We should look beyond Tunisia —Galadima

[Akamoke]

Bell, Mystic..Bingo!!!

[MI5]

When i read this al i can do is laugh.. God help us...

[theYemster]

By Ademola Olajire
Thursday, January 08, 2004

He either is incapable of taking firm control of the camp when the foreign-based players are there, or he simply cannot.
“A case in point is the match against Angola in Benin City, the last Nations Cup qualifier. I told him to get the so-called superstars to play the match but he allowed them off and said there would be no problem getting a draw. But we all saw what happened before we could get the draw.
“When I spoke to him after the match, he was saying that some of the players who claimed they were travelling were even at the stadium to watch the match. He said he had no idea how to deal with them. I don’t expect a manager to say such thing.

If I were Galadima I would have fired Chukwu based on the above and damn the consequences of any criticisml; for being unable to do this, I believe Galadima is also incapable of carrying out his job.

You cannot tell your boss you are unable to control your players - it is one of the requirements of the job.

[The Observer]

Clear indictment on IC, especially coming from the highest sources. Having said this, Galadima choose a wrong moment to make his stance known.

#]

I agree with you totally. Perhaps he is trying to lay us down gently. "Do not expect much from Christian Chukwu" is the message being conveyed.

Regarding the Minister's role in the Robson saga, I will hold him responsible for whatever goes wrong in Tunisia. He could have ensured that Robson was given a three months contract rather than six months. His actions derailed the ANC preparations.

For Chukwu and other IC's sake, I hope the Tunisia campaign is a successful one for Nigeria. However, we would still need a good foreign coach.

[Its a Goal]

By Ademola Olajire
Thursday, January 08, 2004

Chairman of the Nigeria Football Association, Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima, yesterday implored Nigerians not to judge the competence or otherwise of indigenous coaches with the outcome of the forthcoming 24th African Nations Cup finals in Tunisia.
At a parley with sports editors, the one-time vice-President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, insisted that local coaches have a long way to go before they can be seen to be ready to take on the responsibility for international duties.
“I have nothing against indigenous coaches. But from what I see, very few of them, too few, take the pains to see how they can constantly stay in touch with modern trends in the game. They do not concern themselves enough with the need to acquire new skills and get better education.
“I believe that indigenous coaches can be wonderful lot if they seek to better themselves. But most of them do not bother. They just sit down and expect miracles to happen. Football grows by the day, and those who do not constantly seek new knowledge cannot fit into the bill at a particular stage.
“If we win the African Nations Cup, everyone will sweep the issue of a foreign coach under the carpet. The truth, however, is that we should not deceive ourselves about the capabilities of local coaches.
“They have a lot of limitations. Christian Chukwu, the Super Eagles chief coach, is someone I respect so much, but I have called him many times to let him know he has limitations. He either is incapable of taking firm control of the camp when the foreign-based players are there, or he simply cannot.
“A case in point is the match against Angola in Benin City, the last Nations Cup qualifier. I told him to get the so-called superstars to play the match but he allowed them off and said there would be no problem getting a draw. But we all saw what happened before we could get the draw.
“When I spoke to him after the match, he was saying that some of the players who claimed they were travelling were even at the stadium to watch the match. He said he had no idea how to deal with them. I don’t expect a manager to say such thing.
“I congratulated Chukwu after the nations Cup qualifiers and told him he deserved credit for taking the team to qualification. But we must not lose sight of the limitations. We need someone firm enough to handle the foreign-based players, with their level of exposure. I repeat, I have nothing against local coaches. But they should learn to make the effort to seek improvement in knowledge.
“My fear is that if we win the Nations Cup, Nigerians would no longer see the reason for all these arguments. And the probable consequence is that we’ll be back to square one at the end of the day. We need to think of the future, not the present.
“For instance, we were not at the African Junior Championship in Burkina Faso last year. That is a shame, considering the record we have in age-grade football. we’re looking at a situation whereby we can get someone who can lay a solid foundation for all the national teams, not just the Super Eagles. And you need a firm, well-exposed and competent hand to do that”.
Galadima blamed the Ministry of Sports and Social Development for bungling the deal that would have seen former England World Cup skipper Bryan Robson take the Super Eagles to the Nations Cup.
“We had everything sewn up. I met with Robson in London on my way from the FIFA Congress in Qatar and we agreed on a date of his coming. We were ready to send him a ticket, and mind you, we kept the ministry aware of all the moves involved in getting him.
“But suddenly, we were told that the man’s antecedents were nothing to write home about and that anyway, he was jobless, and that the money we were paying him was too much. At that point, we couldn’t have succeeded in getting another coach with the bad publicity that generated internationally”.
The FA boss said in furtherance of efforts to develop football in the country, a committee on youth development, headed by School Sports representative, Dr Adeleke Olaiya, has been set up by the association, and will soon meet to set an agenda for youth football growth in the country in the next few years.
“The committee will meet in Owerri during the Annual General Meeting and fashion out a programme”, said Galadima.

