West Ham striker, Emmanuel Emenike, has paid tribute to Sunday Oliseh following his resignation as Super Eagles coach on Friday morning.
Emenike quit the Super Eagles last October after reports emerged that he won’t be invited for the World Cup qualifiers with Swaziland because of his goal drought.
“Coach you have done well and tried your best, wish you good luck anytime and any day. God bless,” allnigeriasoccer.com quoted the on loan Fenerbahce striker as saying on his Twitter handle.
Friday Ekpo, an ex-international on Friday described the resignation of the Super Eagles handler, Sunday Oliseh, as shocking.
Oliseh in the early hours of February 26 announced his resignation, citing violations of his contract terms and unpaid salaries by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) as well as lack of support among others.
The former Super Eagles midfielder was appointed on July 15, 2015. He took over from Stephen Keshi whose appointment was terminated by the NFF.
Ekpo said that the resignation came at a crucial time when the nation was preparing for a major qualifying match against Egypt on March 26.
“Honestly, I don’t know where we are heading to with this latest development of Oliseh’s resignation.
“I hope this won’t affect our chances of qualifying for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
Ekpo, also urged the leadership of the NFF to get things right in order to avert such recurrence in the future.
“The NFF should always do things the right way, that is the only way we can avoid things like this,” he said.
Also, Falade Oyekan, Chairman of the Lagos Divisional Football Association (LDFA), said he was not surprised over the coach’s resignation.
“What has Oliseh achieved as a coach that is the question we should ask ourselves as a nation, a lot of Nigerians questioned his appointment then.
“The painful thing is that we have a very vital match at hand and he chooses to throw in the towel at this time,” he said.
Donatus Emeka, a grassroots football coach, said that Oliseh should have resigned when he failed to qualify the home-based eagles for the second round of the African Nations Championship (CHAN).
Emeka said that the NFF should be held responsible for the crises affecting football in the country.
“If you do the wrong thing, definitely you will get the wrong result and that is what has happened concerning Oliseh.
“NFF should do the needful to redeem its image and apologise to the nation,’’ he said.
Super Eagles Chief Coach, Sunday Oliseh has resigned his job.
He announced his decision in a tweet on his verified Twitter handle @SundayOOliseh early Friday morning.
The tweet read “Due to Contract violations ,lack of Support,Unpaid wages,Benefits to my players,Asst.Coaches & myself, I resign as Super Eagles Chief Coach.
“I feel fortunate, blessed and eternally grateful for having had the honour to Play,Captain & Coach this great Nation of ours,Nigeria.”
Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has claimed he was approached by an unnamed top African nation last year but turned down their offer.
Oliseh, 41, revealed at one of the sessions of the Social Media Week on Thursday that the offer from the African country came in just three months after he took charge as Nigeria coach.
“I must state that within three months of coaching the Super Eagles, I got an offer from a top African nation to become the coach of their national team, but I turned it down,” supersport.com quoted Oliseh as saying via Skype from his base in Belgium.
The ex-Juventus midfielder also said there had been improvements in the Super Eagles style of play and results since he took charge of the team.
He wants football analysts in Nigeria to give fans correct information about the national team.
“We have lost just one competitive match in 14 games. That is an improvement. The team has improved in areas of movement and passing of the ball, so analysts must give fans the correct information because the team has improved in a very short time considering that there are new players in the team too,” the coach added.
Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has agreed to pay his former Ajax Amsterdam teammate, Tijjani Babangida, after he insisted on having the ex-Eagles star on his backroom staff.
“Oliseh has maintained he will decide who he works with and that is why Babangida will return to the Eagles camp when it reopens for the AFCON qualifiers against Egypt next month,” an official told africanFootball.com on Monday.
“He has been his close and trusted confidant right from their playing days and he counts on him a great deal.”
Oliseh has made his position on this matter very clear to his employers.
And also the contract he signed with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) allows him to appoint an assistant coach and a special assistant.
Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, is set for another confrontation with the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after he insisted Tijjani Babangida remains his personal assistant and has not been sacked.
The NFF had earlier this week issued a final warning to Oliseh to keep his cool after his recent YouTube rantings.
However, sources told africanFootball.com that the ex- Eagles captain has put his foot down that the NFF do not have a say on the two persons he picked to work with him as contained in the contract he signed with the federation.
“Oliseh has asked questions on the reported dismissal of his personal assistant as no reason was given for their decision,” the source told africanFootball.com.
“He has insisted Babangida remains his personal assistant as long as he has a contract with the NFF.”
Another source said Oliseh is the real target, but like cowards the NFF officials are after Babangida and other “soft targets” around the Super Eagles coach.
The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), has sacked Tijani Babangida, Personal Assistant to Sunday Oliseh, the Super Eagles Head Coach.
This is stated in a communiqué at the end of the meeting of the NFF Executive Committee issued in Abuja on Wednesday by Ademola Olajire, the NFF Assistant Director of Communications.
It said the disengagement of Babangida followed recommendation of the NFF Technical and Development Committee which was unanimously approved.
The board, therefore, mandated the General Secretary, Mohammed Sanusi, to follow the due process in effecting the disengagement.
Similarly, the NFF executive committee endorsed the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee for the appointment of erstwhile Golden Eaglets’ Coach Emmanuel Amuneke, as Head Coach of the Flying Eagles.
The communiqué said Kabiru Baleria and Emeka Amadi had been appointed as Assistant Coach and Goalkeeper Trainer respectively.
NFF also approved the recommendation of the Technical and Development Committee that the backroom staff of the various National Teams be reconstituted immediately, with the exception of the Super Eagles.
“With its determination to find a holistic solution to the dwindling fortunes of the Senior Women National Team, Falcons, committee approved the recommendation of the Technical Committee for the appointment of expatriate coach.
