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Tag: Stephen Keshi

  • I have no problem with Keshi – Green

    I have no problem with Keshi – Green

    Chairman of the Nigeria Football Federation Disciplinary Committee,  Barr. Christopher Green, has rubbished claims that he has an axe to grind with Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi.

    He also disclosed that the case before his committee which has to do with indiscipline involving captain Vincent Enyeama and Keshi is an internal issue that would be treated as such, blaming the media for blowing the matter out of proportion.

    “We have done the first case [concerning Super Eagles Captain Vincent Enyeama]. We have sent the first case back to the Nigeria Football Federation. It’s an internal matter that is happening internally. The NFF has the internal mechanism to deal with such matters,” Green told Goal.

    “The other matter [on Keshi] is before me so I can’t speak on it for now.

    “This is not a personal matter, it is a Federation matter. So those people saying I have an axe to grind with Keshi doesn’t really know what they are saying.

    “What axe to grind I ask? What has he done to me? If I have an axe to grind with him we won’t hear it. He has not done anything wrong with me now. So it is unfounded.

    “I have not quarreled with him. I have a good relationship with him. He is our coach and he remains our coach and I want him to be our coach. I am one of those who endorsed him as our coach so what else are we saying?

    “Like I told you the Vincent Enyeama issue is an internal matter. It’s the press that is blowing the case out of proportion,” he added.

    But Goal gathered from a competent source in the Federation that the leadership of the NFF has soft-pedaled on the matter because of the negative feedback coming from the public.

     

  • NFF accused Keshi of insubordination – Danagogo

    NFF accused Keshi of insubordination – Danagogo

    The Minister of Sports, Tammy Danagogo, has finally revealed reasons why the Nigeria Football Federation hesitated in reappointing Stephen Keshi as Super Eagles coach.

    Keshi, who recently signed a two-year contract with the NFF to continue as Super Eagles coach, was left hanging in the wind for nine months before he was confirmed to continue, although he handled the team on interim basis after his contract expired last July, sl10.ng reports.

    And Danagogo has revealed that the NFF’s hesitation was not down to incompetence on Keshi’s part, but due to “lack of respect’ and ‘insubordination.”

    “When I interviewed the NFF board members when they were yet to re-sign him, they weren’t even complaining about incompetence or anything of the sort.

    “But it was more of them complaining of Keshi not respecting their superiority and insubordination on his (Keshi’s) part,” he told sl10.ng.

    The outgoing Sports Minister however said he believes both Keshi and the NFF have learnt their lessons and advised they should cooperate more and work better together.

    “I believe Keshi has learnt his lessons, and so also the Nigeria Football Federation. I think they should cooperate and work well together and if they do, they will succeed,” Danagogo concluded.

  • Keshi opens Eagles’ camp mid- May

    Keshi opens Eagles’ camp mid- May

    Super Eagles  coach, Stephen Keshi, is expected to open camp for the domestic-league based players in May, ahead of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations’ qualifiers at home to Chad in Abuja in June.

    Keshi told Goal that he needs to start camping for the home-based players on time with the fixtures for the AFCON qualifiers pitching Nigeria with Egypt, Chad and Tanzania.

    “We need to start camping next month by the special grace of God because time is not on our side again since the fixtures for the AFCON 2017 qualifiers have been released by CAF,” Keshi told Goal.

    “We will definitely start off with the players based here in Nigeria and move on until the required time the overseas clubs can release our players for us.”

    A very close source to the team told Goal that Keshi would be expecting the players to hit Abuja camp as from Sunday, May 17 since the players would be involved in weekend matches for their various clubs in the local league in the country.

    “The camp is expected to kick off middle of May since we will be playing our first qualifying match at home in Abuja to Chad on June 13. So the players are expected to start arriving camp after their league matches on Saturday, May 16. So we should expect them to be available on Sunday, May 17,” the source disclosed.

    The source also revealed that Keshi would submit his programme to the Technical Committee of the Nigeria Football Federation this week.

    “Keshi has already drawn up his programme for the camping and will submit his programme before Friday this week,” the source also told Goal.

    Friday being a public holiday, it is expected that the coach would drop his programme before the end of work on Thursday.

  • NFF unveils Keshi at last

    NFF unveils Keshi at last

    … ‘Big boss’ signs two-year deal with federation

    Stephen Keshi has been re-appointed as Nigeria coach on a two-year contract after 10 months of uncertainty over his future with the Super Eagles.

    The 53-year-old signed the contract in Abuja on Tuesday following days of speculation over the decision of the Nigeria Football Federation to hand him the job, Goal reports.

