Van Gaal As Super Eagles Coach?

Post by **YUJAM** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:45 pm

According to Ayo, Van Gaal has been contacted about the S Eagles job.

But, since leading the great Ajax team of the mid-90s to the Champs League title, he has not done much in football.

He was unable to qualify the Dutch team for the 2002 World Cup. He was unable to do anything at Barcelona despite being given two different opportunities to prove himself there.

In short, Van Gaal might be a failure with the S Eagles! I'd rather have a proven commodity like Metsu or one of the top S American coaches (eg Bianchi) for the job.

Post by **juventuss** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:47 pm

here we go.

Shownoja · Post by **Shownoja** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:52 pm

There is no way that the Minister of Sports and Obasanjo will allow the NFA appoint a foreign coach. They will surely find a way to frustrate the move ie sack the board of the NFA just before they appoint someone.

Ayp has a penchant for talking crap. This was the same way he proclaimed Robson only for the deal to go belly-up.

Abeg when time reach to get coach we go get am, but e no go be foreigner.

dapo lawal · Post by **dapo lawal** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 3:57 pm

I think anyone with international football knowledge, can sort out SE. The players are there, its the lack of strategic planning.

Shownoja · Post by **Shownoja** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:01 pm

dapo lawal wrote:I think anyone with international football knowledge, can sort out SE. The players are there, its the lack of strategic planning.

Me personally I am not against hiring a foreign coach, but as a nation we have to be realistic about what we can afford.

Except Vaan Gall will agree to take the same £12,500 Tunisia are paying Lamerre, then I dont think we can afford him.

Post by **juventuss** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:01 pm

dapo lawal wrote:I think anyone with international football knowledge, can sort out SE. The players are there, its the lack of strategic planning.

thats a BIG mistake. Its one thing to have international football knowledge, its another thing to know NIGERIA.
naija is not structured to the point where by a foreigner can stroll in and work magic. It just does not happen. You need someone who can work the system, who does not get intimidated and sticks to a plan.

planning in naija is foreign. So while the international guy might bring all these ideas and tons of strategies, implementing them while 100+ million are staring at you is something else. make 1 mistake and God help you.

Its not that clear my friend. Trust me if it were, we would not be talking about inviting 40 players to camp before every major tournament.

Ayo Akinfe · Post by **Ayo Akinfe** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:02 pm

YUJAM wrote:According to Ayo, Van Gaal has been contacted about the S Eagles job.

But, since leading the great Ajax team of the mid-90s to the Champs League title, he has not done much in football.

He was unable to qualify the Dutch team for the 2002 World Cup. He was unable to do anything at Barcelona despite being given two different opportunities to prove himself there.

In short, Van Gaal might be a failure with the S Eagles! I'd rather have a proven commodity like Metsu or one of the top S American coaches (eg Bianchi) for the job.

Please do not misquote me. I did not say Van Gaal has been offered the job. Van Gaal was with Ajax in Faro when the Eagles were there and met up with some of the NFA officials and coaching crew.

What actually happened was that Ajax bokked the training pitch the Eagles were using six months in advance and when they arrived, the Eagles had to leave. An amicable agreement was reached on finding the Eagles somewhere else and in the course of the discussions, contact was established and maintained.

Some Nigerian journalists in Faro interviewed Van Gaal and naturally asked him if he would love to coach the Eagles and he said he would. Now whether anything comes of this is another matter as a lot of factors need to be taken into consideration.

As things stand, the minister has given the NFA the go-ahead to apoint a coach under two conditions:

(1) They show how they can pay his salary
(2) They exrcise "due process" by keeping the ministry informed of all their dealings.

I would not think anything will be done within the next few weeks, however, as we do not know what will happen at the NFA. Ogunjobi may well be made to pay for the failure in Tunisia.

Naija fan · Post by **Naija fan** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:04 pm

If the NFA is hell bent on bringing in a FC, Van Gaal will not be my candidate. Van Gaal appears to have lost his touch. The last thing the SE need is another coach that cannot harness and maximise the talent at his disposal.

The most important criteria the NFA need to look for in a coach is one who has a record of bringing the best out of his players. A coach that has a proven record of doing better than expected with limited talent. A coach who get's his team to play hard everytime they get on the pitch. The one example that comes to mind is Sam Allardyce. I am sure there are other coaches out there with limited talent at their disposal and yet get their teams to play better than expected. If Nigeria can get such a coach to harness the abundance of talent on our team and get these guys to play, the sky is the limit. Nigeria does not need a Prima Donna or big name coach right now. We need a coach who is willing to get down and dirty.

Enugu II · Post by **Enugu II** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:08 pm

If I was to make the call I must say the following is very important:

1. Will Van Gaal be able to work in Africa? If not, then we do not need him. I say this because while we have several players overseas, there remains a need to find jewels at very young ages in Nigeria. We need a guy who can work in Nigeria and with the political acumen to deal with NFA hiccups.

2. Metsu is a proven commodity who has dealt with the above and I must consider him ahead of Van Gaal at the moment. Here one is simply speculating that the two will be interested.

