German Coach Gernot Rohr has yet again opened up on his managerial career with the Super Eagles even as he faulted an erroneous report that he was advised to take on board former Nigeria International Emanuel Amuneke as one of his assistants shortly before the start of the qualifiers for Qatar 2022 World Cup.
The Nigeria Football Information(NFF) on Monday drafted the former Barcelona Winger as the chief coach of the Super Eagles with the mandate to work hand-in-hand with the team’s interim manager Austin Eguavoen who took over the reins of the tem after Rohr was acrimoniously shown the exit days before the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) .
“It is not true; but all lies that I rejected Amuneke to be my assistant because nobody proposed him to me like an assistant,” the Mannheim-born Rohr told NationSport .
The 68-year-old former Bayern Munich defender further claimed that at no time was he consulted on the choice of some his assistants, adding he had an excellent working relationship with coach Salisu Yusuf who was reabsorbed into the Super Eagles two years after serving out a one-year ban over a bribery scandal.
“ The truth is that they(NFF) always took assistants without asking me,” Rohr further said.“ But I had a very good and successful work with Salisu.”
The former Bordeaux coach continued: “He (Salisu) paid for his mistake and I was happy to see him back with us again. The harmony in technical staff is very important and it’s important to have a clear number one assistant.”
Rohr also cleared the air on the appointment of former Super Eagles captain Joseph Yobo as one of his assistant in February 2020, claiming yet again that he was never consulted.
“For Yobo nobody asked me before (his appointment),” he said matter-of-factly. They said that he would do a coaching school; but we had also a good working relationship.”