The “sudden” dismissal of Stephen Keshi as the Head Coach of the Nigerian Super Eagles has left football followers dumbstruck as the new deal given to him barely three months ago was seen as a last resort between the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF and the “Big Boss” then.

The report that Keshi applied for the managerial job of the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire undoubtedly gave the NFF a free run at the Eagles gaffer without incurring the wrath of Nigerians and appearing blameless in the midst of it all.

The untimely termination of Keshi’s contract was announced by the NFF on Saturday evening, a day after he was given permission to travel to the US for his leave.

The NFF Executive Committee statement said the action was carried out “having thoroughly reviewed the reports/findings of the NFF Disciplinary Committee and NFF Technical and Development Committee, as well as having reviewed the actions and inactions of Mr. Stephen Keshi, in the performance of his duties as Super Eagles’ Head Coach, which we found to lack the required commitment to achieve the Federation’s objectives as set out in the Coach’s employment contract.”

It is no longer news that the NFF were left hand tied by the past administration to retain Keshi as the coach to this point with the unending rift. Obviously, Keshi was never wanted by the NFF and had enough enemies to keep him off the job.

Like a prophecy, Post Nigeria on the eve of the sack published a story pointing to the fact that the NFF had no justification for their actions than a clear act of witch hunting.

See: http://www.post-nigeria.com/cold-war-is-the-nff-witch-hunting-keshi/

Now football stakeholders across the nation have dismissed the reasons given by the NFF as inadequate.

Former Super Eagles Coach, Adegboye Onigbinde in his reaction said the dismissal would have been okay if the reasons given by the NFF invoked the stipulations for doing so according to the contract signed by both parties.

“The Nigeria Football Association has taken their decision but one would want to believe that the decision is based on reality, based on content of Keshi’s contract and based on technical facts that might have come to light,” he opined.
He went further to suggest the NFF was trying hard to keep up appearances despite an obvious hollow nature to their claims; “I believe there was an attempt to play to the gallery because at the end of the day whether they did it quietly or not, they owe the nation some explanations”

Dickson Adejube, a former member of the Board of the NFF outrightly condemned the sack; “You will see the repercussion, and we will have ourselves to blame in the end.”

Meanwhile, the 58-year old Keshi, presently in the US to visit his family described the decision to sack him as “deceitful” insisting he has not received any notification of his dismissal as the Super Eagles Coach.

“Well they think their deceit will fool Nigerians? We’ll meet in CAS where justice will prevail.”

The Big Boss will have to take his time to decide on what to do with his future after his trip to spend time with his family is over. He might choose to take his dismissal in one of two ways. He could fight back and challenge every reason for his firing.

The NFF announced that he Super Eagles’ team affairs will be jointly managed by Assistant Coach, Salisu Yusuf and the Technical Directorate of the NFF headed by Coach Shuaibu Amodu, until the Federation names in due course a new Head Coach.

Reports of hundreds of applications have already poured in. the choice to be made going forward needs to be handled properly or Nigerian football will remain in the terrible stasis it find itself in.

More details, click: http://www.post-nigeria.com/cold-war-is-the-nff-witch-hunting-keshi/

The recent saga between the Nigerian Football Federation, NFF, and Head Coach of the Super Eagles, Stephen Keshi has been bemoaned for the way it smacks of what some have termed witch hunting.

Keshi has barely enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the NFF due to one issue or the other since he returned. So many question marks have hung over his job and the doubts have increased incredibly.

The witch hunting began after the NFF delayed a new deal for the Big Boss, leaving him to wait for months without knowing what direction to go.

After he was offered a new deal, some stringent clauses were contained in his new deal.

He was presented with a 27 clauses and offered 5million, barred from talking to the press about issues of his salary or his employers. It was insisted his statements on the team go through the image maker of the NFF.

To frustrate him more, he was also denied the ability to accept gifts from corporate bodies, individuals or State Governments without the knowledge of the NFF.

Again, Keshi was accused of including a non-league player, Okechukwu Gabriel in the squad that played against Chad on Saturday in the 2017 AFCON qualifier in Kaduna.

After being criticized, he was issued a query and denied the liberty of selecting players for matches without the knowledge of the former Eagles Coach, Shaibu Amodu and the technical committee.

The NFF stressed that Amodu would be held responsible for the failure of the team. Indirectly he is in charge and not Keshi, against the usual practice in other advanced countries.

On another faithful day, reports that Keshi applied for the managerial job of the Elephants of Cote d’Ivoire put him in the crosshairs of the public despite his denial.

