After many twists and exchange of correspondences between the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) and the Super Eagles Manager, Gernot Rohr, the German last week accepted to continue his coaching role in Nigeria.
Rohr will remain in charge of the three-time African champions for the next two-and-a-half-year after he agreed terms on a new contract with the NFF. The Nigerian football ruling body provided a difficult template for the tactician and it was expected that the coach would decline or simply walk away.
The NFF insisted that the coach must be ready to stay in Nigeria for the better part of the year and must not travel out more than three times to see his family. He must monitor the domestic league and bring in players in the league to be part of the national team. The 66-year-old coach was also presented with a proposal that he must be ready to collect his salaries in Naira.
We saw this as a tough call for Rohr and an indication that the NFF wanted him out but somehow, both parties agreed to move on.
NFF President, Amaju Pinnick, however emphasized that in the new contract, Rohr now has the mandate to win the next Africa Cup of Nations and go ahead to make ‘appreciable impact’ at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Pinnick said: “We have always had confidence in his abilities and we are confident that the national team can only go higher from here. We can now focus on qualifying for the World Cup and winning the Nations Cup. In truth, these are sacrosanct and Coach Rohr is aware of these conditions.
“Like the Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, has rightly noted; we are uncompromising with these goals.”
We commend the NFF for putting the coach on his toes from the very beginning of the fresh 30-month contract. The Super Eagles need a pattern and the cohesion must be evident in their play.
Rohr led the Eagles to win AFCON bronze at Egypt 2019 and also qualified Nigeria for the 2018 World Cup in Russia but the country failed to move beyond the first round.
However, we make bold to say the Eagles have been inconsistent in the past three years and with the array of promising players in the fold, the team requires a better direction.
The German coach is already banking on the injection of former team captain Joseph Yobo, to bring in fresh ideas into the team.
Yobo, with over 25 years of experience in international football, is a big boost to the team but Rohr must be ready to tap from the former international to make Eagles stronger.
Rohr is aware of the uphill task before him this time especially because the minister also stressed that he must deliver on the targets or get fired.
The coach said: “It is good to have these milestones and ambition. My contract all the time is a risk because it is finished when we are eliminated from a competition – whether the AFCON or World Cup.
“I took the risk already when I arrived, and it is still the same. But I am very optimistic, because now we have a team which is playing good football and I have confidence in my players.”
The German was first appointed Super Eagles head coach in August 2016 and will now stay till end of 2022.
We frown at the timing of his contract renewal which should have been done last year and not when it is less than a month to the end of the tenure. The federation gave an impression that a new coach was imminent only to settle for Rohr. The current global lockdown as a result of COVID-19 worked in favour of Nigeria because the imbroglio over the renewal delay could have affected the team in the matches billed for March which were postponed.
The details of the new contract are not out except the once the federation wanted in public domain. We stress that it would have been better to make his contract paper public so that if there are issues, the press and indeed the public will be able to judge even before a word from both parties.
We recall that many years ago, when Thijs Librets was hired by Nigeria, his contract papers were made available to the Nigerian press.
Now, the NFF and the coach must work towards fulfilment of the contractual terms including payment of wages which sometimes cause ripples.
We charge the federation to go all out to get sponsorship for the payment of Rohr and other national team coaches while the bonuses and allowances of the players must also be taken seriously to enable Rohr to work in a conducive atmosphere good enough to produce required results.
Rohr is also expected to stop experimenting and rebuilding the team which has been in his care since 2016. We expect a stronger and better Eagles now because with the continuity in the technical crew, there will be no excuses for failure.
There is little or no time for Rohr this time, he is expected to grind in results with the quality of players at his disposal and the time he has spent with the team.
END
Be the first to comment