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Samson
Siasia is coach or better still manager of the Super Eagles from
December 1 till the end of the 2014 World Cup. That must be great news
to a many people interested in Nigerian football. This must be the
first time a coach is appointed to handle the national team with such
overwhelming approval from stakeholders and sundry. As his job starts,
I shall open with specific injunctions to the new coach.

But first let me
re-paint a background for the position I intend to establish herein.
Nigerian coaches after the era of Dan Anyiam, Eto Amechima and Alabi
Assien have been known to operate with huge doses of sentiments and
petty biases. Save for Adegboyega Onigbinde, coaches in Nigeria’s
football in the last thirty years have had problems keeping discipline
in their teams and several reasons have been advanced for this. Some
coaches have come against untrustworthy club owners, unscrupulous club
officials, overrated and phenomenally indisciplined players. Others
have been their own Achilles heels, collecting small monies as
“settlement” for signing and fielding very ordinary players. Despite
these, quite a lot of Nigerian coaches have the knowledge and
competence to run clubs and teams.

What spills out of
all these is that the Nigerian coach has not convinced me and a few
others that they are good enough to take our football to the top. In my
opinion, the Nigerian coach has not displayed the managerial savvy to
deliver the Super Eagles’ team of our dream, in spite of the victories
at youth football level. The pages of history also tell us that Nigeria
has not won anything significant, at least by Super Eagles, without an
expatriate coach. That is why I have always voted for a foreign coach,
not the Berti Vogts type though.

To Siasia

Having said all that, now that Siasia has been anointed by Nigerians I have these to say to him:

First, give us a
fit and proper fighting machine called the Super Eagles, not an amalgam
of Siasia boys. A competition ready team should be in place in eighteen
months if you draw on all of Nigeria’s best players wherever they are
without undue influence and pressure from phoney scouts, crooked NFF
officials, or indeed the press. As you know, some of our footballers
play their football on the pages of our newspapers. Do not be
associated with any cabal or player mafia who work towards the
exclusion of some players thereby keeping some of the best out.

Flowing from the
first point, please do not make the Super Eagles camp a rehabilitation
centre or a geriatric home. You have been long enough in Nigeria’s
football to know that a player who was third choice keeper for NITEL FC
(Defunct) in 2003 cannot possibly be U-17 in 2007 and you, Samson, were
guilty of age-bending when you used the same player at the 2009 U-20
tournament in Egypt. Granddads like that, who have given their best to
age-limited competitions, are largely contributory to the poor shape of
the Super Eagles particularly in the last twenty years.

Thirdly, request a
scouting team not the Technical Committee to be financed by the NFF to
comb league venues and recommend players for you to see because you
cannot possibly visit all league venues. Yes, England’s Fabio Capello
is caught on TV visiting EPL venues but transport and communication
networks in Nigeria are not comparable to the United Kingdom.

That is why you
need a scouting team of men of integrity, character and purpose,
committed to report back to you before you set out on confirmatory
trips.

Furthermore, your
programme must be structured with milestones, timelines and beacons of
progress, as well as review dates for you to personally audit your
performance.

I know your
assistant, Simon Kalika, too after I led you and your U-20 team to the
Aspire Academy in Doha for training last year. Pull-up your sleeves
now, do less talking and let us see you return the faith placed on you
by the Nigerian football family.

All of this is interesting because as a Super Eagles player, you
were headstrong and somewhat deviant. Your siding with Stephen Keshi
Emeka Ezengo in the revolt against Clemens Westerhof in World Cup ‘94
(USA) makes your new job that of a rebel in a leadership position. I do
wish you the very best and assure you of my support when you do need it
but be certain that when you falter I shall holla! Good luck Samson.