The political economy of coaching the Super Eagles

                 

The horrendous performance of the Super Eagles in the last World Cup in South Africa has once again led to the search for a coach for the senior national team, which has, since 2002, been performing below the expectations of football-loving Nigerians.

The story of how the Nigerian Football Federation fired Coach Shuaibu Amodu and hired a foreign coach just few months before the global soccer fiesta, and where that action led us to are well known. However, the dithering of the soccer authorities in appointing a substantive coach for the Eagles since its all-knowing but underperforming and highly-paid foreign coach, Lars Lagerback, went AWOL, has only reminded one of the politics cum economics of coaching the Eagles.

In fact, the position of the Super Eagles’ coach is a highly politicised one. Every Nigerian seems very interested in who takes charge of the team. Whether the coach is local or foreign, a lot of politics is involved. The only difference is that when the coach is local, the dimension of the politics usually takes the pattern of the larger Nigerian politics.

Anyhow, any coach who seeks to get and retain the Super Eagles job will have to know the power blocs in Nigerian football and device a clever and effective means of dealing with them, as his relationship with each bloc will determine how far he will go in getting the job or getting on, on the job. None of the power blocs is unimportant and ignoring any may deny him the job or earn him a sack, if he was eventually employed.

The presidency, the NFF, the sports minister, the governors, the ex-footballers, the mafia in the team, the sports writers cum football analysts and even the fans constitute the numerous power blocs. Also, a candidate for the Super Eagles coach job must not be greedy. He must learn how not to ‘chop alone’ and be magnanimous enough, while negotiating his salary, to reserve a monthly percentage for the NFF egg heads. This is important as it has cost many qualified candidates the job. Glenn Hoddle is a living witness.

At least, since the resurgence of the Eagles in African soccer in 1988, this has been the trend. Recall that the Eagles went into a sort of hibernation after winning the African Nations Cup in 1980. The team could not go beyond the preliminary stage in the AFCON of 1982, even though it got to the final of the championship in 1984. However, the team could not even qualify for the next AFCON which was hosted by Egypt in 1986.

Perhaps, it was that shock that led to the 1988 resurgence. With a certain Manfred Hoener in charge, the team dazzled Africa in Morocco in 1988 but was arguably denied the chance of winning AFCON a second time by the poor decision of the referee that handled the final against the Indomitable Lions of Cameroon.

The Eagles playmaker, Henry Nwosu, had scored a beautiful goal, which was disallowed by the referee. Cameroon later won the match through a penalty kick converted by her best all-time player and African legend, Roger Milla. But many believed that had the goal not been disallowed, the outcome of the match would have been different.

However, Hoener’s training regime, which the Eagles’ mafia considered too demanding, and the poor performance of the Eagles in the 1988 Olympic Games, led to his sacking and the appointment of Paul Hamilton as interim coach. Hamilton, however, surprised everybody by putting up a strong performance in the qualifiers of the Italia ’90 World Cup. He put together a crack team made up of mainly players from Hoener’s Maroc ’88 squad and the talented but unlucky Chile ’87 U-20 squad put together by the late Chris Udemezue.

The team was doing well, and was, in fact, at the top of its group until the foreign-is-better mentality of the nation’s soccer authorities led to the appointment of the Dutch coach Clemens Westerhof in 1989. That appointment was later to disrupt the team’s rhythm and Cameroon qualified from the group for the next round of the qualifiers.

However, the Dutchman later became the nation’s most successful coach. He understood the politics of Nigerian football. He knew that the nation’s football authorities could, for the sake of lining their pockets, do anything to scuttle the smooth ride of the national teams. Therefore, he found a way to bypass the then Nigerian Football Association by becoming close to the then Vice-President and Games Master General of the Federation, Admiral Augustus Aikhomu.

Aikhomu gave him all the political and economic backing he needed to succeed and, fortunately, he led a predominantly home-based Eagles to a runners-up position in the 1990 AFCON and a third place in 1992. He won the 1994 AFCON for Nigeria and also qualified Nigeria to her first World Cup — US ’94. He, however, quit his job immediately after his World Cup success.

Enter Shuaibu Amodu. He led the Eagles to a couple of games but was later sacked because of his poor understanding of the power relations involved in coaching the team. He dared the then Sports Minister, Chief Jim Nwobodo, and got the boot.

But before Amodu got the boot, a certain Brazilian, Carlos Alberto Torres, was employed as his boss, but after penning a deal with the NFF in Lagos, the man went back to Brazil and never returned. A few days in Nigeria gave him an insight into the high-level politics that characterised the Eagles job. He wasn’t a good cut out for it, hence, he never returned to Nigeria.

With the sack of Amodu, however, Bonfrere Jo, a Dutch, was contracted to handle the team. Bonfrere, who was a Man Friday of some sorts to Westerhof, discharged his first assignment to the admiration of everybody. He led the U-23 national to win gold in the soccer event of the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta Georgia, USA. But because his understanding of the politics of Nigerian football was very shallow, unlike his countryman, Westerhof, he resigned in Atlanta.

To fill the vacuum created by Bonfrere’s exit, the NFA hired Frenchman Philippe Troussier, who once handled the Ivorian national team. Troussier did a good job, or so it seemed, as he led Nigeria to qualify for the 1998 World Cup before any other country save the host, France and the defending champions, Brazil.

But Troussier was sacked despite his success. His then ‘strange’ 3-5-2 formation could mean some members of the mafia of the time losing their places in the team. Consequently, they moved against him and he was fired.

Troussier was replaced by Bora Milutinovic, a Serbian, who understood very well the economics of coaching the Eagles. He just came in, took the Eagles to the 1998 World Cup, ‘settled’ those who facilitated the job for him and went his way immediately they were knocked out of the tournament in the round of 16 by Denmark.

With the exit of Milutinovic, a huge amount of money was ear-marked by the NFA for three of its own (later known as the three wise men) to scan the whole of Europe for a world-class coach. After junketing Europe, the group finally ‘arranged’ one Thijs Libregts, who was enjoying his retirement in Holland, as the Eagles coach. Libregts, however, did not last on the job, as, apart from underperforming, he was not quick in learning the politics of keeping his job.

All those who came after Libregts— Bonfrere (a second time), Amodu (a second, third and fourth time), Adegboyega Onigbinde, Christian Chukwu, Berti Vogts and Lagerback all got their jobs or got fired because of their dexterity in dealing with the soccer power blocs. Amodu got fired in 2002 for aligning with the team’s mafia and ignoring the then sports minister, the late Ishaya Mark Aku. Berti Vogts (in 2006) and later Amodu (early this year) were sacked for not impressing the fans and the sports writers. And Lagerbackcould not return to his job after the last World Cup because he was afraid of facing the fans.

But Lagerback must be commended for his negotiation skills. Indeed, his agents prepared him very well and he learnt fast—that is if the revelation of English coach, Glenn Hoddle, is anything to go by. Hoddle, who was interviewed by the NFF alongside Lagerback, told of how he was asked to tip a certain power bloc or forget the job. He tipped no one and it cost him the job. In other words, Largerback who got the job, must have tipped someone.

As the ritual of getting a new coach for the Eagles continues, any coach who desires the plum job must recognise the ‘pre-eminence’ of all the power blocs and pay homage accordingly. For instance, the fans’ love for a coach is not enough to land him the job. Ask Samson Siasia.