3. We need to look at other coaches with the capability to work in our environment and deal with the NFA. That is absolutely important.

dapo lawal · Post by **dapo lawal** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:08 pm

Juve, it's pretty much the same in any country. There is always going to be a difference in culture. Some are more serious than others.

As a foreign coach in any country, you make a mistake, people will be on your case.

Money wise, if those *kindpeople* that call themselve our leaders stop pocketing our money, we stand a chance.

Post by **juventuss** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:08 pm

Enugu II wrote:If I was to make the call I must say the following is very important:

1. Will Van Gaal be able to work in Africa? If not, then we do not need him. I say this because while we have several players overseas, there remains a need to find jewels at very young ages in Nigeria. We need a guy who can work in Nigeria and with the political acumen to deal with NFA hiccups.

2. Metsu is a proven commodity who has dealt with the above and I must consider him ahead of Van Gaal at the moment. Here one is simply speculating that the two will be interested.

3. We need to look at other coaches with the capability to work in our environment and deal with the NFA. That is absolutely important.

you talk true...

dapo lawal · Post by **dapo lawal** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:19 pm

The reason why I'm saying a coach with international football knowledge is because

1) We need someone who can (with his connections) introduce our home base players to foreign clubs (europe) just like Westerhoff did. He seemed to have links in Belgium. We need our base players having good exposure internationally.

2) If you look at our team at the moment, if Okocha is not in form, the midfield and the team do not perform. Other players should learn to play without always passing the ball through him. (We are very predictable).
I think a better coach would use the wings as well as Okocha.

Lil Pele · Post by **Lil Pele** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:20 pm

We need someone like Martin O'Neill. A true motivator and players manager. To be honest, if I were a manager I would see taking on the SE job as a chance to really prove yourself on the world stage. We have enough good players to embrass many top teams, all we need now is continuity ove the next 2 years. Tunisia know Lemerre will be around for a while, and our players need that same type of consistency. We need a tactically astute coach from Italy, France, Spain or Holland to get us to where we belong. Among the elite of World football.

VINDAVE · Post by **VINDAVE** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:25 pm

We don't need any foreign coach, leave CCC alone, he will be joined later by Kadiri Ikhana, the no noncence man... after all, OBJ done deh sell to us the spirit of 'indigenization.'

serge_renine · Post by **serge_renine** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:26 pm

What needs our team is work and stability.

Ok, for hiring a foreign coach but you must choose a good one who really wants the job.

And he must take care of the team until CM 2006, which means at least two complete years of coaching.

Nigeria needs stability for its team.

Wetferhoff got five years of coaching before getting a winner team......

dapo lawal · Post by **dapo lawal** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:26 pm

OBJ is a stupid man

Bubus · Post by **Bubus** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:32 pm

We want Bruno Metsu... but can he speak Anglais?

Post by **YUJAM** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 4:37 pm

Yes, he can. In fact, he was on one of the soccer shows we have on Fox Sports World here. He spoke English.

I hear that he is on top of Egypt's wanted list at the moment!

Bubus wrote:We want Bruno Metsu... but can he speak Anglais?

Ayo Akinfe · Post by **Ayo Akinfe** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 5:15 pm

Everybody is appointing coaches now. Watch Nigeria wait until two months to the first WC qualifying game.

fledi · Post by **fledi** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 5:24 pm

There is no plan in place for continuity as per the SE. The spots minister and his cronies at the NFA are giving themselves kudos for paying allowances and so on.

THIS IS THE TIME TO PLAN AND EXCECUTE NFA.

Oguleftie · Post by **Oguleftie** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 5:52 pm

Naija Fan

I agree with you. Coaching is not rocket science and you can not extrapolate achievement; afterall all these coaches mentioned have taken a good club and almost run it into relegation. A coach is fired at Leeds, he goes to coach Aston Villa and the supposedly miracle worker replacements take Leeds towards relegation ....... it has happened over and over again in europe.
The way I see it, our problem is the juvenile team coaching and selection when players are in their teenage years. If they don't learn good football at that time it will be the same thing at the senior team trying to clean up the grease and dirt in their game. And don't forget that while your so-called foreign coach is in naija your eagle players are in another continent[/b]: so we are actually paying fat salaries for no coaching
I am for local coaches, and the best scrutiny/monitoring/tutoring at the teenage-age level so that we don't wrongly or mistakenly bring up the lesser players at the expense of the better ones.

Oguleftie · Post by **Oguleftie** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 5:55 pm

I am for local coaches. Count me in on that and place a rubber stamp on that..

Akamoke · Post by **Akamoke** » Thu Feb 12, 2004 6:36 pm

I have not heard or seen anyone talk about ways to improve the NFA and our administration, these FC vs IC debates are useless if we cannot find ways to improve our organization. if the team fails in an assignment, we blame the coach, this is a rather myopic view of our football. We need to extinguish the fire from the base, ie we need to organize our FA, that way we will have the right environment for a coach to work. Shownoja said it best when he said, can we afford to pay a coach so much money?, lets be realistic, Nigeria is a poor country and the FA is not independent. How do we fix this, maybe repealing Decree 101 might help, all these needs to be debated otherwise we will continue to sweep our problems under the rug

Cybereagles

Van Gaal As Super Eagles Coach?

Van Gaal As Super Eagles Coach?

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