It is no longer news that The Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) is scouting for a foreign coach to succeed former Coach and Nigerian International, Stephen Keshi.
Individual reliable sources have revealed that the Nigerian Football Federation recently approached Ex-Chelsea boss and former Dutch international, Ruud Gullit who rejected the offer with fears over the deadly Ebola virus and kidnapping.
A representative of the Dutch man described the job as " high risk", explaining that there is a high level of insecurity in the country especially as the 2015 elections approaches and the possibility of contacting the Ebola virus is high.
According to one of the sources; “Gullit is not interested in coaching Nigeria, his agent told me the job is high risk. She spoke about Ebola and fears about terrorism in Nigeria and she said for those reasons, her client will not be keen.”
Another source stated; “The fear of Ebola in Nigeria is still very real even though the Nigerian government has announced it has successfully tackled the disease there,”
“But the truth is that the World Health Organisation (WHO) is yet to certify Nigeria free of the disease.
“Also, Gullit is a top personality and he told the person who spoke directly to him today that he fears he may be kidnapped in Nigeria. What is clear is that these fears may not be only limited to Gullit. Most other top Dutch coaches will also stay away should they be approached for the job.”
NFF president, Amaju Pinnik told news reporters that his board is not looking to go through rigorous interviews but will look through past and present records of coaches after which they will approach and appoint whoever is deemed fit to coach the Super Eagles of Nigeria after necessary negotiations have been agreed.
Under Dutch coaches, Nigerian football has recorded it's most successful run at international level. Dutch men, Clemens Westerhof and his assistant Bonfrere Jo
led the then Green Eagles of Nigeria to their second African Cup of Nations title in 1994 and went further to qualify them for their first ever world World Cup, months later.
2 years later, in 1996, Westerhof's assistant, Bonfrere Jo led the Green Eagles to win the Olympic gold in Atlanta, United State of America after beating Brazil and Argentina.
The Nigerian 1994 team who went-on to conquer the world in the 1996 Olympic games has been tagged as the best team ever produced in the history of Nigerian football.
Several players in the team were playing full-time football in Top clubs/A-leagues in Europe and were even acknowledged as world class players e.g Nigerian Ex-international, Victor Ikpeba who was known as "The Prince of Monaco"
Until an expatriate coach is appointed, you will recall that a consortium of caretaker coaches led by Shuaibu Amodu has been saddled with the task of handling Nigeria’s remaining two qualifying matches next month which will be against Congo in their capital city of Brazzaville and South Africa in the newly built Akwa Ibom stadium.
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