New Telegraph

The return of Eguavoen

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. 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. And so, the football director that is most respected abroad is not so in Nigeria. On the contrary, 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 Nigeria Football Federation has not held any meeting for about two years.

If the technical committee is not functioning, how will the technical department function? It will be recalled that Kasimawo Laloko, Adegboye Onigbinde, the 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 the 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 thevlate Amodu was worse as he had no office or staff members.

Despite his wealth of experience, he had nothing to do in the federation until his death. It was a surprise when the Nigeria Football Federation recently named an ex-international and two-time Super Eagles coach, Austin Eguavoen, as the TD of the federation.

The news was the romance of Eguavoen with the Malian Football Federation to take charge as Director of Football but the next day, NFF came up with the announcement of Eguavoen as the body’s TD. Eguavoen was a prominent member of the golden generation of players that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and went ahead to qualify Nigeria for her first ever World Cup. As a coach, he was in charge of the Eagles in 2005 and 2006 and had a second spell in 2010. He was in Malta with Sliema Wanderers, and in the 2000–01 season, Eguavoen guided the club to a secondplace 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 third place finish in the domestic league and won the Federation Cup. For the new assignment, he will be assisted by David Aigbovo, Garba Lawal as officer and Siji Lagunju as another member of staff in the department. It was like a movie because the other appointments of coaches for various positions in the national teams were made three weeks earlier.

It is largely believed that the move by the NFF was a smart one to avoid losing a great Nigerian brain to one of the country’s direct rival in football, Mali. The appointment is commendable but one wonders why the federation waited for Mali to take the initiative before going for the ex-international.

The big issue is how to allow Eguavoen discharge his duty well and avoid making him feel the same pains his predecessors faced in the 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.”

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 to play roles in the country’s football development. The NFF must fashion out a way to make Eguavoen relevant in his position. This appointment should have been made before the contract of Gernot Rohr was renewed so that the former international would 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.

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