First major test of his managerial ability was the Vincent Enyeama saga. One he bungled so bad that even the cruelest sadist would have handled better. Then arose his allegations of 'witchcraft in the team'. I decided to ignore that one. Then the YouTube rant. No. Former Super Eagles Coach, Sunday Oliseh had been walking a tight rope.
Every single thing that befell him was by his own making. When Keshi was hired ahead of Oliseh I was not surprised. I felt he was always going to be the guy that would not take nonsense from anyone. He played for the Super Eagles and Skippered the team too. He cannot say that he did not know the kirikiri bonkibo and chocolate bonjah lying beneath the team when he decided to take up the job of Chief Coach. Oliseh himself, though seen by many (including myself) as fighting for his team mates back then, was himself a controversial figure. To the best of my knowledge, most of the decisions and a actions he took as Super Eagles Captain was for the good of the people he was leading. Knowing the ever consistent situation of the Glass House, he should have braced himself. Therefore I see his coming up with the reasons he stated as being behind his decision to resign as bullshit. Maybe I expected too much from him because I felt Oliseh was going to make the NFF do their job properly. Also knowing the person of the current NFF Chairman and his passion to improve football in Nigeria I felt they were going to be a formidable team. But no. They decided on an ego trip.
However we choose to look at it, Oliseh is a General that abandoned his soldiers in the middle of a war. Nigeria has a crunch AFCON qualifier with Egypt in a matter of days and he chose this period to resign. Piss poor decision. He took the best legs to CHAN but came back after a less than average showing where we did not make it to the knock out stage. Maybe Coach Sunday Oliseh was never destined to manage the Eagles. Credit to the people that cried out against his hire. They are justified. I eat my words because I believed in him so much and did not hide it. Oliseh should look for Westerhof, Bonfrere Jo, Amodu Shuaibu, Samson Siasia, Christian Chukwu and especially Stephen Keshi, and give them handshakes. These men took the heat and all out performed him despite the presence of same problems he sings about. They swam the ocean he could not fish in. He chickened out.
We are back to square one.
Follow Ikenna Enenta on Twitter @ikenna005
Diplomacy,tactfulness are attributes of a mature mind..blowing hot all the time is usually counter productive..sometimes you lose to win..unfortunate it ended this way..wish him the best in all his future endeavors..great read..
ReplyDeleteReally, I felt he had dropped the controversies and marched on but nay, man had stuff bottled in. He disppointment me. Big time. Still, I wish him the best going forward.
DeleteApt write-up you have here, very succinct. Oliseh, with this, has let a lot of people down but I'm sure even more people are not at all surprised, especially after his fiasco with Enyeama. I wish him well, more importantly, I wish the Super Eagles the best and hope the NFF gets their act right in the near future for everyone's sakes.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I rooted for him cos I felt he would have inched up the management ladder. I sure wish him well. Hope he will return to management bigger and better.
DeleteA foreigner could have been forgiven but for one who knew the 'terrain' before he took the dive in this is almost unforgivable. Sunday Oliseh is a disappointment. He hasn't left any positive memories for even his most ardent protagonists to make his case. Bad for the team and bad form his is this his action but we will rise above it with him or without him....... In this case Without him!!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat Oliseh did doesn't add up. He knew before he took the job only to leave his soldiers in d middle of a war. Doesn't make sense.
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