NFF didn’t act under pressure – Ogunjobi

Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, a member of the NFF Executive Committee, who stated this in Abuja after the committee’s meeting on Friday, said it was a decision the team’s technical crew had long been informed about. He said the decision had been taken long before the end of the Africa Cup of Nations competition in Angola […]

Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi, a member of the NFF Executive Committee, who stated this in Abuja after the committee’s meeting on Friday, said it was a decision the team’s technical crew had long been informed about.

He said the decision had been taken long before the end of the Africa Cup of Nations competition in Angola where the Nigerian senior national team finished third.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that there have been calls for an immediate overhauling of the team’s technical crew by supporters of the team, who describe its performance as unimpressive.

After a nine-hour meeting attended by all 16 members of the Executive Committee, the NFF directed its Technical Committee to begin an immediate contact with five foreign coaches.

Ogunjobi said the move was out of a desire to fortify the team’s technical crew for the task of participating successfully at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa from June 11 to July 11.

“Nobody put any pressure on NFF on this. In fact, we had already discussed this in Angola and the Executive Committee had taken the decision that a foreign technical adviser should be employed for the Super Eagles.   

 “Already, members of the technical crew had known from the beginning when they were employed that a technical adviser would still come in.

 “We even reminded them of this in Angola that at the end of the day we will still do that, and it is something they all accepted,’’ he said.

Ogunjobi, who heads the NFF Technical Committee, said Super Eagles chief coach Shaibu Amodu had always known that there was room for a technical adviser in the team’s technical crew set-up.

 “Amodu was appointed as chief coach and he knew a technical adviser was still going to come and it is that aspect of the technical crew set-up that we are now exploring,’’ he said.

The NFF Executive Committee member said the committee had seriously given the issue of employing a foreign technical adviser a thought and was going to be careful in its final choice.  

 “We applaud federal government’s decision through the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Super Eagles’ World Cup Qualification and the National Sports Commission (NSC) to fund the hiring of a technical adviser for the team.

 “We are going to do this and it is going to be immediate but we are also going to be careful there.

“This is why we are directing our Technical Committee to contact and screen five coaches we have penciled down from an initial shortlist of 10,’’ he said.