Today September 9, 2023, is my 63rd birthday and I thought of reminiscing on the past six decades or more. I also thought of celebrating my big uncle (he will crucify me if I mention his name here) and I also thought about writing a few words about my late mother Dame Abigail Isevbua Ojeikere who shared my birthday with me. My mother would have been 89 years old today. But I’m a very quiet person and I have chosen to write today’s column normally by discussing the barefaced waste of cash by chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Why NFF chieftains have religiously stuck to this wasteful venture under the guise of building a very strong Super Eagles falls flat on its face when we either perform woefully at the senior World Cup or miss attending the Mundial as we did in 2022 in Qatar. Each succeeding NFF board always drink from this poisoned chalice. Happily, a new sports minister has assumed office and one hopes he can read this article to see how the NFF members walk into trouble with their eyes wide open.
For the NFF members, it translates to an act of witchcraft if you dare ask after the wages of any Super Eagles chief coach. When coaching positions become open, those likely for the jobs are with contractual details in the public domain after accepting the job unlike Nigeria’s where monetary details are never disclosed. We only get to know some semblance of how much the coach earns when such a foreign manager is being owed annual wages running into one year. The secrecy surrounding how such foreigners are recruited leaves room for a lot of suspicion with many instances suggesting a one-man show in the recruiting process.
In other climes, the recruitment of coaches is done by such a country’s Football Association’s Technical Committee by a process or such a new manager would be headhunted. A ready case in point is England where the incumbent manager Gareth Southgate is slated to quit the job next year. The English soccer chiefs are not leaving the process of replacing Gareth Southgate to chance or any form of lottery. Rather the English press is awash with stories of the thinking of the FA men on likely replacement for Gareth Southgate.
According to one of the English tabloids Daily Mail Tuesday: ”FA chiefs are conscious of the uncertainty and taking seriously the possibility that Southgate will saunter into the sunset after next summer’s European Championship in Germany.
”There were similar vibes before last year’s World Cup when Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino were all considered in the event of Southgate standing down. The dream appointment of some at the FA is Pep Guardiola — an option officials are open to exploring.”
Pray, this is a football body that has thinking members. They have situated the recruitment process to Englishmen who handle clubs in England, the successful ones and those foreigners whose methods suit what they desire for the Three Lions. It isn’t rocket science.
Honourable Sports Minister, please urge the NFF to tell Nigerians how much Coach Jose Peseiro now that he has accepted a pay cut from $70,000 monthly. It would make no sense for Peseiro’s new wages to be $50,000 which is what he got when he first assumed duties as the Head Coach for the Super Eagles. Indeed, it is a rape on our commonwealth for any group of people to pay Peseiro $50,000 monthly. Honourable minister, NFF needs to tell Nigerians the tenure of this new deal which shouldn’t be too far away from the end of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold Cote d’Ivoire. The shocking revelation that Peseiro $45,000 per month shows that federations aren’t sensitive to the near global recession.
To pay Peseiro $45,000 is unacceptable for a man who barely spends close to six unbroken weeks in Nigeria. The coach resides in Europe and monitors our players in the foreign legion by watching television which can easily be done by our domestic coaches. Peseiro’s repeated choice of between 23 to 28 foreign-based players is his uncanny way of de-marketing the domestic leagues and their players. Why is there a professional league in this country if its products aren’t good enough to play for Nigeria against a country which our big boys beat by 10 -0? Whispers seem to authenticate the fact that Peseiro’s revised monthly wage is $45,000 from the earlier $70,000. Ridiculous figures are being bandied without telling how the man’s wages would be paid, although the easiest option would be to use FIFA’s grants. Are the grants meant to pay our coaches or to settle institutional debts? Is this what other countries do with FIFA’s money?
Honourable sports minister sir, don’t be deceived by NFF’s cheap talk that they have reduced the number of support staff Peseiro can have. Did NFF in justifying why Peseiro should be paid $50,000 initially and $70,000 not say that the Portuguese would be paying his Portuguese assistants from this bogus wage? How does that translate to saving cost after the manager’s wage was reduced except they are being economical with the truth? Indeed, if Peseiro can’t work with his Nigerian assistants, then he should be asked to go.
