Should Coach Sunday Oliseh return to the Super Eagles?
Sunday Oliseh once said he would never return to play for the Super Eagles after his retirement in 2002, now the 45 year old says he will not return to the Super Eagles as a coach.
When asked - in a recent interview - the former Juventus, Ajax and Borussia Dortmund star said: “No, I don’t have the intention of ever coaching the (Super) Eagles again. " As good a player he was for Nigeria, Oliseh's career was chequered by attitude problems which ultimately led to his inglorious exit from the national team (for one so talented). It was always a bad idea to appoint him as the coach of the Super Eagles to start with as he wasted no time in displaying his calling card with the high profile feud with Enyeama (which led to the goalkeeper’s resignation – something a lot of Super Eagles fans have hardly gotten over). That was to be the beginning of his spats as he would go on to have a major feud with his former teammates who was working in the NFF under administrative capacity. “What I find most annoying is that these ex-colleagues who now sit to criticise were just not the real actors who made the Eagles tick way back.” Said Oliseh when he was Super Eagles coach in a rather bizarre YouTube video. "Now they are doing the same thing sitting down to criticise. They should go for coaching courses or pick up coaching jobs.” He lambasted.
Players like Troost Ekong – who is now a fulcrum of the Super Eagles – still finds it hard to overcome the demoralising comments Oliseh made to him. “After a game, he [Oliseh] said we were too soft to play against African players. That upset me because one of my traits as a player is that I am someone who does not back away from anyone. I am not the most skilful, but I know what I am good at” Ekong lamented. The France ’98 hero mentioned all the horrific working conditions in the NFF which are very well documented. Yet, coaches like Amuneke and Manu Garba have endured such horrendous conditions and yet would happily return to work for the NFF if called upon. Sunday Oliseh is a Super Eagles legend – no one can take that from him. The way he has gone about to reinvent himself as a motivational speaker, pundit and coach after his football career is very admirable and worthy of emulation by current footballers. However, if he has not learnt anything from the way he retired from the Super Eagles and the rather forgettable time that he spent as the coach of the Super Eagles, then, it is not a bad idea if he never comes anywhere near the Super Eagles again.