Thank God for this "Search" feature.

Pray, Galadima can actually find the guts to go ahead and do the decent thing he promised in this article.

[Oguleftie]

The players themselves are not even good enough to wear eagles jerseys; it just happens that's all we got; these are not the days when naija have good players. Otherwise people like Aiyegbeni, Utaka, Abbey, Olofinjana, Kanu etc would not be wearing eagles jerseys.
Some forumers try to make others believe these are good players, but that is far from the truth.

[furiously frank]

Sometimes I think some of our forumers dont bother reading the initial post before responding. What has he said that makes the timeing wrong. Apparently this interview was granted to the media days before the loss of the match to Morocco. He even went as far as saying that we might win the ANC, and that this would not solve our problems. If you read this interview together with that of Eguavoen, you will notice that the problem CCC has is akin to that of Amodu, i.e not being able to check the ego of the likes of Kanu-who will rather travel to Lagos for a milk promo than come to camp.

What Galadinma failed to address is what has NFA done to improve the coaches with the National teams in terms of refresher courses etal. They have a role to play in the development of Naija soccer and if the coaches in their employment don't attend courses why blame others.

[green4life]

What Galadinma failed to address is what has NFA done to improve the coaches with the National teams in terms of refresher courses etal. They have a role to play in the development of Naija soccer and if the coaches in their employment don't attend courses why blame others.

As a pro, is it your employer's job to ascertain that you are well informed in the industry or does the onus lie on the professional to ensure that they remain up to date... whose job is it to look for seminars to attend... industry journals to subscribe to and the like? Your boss ... or you??? I mean, the professional is geting paid.... where does his money go???.... does the pro not bother to reinvest part of that money into his career??? I think that's the crux of Galadima's ranting... the timing though, was poor.

[Prince]

By Ademola Olajire
Thursday, January 08, 2004

He either is incapable of taking firm control of the camp when the foreign-based players are there, or he simply cannot.
“A case in point is the match against Angola in Benin City, the last Nations Cup qualifier. I told him to get the so-called superstars to play the match but he allowed them off and said there would be no problem getting a draw. But we all saw what happened before we could get the draw.
“When I spoke to him after the match, he was saying that some of the players who claimed they were travelling were even at the stadium to watch the match. He said he had no idea how to deal with them. I don’t expect a manager to say such thing.

If I were Galadima I would have fired Chukwu based on the above and damn the consequences of any criticisml; for being unable to do this, I believe Galadima is also incapable of carrying out his job.

You cannot tell your boss you are unable to control your players - it is one of the requirements of the job.

If I were Obj I would have fired Galadima based on the above.How can you employ someone you feel is incompetent.

[Its a Goal]

furiously frank, This is an old thread that I brought back.

[Its a Goal]

Prince, he was not in office when CCC was hired. When he tried to hire someone more competent, his boss turned him down.

[balo]

IF A "WORLD CLASS" COACH IS NEEDED, I'D SAY...

...world class administrators are a greater priority.
Bell

I couldn't have said it better myself. Fire Galadinma/Ogunjobi and bring Franz Beckenbauer on board to run the NFA!

Naija would have to sell the NFA and use the proceeds to pay for Beckenbauer. Can we afford him? I don't think so.