I believe it was Chief Onigbinde who once said that the problem with Nigeria is that we never truly analyze or successes or failures and therefore never really learn the right lessons or apply the right solutions. The result is that we have the dubious distinction of having hired a total of twelve coaches in eleven years.
On the surface of it, it would appear that our problems are rooted in the lack of continuity, an arguement currently being advanced by those in support of retaining Samson Siasia. I disagree!
In my opinion, our problem is not simply a lack of continuity but inability to correctly diagnose our problems, including our successes and our failures and thus apply the right solutions. Continuity for its sake is meaningless. There has to be evidence of improvement on which to base the expectation of continued growth. Continuity is what kept Amodu on the job even on the clear evidence the Eagles were not growing in spite of the positive results. On the contrary failure to correctly diagnose the problems of the team and in a timely manner led to the horrendous mistake of sacking the said coach on the eve of the world cup.
Going by the published comments of some members of the NFF's technical committee, the conclusion from Nigeria's failure to qualify for the ANC is the enforcement of the appropriate clause in Siasia's contract and perhaps a recommendation for the hiring of a new coach.
But let us review the ANC qualifiers and the management of our football after the world cup:
1. Nigeria's last match at the world cup in South Africa was a 2-2 draw against South Korea on June 22, 2010.
2. Three months later, the ersthwhile coach Lars Lagerback is not replaced and Nigeria begins the ANC qualifiers in Calabar with Austin Eguavoen as caretaaker coach, defeating Madagascar 2-0 on September 11, 2010.
3. One month later Nigeria's suspension from international football is rescinded in time for the second qualifier with Eguavoen still as caretaker. Under a cloud of uncertainty and near chaos, Nigeria loses to Guinea in Conakry on October 10, 2010.
4. It would be another month before a substantive coach, Samson Siasia is appointed on November 4, 2010. At this time Nigeria is 3 points behind Guinea in the qualifiers.
5. Perhaps because nobody was focussed on it, a FIFA friendlies window would pass by on November 17, 2010 with Nigeria playing no match. It would be four months before the next FIFA date!
6. The result was that 9 months had elapsed from the conclusion of the World Cup, before a substantive national team coach was appointed by the NFF. Nine months!
7. Nine months had passed before our coach had his first training session with his players, three points behind in the qualification table! March 26, 2011 Nigeria beat Ethiopia 4-0 on an Abuja stadium pitch that appeared unfit for grazing cattle!
8. Three months later on June 5, 2011 Nigeria met Ethiopia again. As I had written here the travel arrangements for this match was botched. Speaking to SuperSports.com Siasia attributed the laboured performance of the team to jetlag, saying that "the travelling plan, which was supposed to last four hours, claimed an additional three hours, leaving the players with little time to rest before the game". So the players got there jetlagged...". The match ended 2-2 and Nigeria fell further behind to Guinea.
9. After the match, the team's media officer commented as follows: "For the next game, all concerned are in agreement that the arrangements need to be better...".
10. That next match, with better travel arrangements took place in Madagascar on September 4, 2011. Nigeria won 2-0.
A review of our ANC qualifying series shows that the games in which Nigeria dropped points were in Conakry, Addis Ababa and the final match against Guinea in Abuja. The first two of these games was marred by administrative screw ups by the NFF, while Siasia lost the third.
In football there are no guarantees. Nobody can tell if Nigeria would've won in Ethiopia with better travel arrangements. But there is overwhelming evidence that the better prepared a team is, the greater its chances for success.
Administrative screw ups have consequences. It is therefore the height of folly to see members of the NFF technical committee like Paul Bassey and Ikpeme speak about enforcement of the relevant clause in Siasia's contract instead of providing the Board of the Federation a technical analysis of the current state of the Super Eagles and a scientific basis on which to make informed decisions.
The issues before Nigeria going forward with respect to Siasia and the Super Eagles is neither legal nor contractual. It is technical and administrative. Similarly, the case for retaining Siasia is not simply about continuity
Nigeria does not have a reservoir of top managers in football. If anything the quality of coaches has declined steadily since the days of Dan Anyiam. Many years ago while writing in the Guardian Newspapers, I observed that a new generation of Nigerian coaches would only emerge with the retirement of the 1994 Eagles and their transition to coaching. Samson Siasia and Sunny Oliseh in my opinion represent the most promising of this group at the moment.
Their transition to top level management will come with bumps along the road. The challenge before Nigeria is thus two fold: persevere with these young coaches and create the enabling conditions for them to grow or hire a foreign coach.
From the events unfolding about Siasia's tenure, I fear that the careers of these two young coaches might be destroyed before they had time to make a mark in coaching, as a result of our inability to create an enabling environment for them to grow.
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