and Salisu refusing to work as assistant spread quickly and the hiring of the French man got tagged the worst kept secret in Nigerian football and so the country waited.
And so in fulfillment to what they had promised, the official twitter account of the NFF on Monday night came out to say:
“Frenchman Paul Le Guen has been recommended as @NGSuperEagles Coach by NFF Technical Cttee… Le Guen is to be technical adviser as recommended while Salisu Yusuf will be Chief Coach”
...and while we understood this not to be the official pronouncement of a coach it certainly keeps in line with what Chairman of the NFF Technical and Development Committee Barrister Chris Green had said earlier on about an interview to be conducted and the committee submitting a name to NFF board for deliberation and pronouncement.
So yes, Le Guen was their recommendation and Salisu Yusuf would be his assistant subject to approval from the board, and that was fine.
Subsequent tweets would go on to mention a shakeup in the technical crew as recommended by technical committee.
Subsequent tweets would go on to mention a shakeup in the technical crew as recommended by technical committee.
It did not end there and looking back at it, it probably should have. A tweet with a link to the NFF website with the “Paul Le Guen is new Eagles Tech. Adviser” was posted, visit to the website also had the link with the same caption so it was fair to assume the board had made its decision, it was official.
But further reading into the story revealed how bad this announcement was handled and if you thought the technical adviser-chief coach thing was confusing, you have no idea of how the NFF makes simple things complicated.
The first paragraph would go on to talk about the committee naming Le Guen and Yusuf as technical adviser and chief coach respectively and at the end would say
“the appointments are subject to agreement of contract terms with the NFF executive committee.”
“Is he our technical adviser or not?” “Has he agreed to be and the NFF executive committee is yet to make a decision?” were some of the questions I asked as I tried to comprehend this “media release.” I was thrown into further confusion when the next paragraph in trying to highlight Le Guen’s feats in the past started off by saying
“New Eagles’ boss Le Guen stared the Indomitable Lions of…”
Wait a minute! What is going on here?
With majority of the nation including myself (still in confusion I must admit) taking in the French man as their new boss, it came as a shocker to hear Le Guen had rejected the job citing that the NFF failed to meet his contract demands whatever they were.
The Glass House sensing the embarrassment that it was to face resorted to saying he was never offered the job as his employment was subject to approval and while that was true, the packaging of the information to the public was a complete disaster.
The Glass House sensing the embarrassment that it was to face resorted to saying he was never offered the job as his employment was subject to approval and while that was true, the packaging of the information to the public was a complete disaster.
Even the Super Eagles’ media officer Toyin Ibitoye had begun to oblige fans of the Super Eagles to get behind the men that were appointed and not recommended. This is it why it is best practice for in-house media on issues bothering on appointment or signings to announce or confirm when they are done and leave the processes to speculation by outside media.
It also does not fail to highlight the gap or break in communication between the decision making unit and the media department of the NFF.
It also does not fail to highlight the gap or break in communication between the decision making unit and the media department of the NFF.
But the plot would thicken.
Paul Le Guen’s rejection would come with a whole new revelation. According to sources, the French man was never interested in the job, had told Amaju Pinnick of his non-interest of the job, and would be surprised to hear he had gotten the job.
The revelation would also point out that Pinnick would go to lengths to get the man by asking friends of Paul Le Guen to plead with him and had thought it would be a done deal. If all these turn out to be rumors, the fact it can gain little credibility is a testament to what people perceive as the continuous failures of Amaju Pinnick’s administration.
The revelation would also point out that Pinnick would go to lengths to get the man by asking friends of Paul Le Guen to plead with him and had thought it would be a done deal. If all these turn out to be rumors, the fact it can gain little credibility is a testament to what people perceive as the continuous failures of Amaju Pinnick’s administration.
Interestingly, the report would say Le Guen was never in the country on Monday and Tom Saintfiet’s interview was to be conducted over Skype which according to him never happened.
The Belgian had stalled his decision to take over Bangladesh in the hope of bagging the job and did not get his chance. It begs to ask the questions; Are we getting the right man? Was due process followed? Was an interview even conducted?
The Belgian had stalled his decision to take over Bangladesh in the hope of bagging the job and did not get his chance. It begs to ask the questions; Are we getting the right man? Was due process followed? Was an interview even conducted?
Regardless of our football going backwards and the administration still enjoying its own moonwalk, Nigerians deserve better than to get a man who is being forced into the job and at least a better process in hiring the next gaffer.
It looks most certain that Le Guen would not be at the helm come the next game for the Super Eagles and with the committee saying it would go on to appoint the person who they feel would be best for the team, it drags us back into the never quenching debacle- a local or a foreign coach?
It looks most certain that Le Guen would not be at the helm come the next game for the Super Eagles and with the committee saying it would go on to appoint the person who they feel would be best for the team, it drags us back into the never quenching debacle- a local or a foreign coach?
For Wolexis.Com: Chuka Odilibe (@ChukaMVP)
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