Posted by By RICHARD JIDEAKA, Abuja on
The inability of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) to resolve their lingering leadership problem has been attributed to greed and the nonchalance attitude of the entire football coaching family in the country.
The inability of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association (NFCA) to resolve their lingering leadership problem has been attributed to greed and the nonchalance attitude of the entire football coaching family in the country.
According to Chief Coach of Voice of Nigeria (VON) FC, a Professional League Division 1 side, Gidado Usman, the squabbles, which had retarded the progress of Nigerian coaches and still remained unsolved, is so because some coaches are benefiting from the crisis.
Coach Gidado, who guided VON FC from ‘no division league side' to the Professional League in just three seasons, stated that some coaches had succeeded in scuttling the efforts made by other well-meaning Nigerians to get coaches together to speak with one voice, adding that Nigerian coaches were fast becoming a laughing stock within the football family, just because everyone of them had been on his own.
"They have made the coaches' association an all-comers affair, where gatecrashers are allowed to hold sway ahead of more qualified and better experienced personnel, simply because there is leadership crisis in the NFCA. And until we find a solution to the crisis, we will remain the way we are," the Plateau-born coach stated.
The former trainer of the National Under-17 squad, whose team were among the frontrunners at the end of last Professional League season, also spoke on other issues in this interview with Daily Sunsport.
Excerpts:
Grading of coaches
It is a shame that at this stage in our soccer development, Nigerian coaches are not graded like their counterparts in Europe and America. The NFA should help in this direction by putting a benchmark on who should coach an Amateur, Professional or Premier League side. There should also be grades for those who coach the national teams.
We could also check gatecrashers in the association by grading our coaches. When they are graded, it would force our coaches to develop themselves better by attending courses.
Like the recent surge in the number of former international players wanting to coach our national teams, the idea is not a bad one, but the question is, why the national team, why not come and share the experience with club sides first before thinking of coaching the national teams? I think people should learn to progress gradually so that they can deliver better at the highest level. Most of the ex-internationals usually think that since Samson Siasia could do it, they too can do it also. They tend to forget that luck really counts in whatever one does in life but not always.
So, for me, Nigerian coaches should be graded according to their qualifications and experiences. If we fail in this area, there is no way we can check gatecrashers from hijacking our association and profession.
We need to put our acts together to move forward. In Europe, one cannot just come from nowhere and begin to handle the national team. I mean you must be of the highest grade to even think about coaching a Premier League side, not to talk of the national team.
My grouse is that my colleagues are not bothered about what is happening in the business of football coaching as long as they have a job at hand. I am also worried about our members, who are only desperate in lobbying to grab jobs or even push out their colleagues and take over their jobs.
Biggest challenge
The biggest challenge so far in my coaching career has been my sojourn with VON FC since 2001. It's not easy to handle a club side that have to compete for the best result year in, year out without having enough fund to back the ambition. But with the little resources at our disposal, we have been able to manage the team to make a mark in the Nigerian League. Playing under tight financial situation is a big challenge, which I have been able to go through with results.
Coaches' association
Aside the leadership crisis facing our association, another problem is that our members are impatient. Most coaches would want to get the positions they did not work for or merit. Every one of them wants to become a national team coach without having any result to show for their aspirations. I belong to the school of thought, which believes in one must first learn to crawl before walking. That's why they wouldn't want us to unite so that we cannot speak with one voice.
The coaches association thrives in disunity. It's where members try to undo each other to take over their jobs. They discredit their members just to take their jobs. That's why clubs, at any slight opportunity, fire coaches. It's not normal, but with our association in crisis, anything goes.
We in the FCT Chapter of the NFCA had on two different occasions called for a reconciliatory meeting to resolve the crisis, but no meaningful progress was made. However, we are not discouraged yet as we're set to call for another meeting.
On Eguavoen
I am so excited with Austin Eguavoen's progress with the Super Eagles. He is a good ambassador of Nigerian coaches. He and his crew have been able to prove that they can do the job even better than the foreign coaches some people clamour to have.
Our problem in this country is that we hardly appreciate our own, while some coaching jobbers are praying that Eguavoen and his men should be sacked so that they can be saddled with the responsibility of getting a white man.
The NFA have really done well by re-appointing Eguavoen as the chief coach of Super Eagles. It's victory for indigenous coaches.
Target with VON
The aim this season is to qualify VON to Premier League and qualify for the FA Cup national competition, and I think we have the players, who can deliver the good," concluded the coach, who once had stints with CBN Abuja, INEC and NYSC Yola teams.