“I will appear before the committee to explain and there is no way it will deter me from serving my country or doing my job,’’ shouldn’t Keshi’s comments be enough?

The NFF spent a whopping sum of $8,000 approximately N1.6 million going to Ivory Coast to investigate the reports when they could actually put a phone call across to the Ivorian FA and get all the information needed.

To Read More, Click: http://www.post-nigeria.com/cold-war-is-the-nff-witch-hunting-keshi/

World class coaches like Pep Guardiola, Vicente del Bosque, Mourinho, and the like were linked to the Nigerian job (laughably so) during the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa but had no problem with their employers.

These rules seem to be a ploy to hunt players and coaches instead of giving guidance and technical expertise, given by the recent incidents involving the team captain Vincent Enyeama and the embarrassing performances of the national teams across board, especially in the technical areas of the game.

Playing politics with everything in a football power house like Nigeria is obviously not a healthy trend for us. NFF should be concerned with better things and not chasing shadows like they are doing now.

Prozone, arguably the world’s most popular opposition scouting and post-match analysis platform, has not been perceived as a bigger tool by the NFF to enhance and improve the quality of the game. Instead, they seriously engage unserious issues seriously.

Nigerian football cannot continue in this painful drama with the image of Nigerian football at stake having missed out of the last Nations Cup tournament.

The NFF must come back down to earth to resolve the unending drama and witch hunting of coaches and players.

What is worth doing is worth doing well. If Keshi must be the coach, he must be allowed to work under the right conditions.

To Read More, Click: http://www.post-nigeria.com/cold-war-is-the-nff-witch-hunting-keshi/

Just as the saying, “better is the end of a thing than the beginning,” any emotional football lover would have no other thought than to shed some tears looking at both John Obi Mikel and Lionel Messi, from 10 years ago.

One makes you cry for his brilliance, the other for sheer mediocrity. Are you willing to guess which is which?

The Holland U-20 World cup in 2005 introduced both players to the world. Mikel with the number 9 jersey ended the tournament with a Silver Shoe, behind the number 10 wearing Messi. As a youth, he was an all-round midfielder – displaying intelligent ball retention, forceful tackling, and a certain guile.

Oh how he could distribute the ball creatively and effectively and most importantly, he played an attacking role from the midfield.

On the other hand, Messi led the Argentina team to the finals, giving them the trophy with two goals against our dear Flying Eagles. Messi was the undisputed star of the tournament – with six goals he won both the Golden Shoe, for top scorer – as well as the Golden Ball for most valuable player at the tournament.

This heralded him as the tournament’s top player; an award won 26 years previously by compatriot Diego Maradona.

Here’s the thing, so many at the tournament actual argued Mikel was a step ahead of Messi. They rated him above the diminutive forward because they assumed he would go on to greater things.

After the Holland tourney, it was all about who would graduate from the raw talent to become a “football genius and great.” The future was too dark for us to see.

Messi, already at Spanish giants, Barcelona, continued his trade in Spain where his development was massive. His talent was nurtured, and his abilities honed at La Masia. After learning the “Barca way” he was unleashed upon the defences of La Liga to torment the league and all of Europe.

The case for Mikel was different as he sought for a fresh challenge, having attracted strong interest from two big premiership clubs, Manchester United and Chelsea FC. He was eventually “hijacked” by Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho leaving Sir Alex Ferguson to lick his wounds after losing the Lynn Oslo midfielder.

READ MORE: http://www.post-nigeria.com/burnt-wings-where-is-mikel-obi/

Coming back home, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF shares a bit of the blame in Mikel’s career woes. The NFF has no impactful plans in protecting young players and monitoring their development to a satisfactory state.

It has failed in the task of building a “young and vibrant” Eagles team. Attention has been drawn away from football at the grassroots; our football academies have not been developed. There is paltry interest with little or no monitoring from the NFF.

How much can this help the game and players?

One will end up having sleepless nights thinking about the current crop of U-20 players and the kind of future that lies ahead of them. It will be unfair to let the end of these raw talents have the opposite of their beginnings.

Recent media reports now link Mikel to UAE side Al-Ain where the game is not in the limelight. Will Mikel end in the UAE to enjoy the oil money or will he regain his consciousness of who he really is? Is it too late to save him?

What could have been gnaws at us all as we wonder where Mikel is.

READ MORE FROM: http://www.post-nigeria.com/burnt-wings-where-is-mikel-obi/