One would have thought that NFF’s penchant for recruiting foreign coaches when there is the need for rebuilding the team after any woeful outing is one of the parameters for preparing a Nigerian to take over from such foreigners. If NFF men are serious, Peseiro’s contract shouldn’t be renewed irrespective of what the team achieves at the next Africa Cup of Nations slated to be held in Cote d’Ivoire. If we don’t give our qualified domestic coaches the opportunity to learn on the job whilst prosecuting matches, they would never grow nor would they acquire the desired experience we always aim for in foreign coaches.
If Peseiro was world-class, Portugal wouldn’t have gone for a foreigner as manager. Peseiro would have been their only choice. NFF showed their lack of vision by giving Peseiro a semi-final target at the Africa Cup of Nations in spite of our armada of stars painting Europe with goals and showcasing breath-taking soccer skills to the admiration of football fans across the globe.
Honourable minister sir, don’t be carried away by the number of goals the Super Eagles would score against Sao Tome on Sunday, having trounced the visitors 10-0 in the first leg. Instead, sit with the players to tabulate how much they are being owed and for which matches or international competitions. It would be preposterous if the players are being owed any amount for an international friendly match going by its tradition. International friendly matches are either at the behest of the organisers or at the instance of host the nations. There are ways in which monetary rewards are paid to the players as appearance fees. Hotel accommodation fees, feeding, transportation and other logistics are handled by the organisers, most times done by experts in the field.
Honourable minister, if the NFF owes the Super Eagles, the fault is theirs because the cost of assembling between 23 and 29 players for a game is too heavy and unnecessary since payments are done in hard currency. Only 16 players can participate in a game, so why invite 23 or 29? To do what? The disturbing aspect of this invitational style for players, is that the coaches always insist on having all foreign players. A prudent soccer federation worthy of its onions would insist on having at least nine home-based players.
What it means is that the cost of ticketing for foreign players would be reduced by half. Equally reduced would be the overhead cost of prosecuting games with 29 players. There is a need to find out how much the state governments which host the Super Eagles contribute. Do they pay for the players’ winning bonuses? Those large sums given to the team’s captain for the players are for what? You tell me.
Today September 9, 2023, is my 63rd birthday and I thought of reminiscing on the past six decades or more. I also thought of celebrating my big uncle (he will crucify me if I mention his name here) and I also thought about writing a few words about my late mother Dame Abigail Isevbua Ojeikere who shared my birthday with me. My mother would have been 89 years old today. But I’m a very quiet person and I have chosen to write today’s column normally by discussing the barefaced waste of cash by chieftains of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
Why NFF chieftains have religiously stuck to this wasteful venture under the guise of building a very strong Super Eagles falls flat on its face when we either perform woefully at the senior World Cup or miss attending the Mundial as we did in 2022 in Qatar. Each succeeding NFF board always drink from this poisoned chalice. Happily, a new sports minister has assumed office and one hopes he can read this article to see how the NFF members walk into trouble with their eyes wide open.
For the NFF members, it translates to an act of witchcraft if you dare ask after the wages of any Super Eagles chief coach. When coaching positions become open, those likely for the jobs are with contractual details in the public domain after accepting the job unlike Nigeria’s where monetary details are never disclosed. We only get to know some semblance of how much the coach earns when such a foreign manager is being owed annual wages running into one year. The secrecy surrounding how such foreigners are recruited leaves room for a lot of suspicion with many instances suggesting a one-man show in the recruiting process.
In other climes, the recruitment of coaches is done by such a country’s Football Association’s Technical Committee by a process or such a new manager would be headhunted. A ready case in point is England where the incumbent manager Gareth Southgate is slated to quit the job next year. The English soccer chiefs are not leaving the process of replacing Gareth Southgate to chance or any form of lottery. Rather the English press is awash with stories of the thinking of the FA men on likely replacement for Gareth Southgate.
According to one of the English tabloids Daily Mail Tuesday: ”FA chiefs are conscious of the uncertainty and taking seriously the possibility that Southgate will saunter into the sunset after next summer’s European Championship in Germany.
”There were similar vibes before last year’s World Cup when Eddie Howe, Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino were all considered in the event of Southgate standing down. The dream appointment of some at the FA is Pep Guardiola — an option officials are open to exploring.”
