Question: One issue that is before the board of Pinnick is that of renewing the contract of Stephen Keshi as Eagles coach. Has he done enough to merit this extension?
Answer: I am not a fan of Keshi. Even if he wins the FIFA World Cup, I don’t think he should be our coach, let alone granted a renewal. I don’t believe that Keshi invites players on merit. It is also during the time of Keshi, either as a captain or coach that we had issues over players bonuses. Go and check the records and you will see that I am on point. So I don’t see why Pinnick and his members should extend his deal. There are better coaches, I even have a name that I can give but will not so that people will not think I am holding brief for the individual. How can we give Keshi a contract when it is during his time that we are playing without a creative midfielder? When you tell him to invite Kelechi Iheanacho, who fits into that position, he tells you that he is too young. What a flimsy and lazy excuse. Iheanacho is the only one, like Okocha and Kanu, who can easily fill that position. Even Ikechukwu Ibenegu, a local player with Heartland, who has creative tendencies, was overlooked by Keshi. I think that we should get our coaches to be answerable to only the federation. Even if he wins the matches against Sudan, Keshi is not the right coach for Nigeria.
Question: So are you advocating for a foreign coach?
Answer: I have a good idea of who can coach our Eagles but won’t go further than that for now.
Question: As a former chairman of Heartland, why is our league not the foundation stone of the national team? [eap_ad_1] Answer: Our local players are often overlooked by national coaches. How many matches do our coaches watch? Only recently, Enyimba and Heartland played the Oriental derby and I was surprised that our national coaches were not there to see such an important match for scouting purposes. Our coaches don’t have respect for our local league and that is why Keshi will go as far as inviting five new players from unknown foreign leagues for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying match against Sudan next month. The league has its own problems but I commend Irabor for what he has done but he needs to improve on officiating aspect. Referees must be financially viable to officiate a league match, so that they can shun bribes from desperate club chairmen, who want victories at any cost, to justify the huge sum of money they get from their state governments.
Question: But it is often said that most state governments starve these clubs of their yearly allocations, so how come the need to justify the huge amount from government?
Answer: It is not true that governors do not give their clubs money to pay their players. I was chairman of Heartland and know what I am saying. That is why I also believe that being chairman of a club does not mean that you will not do others jobs, instead of using the club’s money to run your personal show. So if there is no money, how come that most chairmen don’t want to leave their positions? It is because there is money that some of them, even built big mansions after just a month from the money given to the club by the governors. It is because of the free money from government that they want to stay and die in their positions. The way out is for government to hands off football and give funds only to the national teams. Even in Europe and America, no club is funded by state governments. In Nigeria, only two teams are owned by private individuals and by the end of the season, they will be relegated because that they do not have government funding. (Vanguard)
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