    Keshi’s previous contract ended after the World Cup in Brazil, where he took Nigeria to the second round.

    He worked on a per-game basis during the country’s ill-fated qualifying campaign for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

    His new contract is expected to last till 2017 and would be determined by success or otherwise in the AFCON qualifiers and the tournament in Gabon.

    He will also be supervised by the NFF Technical Committee.

     

     

  • Keshi bows to Amodu

    Keshi bows to Amodu

    • NFF insists Big Boss must report to the Okpella-born tactician
    • Eagles’ chief coach must apologise publicly
    • Coaching impasse almost resolved

    The head of technical matters in soccer, especially as it concerns all of Nigeria’s national teams is Shaibu Amodu, according to the contents of the Okpella-born tactician’s contractual agreement with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

    SportingLife can reveal exclusively that Super Eagles’ chief coach-in-waiting, Stephen Keshi and other national teams’ coaches must report to Amodu on all technical matters, leaving the administrative issues to the eggheads in the different departments at the NFF.

    It was gathered further that the new Eagles chief coach-in-waiting has been told categorically by the NFF men that he must relate to Amodu as his boss, if he truly wants to keep the job on a permanent basis.

    And to buttress the fact that the new coach’s contract is almost tied up, Coach Keshi has been told categorically by the body’s first vice chairman, Barrister Seyi Akinwunmi, that he must apologise to the NFF boss, Melvin Amaju Pinnick, publicly and all the board members for calling the body’s chief a liar on an Abuja-based radio station.

    Keshi’s voice where he labelled Pinnick a liar was also played on Silverbird Television with Akinwunmi insisting that: “Keshi has been told he has the job, but first he must apologise for what was regarded as gross insubordination over time. That explains why he will sign a Code of Conduct.

    “The issue really is that Stephen Keshi as a coach is a short-term discussion, this means he can’t be there for a lengthy period, so we need to look at the issue of appointing a Nigerian coach in the long-term, how it affects the whole growth. So, I don’t think we should isolate the issue of Keshi to just the appointment as coach of the Super Eagles, like it was a quick fix.”

    The NFF dismissed the bogus apology done by someone who isn’t in its employ, insisting that the body has the tape recording of Keshi’s voice where he called Pinnick a liar.

    This revelation give the lie to the statement by a certain man that the media concocted the story claiming that Keshi called Pinnick a liar.

  • Keshi won’t accept new contract – Agent

    Keshi won’t accept new contract – Agent

    Emma Addo, the agent to out of contract Super Eagles coach, Stephen Keshi, has confirmed that his client won’t accept the new contract offered him by the Nigeria Football Federation.

    The NFF offered Keshi a new deal to continue in his role as coach of the Super Eagles, but with several clauses which were not contained in his former deal, despite being on the same N5million-per-month salary.

    Addo insists the ex-Anderlecht defender deserves a better deal than the one currently on the table, which he terms as a slave contract.

    “Keshi won’t sign, Nigeria can start looking for another coach, is that a contract or slavery, How can the NFF even come up with such idea,” he told sl10.ng.

    “For all Keshi did for Nigeria there are better ways of releasing him, surely not this way, he won’t sign the NFF slave contract, he is not as hungry or jobless as they think.”
    On what’s next for the 2013 AFCON winner, Addo said the NFF stopped Keshi from looking elsewhere, but with Nigeria now out of the way, his client will pick up a job very soon.

    “Keshi belongs to the league of few indigenous coaches in Africa who are highly respected and sort after, The NFF wasted his time but now that they are no longer an option, I assure you in a few days’ time, my client will be employed,” the agent stated.

  • Keshi loses out on Burkina Faso’s job

    Keshi loses out on Burkina Faso’s job

    … German Rohr to coach Stallions

    Out of contract Super Eagles Coach, Stephen Keshi, has lost out in his bid to replace Paul Put as Coach of the Burkina Faso National team, following the appointment of German’s Genort Rohr.

    Keshi was rumored to be the front runner for the job due to his age, but just as it happened when he was linked to the managerial role in South Africa and Equatorial Guinea, the Burkinabe Football Federation opted against employing him as the country’s national team coach.

    He was the preferred choice of the country federation’s president, Col. Sita Sangare, but Rohr was named as the new coach on Wednesday, sl10.ng reports.

    However the news comes as a relief to the president of the Nigeria Football Federation, Amaju Pinnick, who said a few days ago, that he prays Keshi turns down Burkina Faso and commits himself to a new deal, with the NFF.

