Former President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Pinnick, has again incurred the wrath of some Nigerians over his call for a foreign coach, and comments on the poor standard of the nation’s football.
To them, such comments were not expected from Pinnick, whose eight-year control of the country’s football ended less than two years ago. Pinnick was the longest-serving NFF President (2014 and 2022) and was allegedly plotting a third-term agenda before the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the last World Cup, in Qatar, forced him to abort the plans.
While speaking on national television during the week, he, among other things, said that Nigeria needs foreign coaches for the Super Eagles and that there is a need to tackle infrastructural challenges and strategic planning to globally elevate Nigerian football.
“Nigerian coaches have knowledge and abilities, but it goes beyond that in managing players,” Pinnick said. “One thing that is elemental when you want to manage a player is respect; do they have respect for the coaches?” he asked.
He also spoke on the “infrastructural deficits” hindering football development in Nigeria. “We have serious infrastructural deficits. For instance, you don’t want to go to the stadium and want to use the toilet and you can’t,” he said.
For some Nigerians, Pinnick’s latest call for a foreign coach and comments on the poor state of the nation’s football amount to “double-speak” after he openly recommended the employment of immediate past Super Eagles coach, Finidi George to the football house.
Some sports analysts, who were not comfortable with Pinnick’s comments, blamed the current NFF leadership for allowing Pinnick to “control” the nation’s football.
One of them said: “It is not your (Pinnick’s) fault. It is the NFF President who is still taking instructions from a ‘failure’ like you that gives you the latitude to speak about our football. You openly and shamelessly recommended George Finidi for Nigeria and he failed us. A reasonable human being should have covered his face in shame for wanting his successor not to overshadow his performance in office.
“You left a heap of debt for your successor to bear, and instead of talking about sponsorship drive as a way out of the financial mess that you brought to the Glass House, you are crying over poor football infrastructure on national television. It is a shame.”
To former Green Eagles winger, Adegoke Adelabu, it is irritating to see comments regarding ‘poor sports infrastructure’ coming from Pinnick considering the long period that he spent in office as NFF president.
“I don’t know why we are still talking about someone that is not relevant to the aspirations of this nation, except what he wants to get to feel important,” Adelabu said.
“I have said it several times that the Federal Government has no clue about the relevance of sports to governance at all levels. Otherwise, someone like Amaju should be answering questions concerning his management of our financial resources. They are all the same, even the Sports Minister is still daydreaming about the way forward for our sports.”
