Former Super Eagles assistant coach, Usman Abdallah, shockingly stated that no Nigerian coach is good enough for the managerial role of the country’s senior men’s national team.
Abdallah’s assertion comes after the Nigeria Football Federation announced it was considering hiring a foreign coach following the resignation of Finidi George last month.
Also read: AFCON qualifiers: Nigerian fans worried as Eagles face Benin again
Of the 27 coaches that had managed the Eagles since its inception, 10 were Indigenous coaches, with Finidi the last to take charge of the team.
The Eagles have been without a head coach since the former winger resigned in June.
Finidi quit his role as head coach of the three times African champions following the NFF’s announcement that they would appoint a foreign technical adviser for the team.
The decision came after an outcry by the football-loving populace following the team’s poor performances, including a shock defeat to Benin Republic, in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers last month.
As the federation continues its search for the next coach of the team, with reports indicating officials of the football body had approached Portuguese Jose Peseiro for a possible return, while also considering Frenchman Herve Renard, Abdallah, who served as an assistant coach under Peseiro, isn’t bothered his comments will stir the hornet’s nest.
He insisted the Indigenous coaches weren’t good enough for the job.
“It doesn’t bother me whether the NFF is considering bringing Jose Peseiro back or if they want to hire Hervé Renard as the Eagles coach as long as they can afford to pay their salaries,” he said.
“The issue is, I have heard people say they don’t want us to spend money on the foreign coach but show me a coach qualified for the Eagles job who is a Nigerian whether home or abroad. The fact is we don’t have it.
“The only person we have is Salisu Yusuf, who a lot of people don’t want because of what happened in the past, but I don’t want to argue about that. Nigerian coaches have always been serving as assistants and none of us can argue that we were better than those we’ve worked with.”
However, the former Enyimba gaffer frowned at NFF allowing foreign coaches to bring along their assistants with them.
“Appointing Peseiro or whoever is no issue, but why allow them to come with their assistants when some of us have always been named?
“How do we tap from their experience and grow to become the national team coaches? This is the mistake the federation has always made, and they need to correct that.”
The NFF will hope to have the issue resolved in time as Nigeria hope to get their World Cup qualifiers back on track after a poor start that saw them claim just three points from a possible 12 and sit fifth in their six-team qualifying group.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