“The expatriate coach will be assisted by former Super Falcons’ Captains, Florence Omagbemi, Perpetua Nkwocha and Ann Chiejine, with Bala Mohammed as Goalkeeper Trainer.
“Omagbemi will head the crew in acting capacity in the meantime.
“The Executive Committee also approved a recommendation by the Technical Committee for processes to be put in place for the training, grading and certification of all categories of football coaches in Nigeria.
“The programme, which would be run in conjunction with a consultant to be approved by the Executive Committee, will commence once approval is secured from the Confederation of African Football’’, it said.
It further stated that henceforth, Super Eagles Coach Sunday Oliseh must report to the NFF General Secretary and the Technical and Development Committee.
The communiqué also said that Oliseh should be ready to defend his entire programme before the committee including invitation of players and training programmes at all times.
“Executive Committee reviewed the outing of the Super Eagles at the recently-concluded 4th Championship of African Nations and the events that followed.
“The committee rebuked Oliseh for his unwarranted statements unbecoming of a National Team Coach.
“His outburst in both regular and social media was unnecessary, However, we acknowledge his apology but the executive committee will not tolerate similar infractions in future.
“The committee approved a recommendation by the NFF Referees Committee for the introduction of Referee Assessor for matches of the Nigeria National League from 2016 season.
“The executive committee constituted ad-hoc committees to study and compose governance structures for Nigeria National League, Nigeria Women Football League, Nationwide League One, and report back to the committee within four weeks.’’
It listed the committees as composed to include Nigeria National League to be chaired by Seyi Akinwunmi, while the Nigeria Women Football League would be chaired by Alhaji Babagana Kalli.
Nationwide League One ad-hoc committee would have Alhaji Ibrahim Musa Gusau as its Chairman.
Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, has said midfielder Ifeanyi Matthew has played his way into the main team after he picked him as his best player at the recent African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda.
Oliseh has said at least seven players from CHAN team led by Matthew have proved they are good enough for the full Super Eagles.
“From CHAN, it is no secret that Ifeanyi Mathew was our best and most consistent player there. Personally, he is one of the players I am looking at for the Super Eagles,” africanFootball.com quoted the Eagles coach as saying on the player.
“I just hope he does not lose form or suffer any injury.
“We had at least seven very good players from CHAN who can stand up to the high level because I put them through high tempo play.”
The 19-year-old Matthew, playing as the second defensive midfielder, was an ever-present as Nigeria crashed out in the group stage of the CHAN.
The versatile player has already represented Nigeria at U-17and U-20 levels.
Oliseh also disclosed his plans for next month’s crucial African Nations Cup qualifiers against Egypt.
He said: “I plan to invite two players for each wing and they will fight it out in training. The player who is more ready will play.
“I will not see home-based or foreign-based player when they hit camp.”
Former Super Eagles coach, Adegboye Onigbinde, has said Nigerians merited coach Sunday Oliseh’s insults for “begging” him to coach the team despite his inadequacies.
In two videos released via his Youtube channel on Sunday, Oliseh called those calling for his sack “insane” while making a critical remark about his former teammates who he advised to pick up coaching forms and handle the national team instead of finding loopholes in his work.
Onigbinde told Goal: “The first issue is about his appointment which he claimed he didn’t beg to secure, in other words, the NFF begged him. And I begin to ask what qualities did the NFF see in him and begged to have him lead the Super Eagles?”
“I still feel it is a big slap on the country to appoint a Nigerian or a foreigner who has never handled any club or a big team to handle the Super Eagles. That is an insult, and now the insult is now being complicated.
“Oliseh is now calling his critics insane. I watched the video and at a point was shedding tears for Nigerian football but we deserve it. Since he got this job, he has been going to Europe for treatment, shouldn’t the NFF have verified his health condition before appointing him. Now he has the gut to insult everybody.”
The former 3SC of Ibadan coach noted that Oliseh was never an intelligent choice for the Super Eagles due to his inexperience and antecedents while in national team.
“Also talking about his experience, has he not shown inadequacy in this? For instance, see the way he handled [Vincent] Enyeama’s case. If Oliseh was intelligent enough, he could have commiserated with him first on the loss of his mother and Enyeama would have been worshipping him, but he wanted to be a boss.
“Have Nigerians forgotten that the national team broke down in Mali as a result of gross indiscipline under his leadership and now that is the kind of person NFF feels is good enough for the Super Eagles job.
“These are the questions we failed to answer before giving him the job and to some extent, he is right in throwing hot water on the faces of those who landed him the job.
“You can imagine a coach coming out a day to the commencement of the African Nations Championship that his players are not well fed and all that, what kind of result do you expect from that kind of coach?
“The question now is, will this not affect our chances in future competitions? Now we are causing more confusion and destroying the team further.
“That is in the hands of those managing Nigeria football. I have made several enemies speaking the truth. The fact is we have administrative problems bedeviling our football,” he concluded.
Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh, on Monday sent a letter of apology to the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) after his recent attacks on the federation and his perceived critics.
Nigeria failed to reach the knockout stage of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Rwanda, leading to speculations over Oliseh’s future as Eagles coach, africanFootball.com reports.
The ex-Eagles captain later fired back, saying his players were not motivated to do well in the competition.
He fired salvos at “insane” critics, particularly his former international teammates, who he claimed have been most unfair to him with their attacks in the media.
A close source to the Eagles coach told africanFootball.com that Oliseh has just sent a letter apologising for his utterances and actions.
“He said he is sorry, that he never wanted to attack the NFF or embarrass the federation, but rather he wanted the whole world to know they have not been given money.
“He also said he has been very frustrated after the heavy attack on him and his team after the CHAN exit,” the source said.