Ex-Nigeria Coach says NFF Brought Shame And Embarrassment To Nigeria With Le Guen Drama

Former Nigeria coach and FIFA/CAF Technical Advisor Adegboye Onigbinde has described as a national disgrace the decision of Frenchman Paul Le Guen to snub Nigeria after he was recommended for the Super Eagles coaching job by the Nigeria Football Federation.

"A portion of FIFA rules talks about a game being brought into disrepute," Onigbinde told journalists.

"The NFF by that singular act of shabbily handling the purported appointment and or recommendation of Le Guen and even making it a public discourse, to me, have brought Nigeria into disrepute and should have resigned or be sacked were it to be in other climes.

"That a football federation interviewed a coach on Skype and announced to the world he has been recommended for appointment, only for the coach to say no, I don't want your job, keep it to yourself.

"What a shame, what an embarrassment."

Onigbinde chided the Glass House for opting to place all national team assistant coaches on mere allowances, positing that it amounted to placing the cart before the horse.

"Of course, they will get the kind of coaches they want under that arrangement," the former Shooting Stars General Manager raged.

"When virtually all the clubs in the country are owing their players and officials, what do you expect?

"I recall in 2003 when the then Oyo State government called me to come and restructure Shooting Stars.

"I told the 1million people who said they were supporters of the club that look, you are the rightful owners of the club. All you need do is just pay N1,000 each and you know how much that would be.

"I won't even put the money in the bank but to invest it like in '3SC Bottled Water' and you know how much that would generate for running the club.

"There is a portion in FIFA rules that guarantees NFF 10 per cent of commercial revenue from clubs commercial revenues.

"If 3SC generate N1 billion, from such a venture, NFF's percent would amount to N100m from just one club.

“If NFF reaps same amount from the 20 Premier League clubs for instance, you know how much the FA would have and which could just be enough to fund some developmental projects.

"Let me restate here that going by FIFA's definition of football club, there is not a single football club in Nigeria."