Pray, this is a football body that has thinking members. They have situated the recruitment process to Englishmen who handle clubs in England, the successful ones and those foreigners whose methods suit what they desire for the Three Lions. It isn’t rocket science.
Honourable Sports Minister, please urge the NFF to tell Nigerians how much Coach Jose Peseiro now that he has accepted a pay cut from $70,000 monthly. It would make no sense for Peseiro’s new wages to be $50,000 which is what he got when he first assumed duties as the Head Coach for the Super Eagles. Indeed, it is a rape on our commonwealth for any group of people to pay Peseiro $50,000 monthly. Honourable minister, NFF needs to tell Nigerians the tenure of this new deal which shouldn’t be too far away from the end of the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations slated to hold Cote d’Ivoire. The shocking revelation that Peseiro $45,000 per month shows that federations aren’t sensitive to the near global recession.
To pay Peseiro $45,000 is unacceptable for a man who barely spends close to six unbroken weeks in Nigeria. The coach resides in Europe and monitors our players in the foreign legion by watching television which can easily be done by our domestic coaches. Peseiro’s repeated choice of between 23 to 28 foreign-based players is his uncanny way of de-marketing the domestic leagues and their players. Why is there a professional league in this country if its products aren’t good enough to play for Nigeria against a country which our big boys beat by 10 -0? Whispers seem to authenticate the fact that Peseiro’s revised monthly wage is $45,000 from the earlier $70,000. Ridiculous figures are being bandied without telling how the man’s wages would be paid, although the easiest option would be to use FIFA’s grants. Are the grants meant to pay our coaches or to settle institutional debts? Is this what other countries do with FIFA’s money?
Honourable sports minister sir, don’t be deceived by NFF’s cheap talk that they have reduced the number of support staff Peseiro can have. Did NFF in justifying why Peseiro should be paid $50,000 initially and $70,000 not say that the Portuguese would be paying his Portuguese assistants from this bogus wage? How does that translate to saving cost after the manager’s wage was reduced except they are being economical with the truth? Indeed, if Peseiro can’t work with his Nigerian assistants, then he should be asked to go.
One would have thought that NFF’s penchant for recruiting foreign coaches when there is the need for rebuilding the team after any woeful outing is one of the parameters for preparing a Nigerian to take over from such foreigners. If NFF men are serious, Peseiro’s contract shouldn’t be renewed irrespective of what the team achieves at the next Africa Cup of Nations slated to be held in Cote d’Ivoire. If we don’t give our qualified domestic coaches the opportunity to learn on the job whilst prosecuting matches, they would never grow nor would they acquire the desired experience we always aim for in foreign coaches.
If Peseiro was world-class, Portugal wouldn’t have gone for a foreigner as manager. Peseiro would have been their only choice. NFF showed their lack of vision by giving Peseiro a semi-final target at the Africa Cup of Nations in spite of our armada of stars painting Europe with goals and showcasing breath-taking soccer skills to the admiration of football fans across the globe.
Honourable minister sir, don’t be carried away by the number of goals the Super Eagles would score against Sao Tome on Sunday, having trounced the visitors 10-0 in the first leg. Instead, sit with the players to tabulate how much they are being owed and for which matches or international competitions. It would be preposterous if the players are being owed any amount for an international friendly match going by its tradition. International friendly matches are either at the behest of the organisers or at the instance of host the nations. There are ways in which monetary rewards are paid to the players as appearance fees. Hotel accommodation fees, feeding, transportation and other logistics are handled by the organisers, most times done by experts in the field.
Honourable minister, if the NFF owes the Super Eagles, the fault is theirs because the cost of assembling between 23 and 29 players for a game is too heavy and unnecessary since payments are done in hard currency. Only 16 players can participate in a game, so why invite 23 or 29? To do what? The disturbing aspect of this invitational style for players, is that the coaches always insist on having all foreign players. A prudent soccer federation worthy of its onions would insist on having at least nine home-based players.
What it means is that the cost of ticketing for foreign players would be reduced by half. Equally reduced would be the overhead cost of prosecuting games with 29 players. There is a need to find out how much the state governments which host the Super Eagles contribute. Do they pay for the players’ winning bonuses? Those large sums given to the team’s captain for the players are for what? You tell me.
