A leading female football coach, Mansur Abdullahi has said the recent appointment of an American coach, Randy Waldrum for the Super Falcons is a complete waste of taxpayers’ money.
In this interview with Trust Sports, the former Super Falcons and Flamingoes assistant coach states his reasons and maintained that given the enabling environment, indigenous coaches would always excel.
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Recently, the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, appointed Randy Waldrum as Super Falcons new Technical Adviser. What’s your take on this?
It’s quite sad that the Nigeria Football Federation finally settled for a coach who had previously rejected the Super Falcons. If you look at the past performances of the Super Falcons, you will discover that no foreign coach has achieved more than indigenous coaches who handled the team in the past. Let’s look at Baba Ismaila Mabo who achieved so much with the team in 1999 and Florence Omagbemi who was frustrated out of the team. These coaches did what no foreign coach has done with the Super Falcons. So my candid opinion as an official of the Executive committee of the Nigerian Football Coaches Association is that a foreign man can’t give us what we want from the Super Falcons. Therefore, the appointment of any foreign coach to handle the Super Falcons is a waste of tax-payers’ money.
Don’t you think the players prefer foreign coaches?
You will agree with me that given the right working environment, local coaches can succeed with even the Super Eagles. If we are given even 50% of what they give to foreign coaches, believe me we would do wonders. Again, let me tell you that if Nigerians are clamouring for indigenous coaches for the Super Eagles, I don’t see any reason we shouldn’t have an indigenous coach for the Super Falcons. You will agree with me that before they moved abroad, 80% of the players in the present Super Falcons played in the local league. So who trained them? Is it the foreign coaches? Is any foreigner coaching in the local league?, No. So why would a female national team player suddenly undermine indigenous coaches?
Some critics argue that Nigerian coaches hardly attend refresher courses, which is why they are most times seen as not good enough for the senior national teams…
How sure are they? Are they sure indigenous coaches are not developing themselves? My brother, we are in a digital world now. There are a lot of things one can do online. We can do things in the comfort of our bedrooms. Gone are the days one would have to travel for thousands of kilometres to Europe just to attend a coaching course. We have coaches running courses online. I am one of such coaches who are attending online coaching courses with some of the big instructors in Europe. Secondly, anyone talking about coaches not going for refresher courses, are not being sincere with themselves. When you hire coaches and don’t pay them, where do they get money to develop themselves?. It is quite unfortunate because the NFF that cannot boast of basic training equipment will turn around to say coaches don’t develop their capacities. What do they have as training equipment? Their equipment store needs to be upgraded. They need to have modern training equipment. That is the painful truth.
Having served as assistant coache in some of the national teams, would you say indigenous coaches are adequately remunerated?
I don’t think so. During Alhaji Aminu Maigari’s tenure, the monthly stipends for assistant coaches was N300,000 but the present board has lowered it to N100,000 only. It is not even up to half of what Maigari paid assistant coaches. This is even below the N150,000 that was paid during Sani Lulu’s tenure. It was Maigari who raised it to N300,000. When I was with the Flamingoes, we played three World Cup qualifiers. We played against Morocco, Tanzania and South Africa. We won five and drew one match. As an assistant coach, I was supposed to earn $3,000 per match as winning bonus. In all, I was to receive $16,500 but they said they won’t pay everything. Later, they said they would pay only $750 which they didn’t pay. Even the travelling allowance which was $1500 under Maigari has been slashed to $225 per trip. So what are we talking about?. Will they treat the foreign coaches the same way?
So why do local coaches scramble to be appointed national team coaches?
Personally, the national team appointment is no longer a thing of priority. Maybe those who have not experienced it may be enthusiastic. Imagine when they are on national assignment, coaches leave their families behind. Once you are in camp, it’s like you are in prison because you cannot go out and do anything to earn extra income. So when you are away, who feeds your family? So these are some of the things that may, I say may, make some coaches accept bribes. If they are not given what was promised them, some people may be tempted to take bribes. Personally, to God be the glory, I have never contemplated such and I will never. Six times, I have coached different national teams but I went the extra mile to even take care of my players. Maybe one day, we shall open up on all these and many more.
In view of all that you have said, what advice do you have for your colleagues?
My candid advice to my colleagues is that it is not a must to coach the national teams. There are so many opportunities out there. We have to go back to the grassroots. For instance, the coach who discovered and nurtured Victor Osimhen who is Africa’s most expensive player is my friend. I am sure he will be happy with what has become of his product. Nigerian coaches must learn to walk away when the working environment gets toxic. Like I said, it pays to groom young players so I am happy with what I am doing for Zango Football Academy in Abuja. When people see my players, they marvel. They say the players have a very bright future. It gives me joy more than going to beg for a national assignment that will starve me to death.
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