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From all
indications, Samson Siasia will be the next coach of the Super Eagles
following the decision by the team’s erstwhile handler Lars Lagerback
not to return to the hot seat.

Lagerback’s
Nigerian agent Emeka Enechi earlier in the week informed NEXTSports
that the former handler of the Swedish national side will not be
returning to Nigeria because he would find it difficult to work under
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) as currently constituted.

Enechi’s revelation
only confirmed what had been speculated in the media since the Swede
left for his homeland on holiday following the unceremonious exit of
the Super Eagles from the World Cup. This was despite countless denials
from the federation’s officials who now appear to be accepting the
Swede will not return.

Last Thursday,
NFF’s technical committee chairman, Dominic Iorfa, on a radio
programme, said the federation had no choice than to look for a
replacement for the Swede.

Iorfa, a former
player of the Nigerian national team and English club side Queens Park
Rangers, even suggested that Siasia may succeed Lagerback, adding that
the NFF will soon begin negotiations with the Bayelsa State-born coach
who took Nigeria’s U-23 Eagles to a silver medal finish at the Beijing
2008 Olympic Games in China, three years after achieving a similar feat
at the FIFA U-20 World Cup in the Netherlands.

“The coach said he
is not coming back so it’s very likely that Siasia will take over the
job,” said Iorfa, “We’ll soon start discussions with Siasia.”

Siasia, in an
earlier interview with NEXTSports, confirmed that he had been
approached by the NFF regarding the Super Eagles top job but that no
further approach had been made by the federation. In the interview,
Siasia said he will be willing to take the job if an agreement is
reached.

On Thursday, the
former Nigerian international who now handles top Nigerian club side
Heartland FC of Owerri, reiterated his earlier stance regarding his
readiness to handle the Super Eagles but failed to confirm whether the
NFF had made another approach for his services.

A source within the
NFF who preferred anonymity, however informed NEXTSports that the
federation will be meeting with the former Super Eagles star in the
coming week with the aim of offering him the job, although the source
added that any announcement will only be after this week’s friendly
match against the Republic of Korea in Seoul.

Suitability

If Siasia gets the
job, it will be a another victory for Nigerian coaches who have always
believed the destiny of the national team rests squarely in the hands
of indigenous and not expatriate coaches.

They are not alone
in that regards as Lagerback had said at the World Cup that the future
of African teams can only be shaped by their local coaches.

But Siasia won’t be
the first Nigerian to handle the national team as Shaibu Amodu was, as
recently as February, at the helm of affairs in the Super Eagles before
making way for Lagerback.

Amodu’s reign
wasn’t however the most popular amongst Nigerian football fans most of
whom, despite the string of victories churned out by the Super Eagles,
were dissatisfied with the overall display of the side under the former
Orlando Pirates of South Africa coach.

Their
disenchantment with Amodu however went as far back as his ascendency to
the post which was blighted by suspected foul play on the part of the
NFF who picked him above Siasia, who at the time in 2008, reportedly
finished top of a shortlist of coaches that also included former Super
Eagles skipper Stephen Keshi who went on to take up a similar job with
the Malian FA.

“Amodu failed
because he didn’t have complete control of the team from the very first
day he took up the job,” said former Super Eagles midfielder Emeka
Ezeugo. “He was a coach who has achieved so much in the game but to a
lot of people out there, he was just someone that was used by the
people in the FA to achieve their selfish aims.

“We all heard
Siasia scored the highest points during the interview but he wasn’t
picked because he wasn’t going to bend his will and follow the
directions of those people in the FA.

“He is someone who
is always ready to learn but he also sticks to his guns and that is the
kind of coach the Super Eagles needs,” added Ezeugo, who is Siasia’s
assistant at Heartland.

Not experienced enough

Ezeugo’s view is
also shared by many former contemporaries of Siasia, such as Tijani
Babangida, Mutiu Adepoju, Thompson Oliha, Nduka Ugbade and Andrew Uwe
but there are also those who feel it is not appropriate to offer Siasia
the job now.

One of such people
is the vice-chairman of the Lagos State Sports Council, Tayo Balogun
who feels tSiasia still needs to gather more experience and won’t be
ready to manage at the top level until, probably around 2014.

Balogun agreed that
the former Nantes of France forward has done quite well at age-grade
tournaments but asked “how many has he won?” Stressing that the only
way Siasia would be useful in coaching the national team is if
Nigerians are patient enough with him, Balogun said: “You know the way
we Nigerians are when we get new things; we want ‘sharp-sharp’ results
which is not possible.

“We Nigerians
should be forward looking, we should always look beyond now,” added
Balogun who, however, advised that if Siasia is contracted in the
coming weeks, he should be left to coach the Super Eagles until at
least the 2014 World Cup.

“But it is usually
not so. Immediately he plays one or two games and we do not get the
desired results, we would just send him packing.”

The experience
factor was also the reason why Siasia was dropped by, in the words of
award-winning Liberian journalist Roland Mulbah.

Mulbah noted that
Siasia, as well as a South American and three Europeans, was short
listed for the job of coaching the Lone Stars in the qualifiers of the
Equatorial Guinea-Gabon 2012 Nations Cup, but “was dropped on grounds
that he has a B certificate in coaching and that he is from the same
West African sub-region Liberia is a part of and that the whites are
better than the blacks with regards to football.”

Access to the presidency

One way of becoming
a successful coach in Nigeria is to have direct access to the seat of
government which was something that worked in favour of Clemens
Westerhof during Nigeria’s dominance of the African game back in the
1990s.

It was also a move
that Siasia utilized back in 2005 when seeing that his chances of
leading the Flying Eagles to a successful outing in the Netherlands
were being jeopardized by the NFF, he went cap in hand to the Bayelsa
State government, his home state, to source for funds to prepare the
side for the World Cup.

President Goodluck
Jonathan was at the time Bayelsa State deputy governor and being a keen
lover of football, chances are that he won’t turn a deaf ear to Siasia,
if he does get the Super Eagles job.

Siasia informed
NEXTSports he won’t be exploiting that avenue if he gets the job but
Lagerback’s agent, Enechi earlier last week declared that was the only
route to success in Nigeria.

“That’s the only way,” declared Enechi. “Any coach who wants to
succeed in Nigeria must have access to the president regardless of
whether he is a Nigerian or a foreigner because there will always be
someone in the background waiting to make life difficult for the
coach.”