As suggestions continue on ways towards getting a revival for Nigeria’s under-17 national team, veteran tactician Solomon Adeshina (aka Scala) has suggested that an elderly coach should be the squad’s next handler, Sports247 reports.
While recalling the ‘fatherly figures’ seen in Sebastian Brodericks-Imasuen, Christian Chukwu and Yemi Tella, who helped Nigeria win the Cadet Mundial in 1985 and 2007, ‘Scala’ reckoned that the same strategy should be revisited.
The former head coach at Concord FC of Abeokuta and NITEL United of Lagos, who is now the founder/president of SIDAB Football Academy at Lagos National Stadium in Surulere, also faulted the new trend of giving the Eaglets’ job to rookie gaffers.
‘Scala,’ who is also the technical director of Association of Proprietors of Football Academies of Nigeria (APFAN), further took a swipe at young coaches who get carried away by the opportunity they get to handle a national team.
He pointed at the exploits of experienced coaches like Fanny Amun, Manu Garba and Emmanuel Amuneke, who he believes were also able to win the FIFA U-17 World Cup (in 1993, 2013 and 2015 respectively) because they were not rookies and they took advice from elderly technical gurus around them.
“I initially wanted to be a little lenient on the current coach, because he’s a colleague and we are in the same field together. However, the truth is that most young coaches of nowadays do not respect anybody, not even their seniors.
“Once they get one certificate or the other, they believe they have arrived. When they win one tournament through the backdoor, NFF starts to believe in them. So, the whole problem is on the NFF,” Scala reasoned.
He then turned his focus on ongoing reforms meant to turn around the fortunes of Nigerian football and expressed optimism that all incoming new ideas would help towards reviving the Golden Eaglets’ glory days, with a return to the strategy of putting veterans in charge of the squad.
“I hope that, by the time they put a new NFF in place, those in charge will be able to know right from left. They should look back at previous achievements of the Eaglets and note that they all had a fatherly touch.
“Even what we have achieved at the grassroots level is all about a fatherly touch from elderly coaches. The same applied in the Eaglets’ success story from the days of Sebastian Brodericks, Christiant Chukwu and Yemi Tella.
“Those were father figures and very knowledgeable coaches. People who had been in football for a long time, with a lot of experience… which we also saw in Fanny Amun, Manuff Garba and Emmanuel Amuneke.
“Those are the type of coaches we need to guide these young boys on the Golden Eaglets … people who know the West African terrain and understand special needs of African football.
“We saw what Amun did in 1993. He really did a good job. That was because he always gave a listening ear to suggestions and he welcomed criticism in order to get things right,” Scala submitted.
