BY Remi Sulola
Sunday Oliseh’s reign as Super Eagles coach is finally over. Oliseh pulled the plug on his short but dramatic coaching career himself by resigning in the middle of the night via his tweeter handle @SundayOOliseh, after sending a resignation letter to Nigeria Footbal federation (NFF).
It came as a surprise but not a shock, as Oliseh always took to the social media on the most sensitive issues since he officially became Eagles chief coach on July 15, 2015.
As coach, Oliseh played 11 games, won five, drew four, lost two, scoring 14 goals while conceding five. With his era now gone, what fundamental lessons exist for everyone, including the NFF and the coach himself?
In terms of paper qualifications, Sunday Oliseh is one of the most technically learned and qualified persons in international football. However, until his appointment, Oliseh was completely inexperienced as far as practical coaching was concerned. The most he had done was to coach a second-division team in Belgium, R.C.S Verviers. That practical experience was obviously inadequate to perform well as coach of one of the biggest countries in African football.
From time immemorial, NFF has been owing salaries of coaches. And it must, as a matter of urgency, find a way to ensure prompt payment of coaches’ salaries. When coaches and players are owed, not only does the federation lose its grip over them, those being owed start wondering if representing the country is a worthy sacrifice at all.
Oliseh was one of the best players during his time as Eagles midfield pivot and he was like a freedom fighter as captain, with 54 international caps and two goals, one of which is that unforgettable strike at the France 1998 World Cup against Spain.
But he gets it all wrong when it comes to dealing with people, which is why his playing career in the national team was short-lived. As coach, he got it wrong with the Eagles players. A coach manages the ego of his team’s biggest players’ and finds diplomatic routes to keep the team from falling apart. Oliseh obviously failed in this regard, going by his face-off with team captain Vincent Enyeama, Nigeria’s most capped player who eventually retired from international football. Emmanuel Emenike soon followed suit.
The NFF must stick to every detail of its contracts with its coaches. Lots of coaches in the past have complained about NFF’s disregard for the terms of the signed contracts. Amaju Pinnick, president of NFF, had announced publicly at the contract signing/unveiling of Oliseh in July 2015 that he would be paid three-month salary in advance, but Oliseh has denied receiving it.
NFF my have fulfilled its promise of a car to Oliseh – a brand new Nissan Altima 2.5SL 2015 model worth N6million – but the coach’s outbursts on social and conventional media about his predicaments at the CHAN 2016 revealed that the NFF could not even feed the players. Stephen Keshi, Samson Siasia and other coaches also complained of consistent breach of contract.
Oliseh has told us what the NFF didn’t do well. But did he help himself? No! The coach is always the employee and the federation is always the employer. Going public with issues, fighting policies in the media, dictating dates of meetings with employers are unnecessary. The lawyers are there so that once the employers are overstepping their boundaries, they can come in.
NFF must have been used to coaches condoning all manners of ill-treatment by the football-running body. But Nigerian coaches are not the same, after all. One coach at least knows that it is either he gets the kind of working environment he craves, or he pulls out. When was the last time a Nigerian coach willingly resigned from his job? We don’t remember; do you? Don’t mention Stephen Keshi after AFCON 2013, because we all know his was a publicity stunt. Some coaches have balls, and Sunday Oliseh is definitely one of them, irrespective of his own flaws!
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