New Telegraph

Making Eguavoen’s experience count as TD

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) recently named an ex-international and two-time Super Eagles coach, Austin Eguavoen, as the Technical Director (TD) of the apex soccer ruling body.

 

Initially, Eguavoen was on the verge of clinching a job with Stade de Malian as Director of Football but the next day, NFF surprised all including Eguavoen himself with the announcement of ex-Eagles skipper coach as the body’s TD.

 

We recall Eguavoen was a prominent member of the golden generation of players that won the African Nations Cup in 1994 and went ahead to qualify Nigeria for her first ever World Cup finals. As a coach, he was in charge of the Eagles in 2005 and had a second spell in 2010.

 

He was in Malta with Sliema Wanderers, and in the 2000/2001 season, Eguavoen guided the club to a 2nd-place finish. He also handled Black Leopards of South Africa in 2008 and a year after as head coach of Enyimba. He led the Aba team to a 3rd place finish in the domestic league and won the Federations Cup.

 

For the new assignment, he will be assisted by David Aigbovo, Garba Lawal and Siji Lagunju. Eguavoen’s return to football administration at national level was like a movie because the other appointments of coaches for various positions in the national teams were made three weeks earlier. We strongly believe that the move by the NFF was a tactical step to avert losing a great Nigerian brain to one of the country’s direct rivals in football, Mali.

 

While we commend the NFF for the appointment, we question the federation on why the body waited for Mali to take the initiative before going for the ex-international. Going forward, the big issue is how to allow Eguavoen discharge his duty well and avoid making him feel the same pains his predecessors faced in same office. A former NFF executive committee member, Austin Elumelu, said Eguavoen was apt for the job.

 

His words: “He has all the coaching licenses and he developed himself technically. As far back as 10 years ago, Eguavoen suggested that there should be educational qualification for the Super Eagles so that they can understand the game better. If given a free hand, he will do very well.” We make bold to say Nigeria is still blessed with some talents abroad. Sunday Oliseh, Emmanuel Amuneke and Ndubusi Egbo are all currently doing great and there must be ways to get them play roles in the country’s football development.

 

The NFF must fashion out a way to make Eguavoen relevant in his position. We believe this appointment should have been made before the contract of Gernot Rohr was renewed so that the former international will make input. Eguavoen has the pedigree to bring back the country’s football identity or create a new one to tally with modern trends in the game.

 

No doubt, the Technical Director role is the most crucial in every football club or national team set up of a country. The reason is obvious; the identity and philosophy of the team starts from the thinking of the Technical Director.

 

In Europe today, top clubs rely largely on the Football Director to develop the game and play huge advisory role to the technical crew. The Director is the one who will also work with facts provided by the scouts to determine players good enough to be recruited into the team and the players and coaches that can fit into the style of the team.

 

We are aware that in an ideal setting, the handler of the club or the national team is expected to meet with the TD on the direction for the team. In Nigeria, things that work with ease could pose a big challenge due to the thinking of powerful people in the sector.

 

The football director is most respected abroad. On the contrary in Nigeria, the people in this department are often abandoned, frustrated and forced into redundancy in a role that should be most vibrant. An example is the recent revelation that the technical committee of the NFF has not held any meeting for about two years. If the technical committee is not functioning, how will the technical department function?

 

We recall that Kasimawo Laloko, Adegboye Onigbinde, late Amodu Shuaibu and only recently, Bitrus Bewarang, were some of those who held the TD position of the country’s football federation. They had same story; interference from the federation, redundancy, no direct contact with the national coaches, no funds for research or trips are some of the problems they faced. The past TDs worked without a template or terms of reference. The case of late Amodu was worse as he had no office or staff members.

 

Despite his rich wealth of experience, he had nothing to do in the federation until his death. We again stress that Eguavoen’s appointment is a blessing to the football federation, but this can only manifest if he is encouraged to use his experience to move the country’s football to a greater level in all cadres especially the development of grassroots football and the domestic league.

 

We also charge Eguavoen to sign an agreement with the NFF on his terms of reference and a working template. The ex-international should learn from the mistakes made by his predecessors.

Read Previous

Two men remanded in Ekiti for farmer’s murde

Read Next

Who should really profit from #EndSARS protests?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *