Rohr lost Super Eagles’ job to indiscipline, poor management, says Pinnick

One of the reasons the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) decided to relieve Gernot Rohr of his position as Super Eagles manager is his inability to control the players under his watch, NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, explained yesterday.

Pinnick, who disclosed that the Federation did not want to allow the situation to deteriorate before wielding the stick, added that the Federation consulted widely, including looking into recommendations of some of its committees before deciding to sack Rohr.

Speaking on a Channels Television programme yesterday, he said the NFF was alarmed by the state of the team in the last two games, which prompted it to take the step.

He said: “We did everything that we could, but one major factor was that discipline in the team is lost practically. In the dressing room, discipline in the team was at its lowest ebb and once you remove discipline, that foundation in the team has cracked.

“Some of the players believe that they are indispensable and therefore, behave anyhow they feel like. They talk back at officials and break camp rules at will and the coach could not do anything about it. He lost the dressing room to some players and that is not acceptable.”

The NFF president admitted that the Federation still owed Rohr some of his emoluments, adding, however, that things were being sorted out.

“We are only owing about two matches of all the matches they played in both AFCON qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers.

“For Gernot Rohr, I know we paid him for about five months. We were owing him for a couple of months, then we cleared about five months.”

Pinnick thanked Rohr for his service to Nigeria, adding the German set the record as the longest-serving manager of the Super Eagles.

“Sacking Rohr wasn’t an individual decision; it was a decision taken by the entire executive committee. There were many things we took into cognisance. When you part ways, you don’t want to start ascribing blames; you just let it go and face the future with renewed hope and renewed zeal.”