NFF'S FAILINGS ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR RECURRING COACHING WOES – ONIGBINDE
The former Super Eagles coach has said that NFF are chief culprits in the ever present troubles bedeviling the team's previous coaches while appealing for lasting solutions.
Chief Adegboye Onigbinde has blamed the administrative failures of the Nigeria Football Federation as being responsible for the recurring trend of coaching problems in the Super Eagles.
His comments follow the decision of Sunday Oliseh to throw in the towel and quit as the Super Eagles manager barely eight months in the saddle on Friday.
Oliseh, a former Nigeria international, was named the Super Eagles gaffer in July 2015, his first major coaching job, following the sacking of his former team mate Stephen Keshi.
His acrid comments following following the Eagles' early elimination from the African Nations Championship last month saw him enter into a running battle with his employers, the NFF.
The 41-year-old gave reasons why he took the crucial decision that threw Nigeria into disarray citing his employers' lack of support and contractual failings - similar faults raised by former coaches.
In a soft backing, the former Nigeria coach said he suffered the same fate just as many after him, including Oliseh, stressing that the problems Super Eagles coaches had faced were administrative and not technical.
"It is not a new thing," Onigbinde began narrating his horrible experience as Super Eagles manager to Goal.
"I was the first coach to be directly appointed though some acted before me but this was a direct as head coach of the Super Eagles in 1983.
"And I went through hell but thank God I am alive today. My annual salary then was about 10,000 naira. My official vehicle was a [Volkwagen Beetle] car.
"Throughout my three years stay I did not have an official room as a residence. For a whole year I was not supplied with balls from January to December in 1983.
"With all modesty, if you see it as a national service to your nation you must be able to endure some things to make some sacrifice.
"I requested for 30 balls but the then chairman of NFA wanted to beat me up for requesting for more than two balls.
"The painful aspect of it was that if i was a white man requesting for 30 balls he would send someone to Germany to bring 100 balls.
"In one word, each time I'm saying the problem with our football is administrative, people tend to think I want to abuse them or expose them.
"What has been happening all through are they technical issues? No, they are administrative. And this is where it has gotten us to.
"So what we need to do now is to learn from the past and improve knowing that the beginning of lunacy is doing the same thing the same way all over and over and expecting a different result. We cannot get a different result."
He, however, urged the NFF to look at finding lasting solutions to the recurring administrative issues that are ruining the good prospect of the national team.
According to him, the NFF needs to act fast to avoid seeing the country missing out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.
"It is unfortunate, but I usually don't bother my head with problems but solutions. What do we do from now?
"Once an event has taken place, we can't recall it. So what to do is to move forward. What should we do from now because the next important engagement before us is so short.
"The shortness is crucial but at the same time what matters is what we do between now and the next game against Egypt. That's why I believe the authority should get themselves together and find a solution," he concluded.
Uncertainty now rocks the fate of Nigeria's qualification for the 2017 Afcon following Oliseh's sudden resignation with less than 30 days to its crucial duel against Egpyt.
Chief Adegboye Onigbinde has blamed the administrative failures of the Nigeria Football Federation as being responsible for the recurring trend of coaching problems in the Super Eagles.
His comments follow the decision of Sunday Oliseh to throw in the towel and quit as the Super Eagles manager barely eight months in the saddle on Friday.
Oliseh, a former Nigeria international, was named the Super Eagles gaffer in July 2015, his first major coaching job, following the sacking of his former team mate Stephen Keshi.
His acrid comments following following the Eagles' early elimination from the African Nations Championship last month saw him enter into a running battle with his employers, the NFF.
The 41-year-old gave reasons why he took the crucial decision that threw Nigeria into disarray citing his employers' lack of support and contractual failings - similar faults raised by former coaches.
In a soft backing, the former Nigeria coach said he suffered the same fate just as many after him, including Oliseh, stressing that the problems Super Eagles coaches had faced were administrative and not technical.
"It is not a new thing," Onigbinde began narrating his horrible experience as Super Eagles manager to Goal.
"I was the first coach to be directly appointed though some acted before me but this was a direct as head coach of the Super Eagles in 1983.
"And I went through hell but thank God I am alive today. My annual salary then was about 10,000 naira. My official vehicle was a [Volkwagen Beetle] car.
"Throughout my three years stay I did not have an official room as a residence. For a whole year I was not supplied with balls from January to December in 1983.
"With all modesty, if you see it as a national service to your nation you must be able to endure some things to make some sacrifice.
"I requested for 30 balls but the then chairman of NFA wanted to beat me up for requesting for more than two balls.
"The painful aspect of it was that if i was a white man requesting for 30 balls he would send someone to Germany to bring 100 balls.
"In one word, each time I'm saying the problem with our football is administrative, people tend to think I want to abuse them or expose them.
"What has been happening all through are they technical issues? No, they are administrative. And this is where it has gotten us to.
"So what we need to do now is to learn from the past and improve knowing that the beginning of lunacy is doing the same thing the same way all over and over and expecting a different result. We cannot get a different result."
He, however, urged the NFF to look at finding lasting solutions to the recurring administrative issues that are ruining the good prospect of the national team.
According to him, the NFF needs to act fast to avoid seeing the country missing out of the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon.
"It is unfortunate, but I usually don't bother my head with problems but solutions. What do we do from now?
"Once an event has taken place, we can't recall it. So what to do is to move forward. What should we do from now because the next important engagement before us is so short.
"The shortness is crucial but at the same time what matters is what we do between now and the next game against Egypt. That's why I believe the authority should get themselves together and find a solution," he concluded.
Uncertainty now rocks the fate of Nigeria's qualification for the 2017 Afcon following Oliseh's sudden resignation with less than 30 days to its crucial duel against Egpyt.