     

  • Keshi was wrong choice for Nigeria job, says Akpoborie

    Keshi was wrong choice for Nigeria job, says Akpoborie

    Former Nigeria striker Jonathan Akpoborie has revealed that Stephen Keshi should not have been appointed as the Super Eagles coach because he lacks the rudiments of a good tactician.

    The former Mail and Togo handler remains in charge of the African champions despite his inability to qualify the country for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.

    According to Akpoborie, nothing has changed in the senior national team since Keshi took over two years back, while blasting his overreliance on a particular player.

    “For those who know about the technicality of the game, it is obvious that from what we have seen in the  last two years that Stephen Keshi is not good enough for our national team,” Akpoborie told Goal.

    “Though we won the Africa Cup of Nations, but we have not improved and I keep wondering why he was brought back after the NFF let him go.

    “It took Victor Moses’ individual brilliance to see us qualify for the knockout stage of the 2013 AFCON, most times we bank on Ahmed Musa to rescue us and that has been our problem. You don’t need to depend on a particular player every time.”

    The former Stuttgart striker feels that  hiring a sound foreign technical adviser for the country would be the solution, while disagreeing with the fact that some foreign tacticians brought to the country failed before.

    “When I say a coach is not good enough, it’s not just picking 11 players. It’s virtually about an indepth knowledge all around the game,” he continued.

    “We are not yet ready to have an indigenous coach lead the Super Eagles.

    “How many good foreign coaches have been brought into the country? Berti Vogts was already finished when he was hired.

    “You want to talk about Lagerback? No, he wasn’t good enough. In Europe, he wasn’t good enough, how then will he be good enough for our boys who play topflight football in Europe?

    “Bring a very good coach and you will see the difference,” he concluded.

  • Keshi responsible for AFCON failure – Oliseh

    Keshi responsible for AFCON failure – Oliseh

    Former Super Eagles captain, Sunday Oliseh, has said Stephen Keshi should shoulder the blame for Nigeria’s failure to qualify for next year’s African Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea.

    Oliseh, writing in his blog, faulted Keshi’s constant line-up changes and failure to settle on his best 11 players, a situation he claimed made them not to play as a team.

    ”The uncoordinated way in which Super Eagles play, which triggered our recent elimination, is borne out of the fact that there were too much line-up changes.

    “When you lack ‘raw’ quality in your team, you advocate and build success via team work, team play and a regular team to compensate for what you lack in individual quality,” Sl10.ng quoted Oliseh as saying in the blog.

    He also lashed out at Keshi’s poor handling of his critics, saying not all those who criticise the out of contract Super Eagles coach are interested in his job.

    “It is a crime to air your opinion, give advice or suggestions on how to better the Super Eagles without the handlers throwing insults at you or crying out that you seek their job,” he added.

    “They probably do this because they got the job by back stabbing; hence they fail to understand that not everyone needs or wants to coach the Super Eagles.”

    The outspoken Ex Juventus man, who is a licensed UEFA grade A coach, continued by saying Keshi and his technical crew lack the proper qualification requirements to lead a team like the Super Eagles, and that also means they were unable to achieve success in the long haul even though they won the AFCON in 2013.

    “Most of us played football as kids, we all have an opinion or idea about football. This, however, leads some to think they are experts. This is not only wrong, but dangerous,” he continued.

    “Should you want to be a top coach, you have to study and get yourself certified and even then you are not guaranteed success.

    “Spain’s Football Federation recently banned Real Madrid’s second-team coach, Zinedine Zidane, from coaching because he doesn’t have the right qualifications.

    “If they can ban such a legend from coaching the second division, why should we hand over our national teams and first division clubs to people who just attended two-week seminars and pretend to be qualified?”

  • ‘Keshi to get new contract’

    ‘Keshi to get new contract’

    Stephen Keshi will be given a new contract by the Nigeria Football Federation despite failing to qualify Nigeria for next year’s African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea, an official has said.

    There have been calls for Keshi to be replaced as Super Eagles coach, just as Samson Siasia was three years ago when he failed to lead the team to the 2012 AFCON.

    However, Keshi is now to be given a new contract, according to NFF executive committee member, Emeka Inyama.

    “The board has mandated the technical committee to finalise a contract for Keshi as he still remains the coach of Nigeria,” Inyama told africanFootball.com.

    The AFCON-winning coach has handled the Eagles without a contract after his initial three-year deal ran out after the World Cup in Brazil.

    A lingering leadership tussle that dogged Nigeria football in the past four months prevented the coach from signing a new deal.