Oliseh: Why I will never coach Nigeria again

by Staff Reporter

Wednesday Apr 15, 2020. 09:00

Legendary Nigerian midfielder Sunday Oliseh says he will never coach the Super Eagles again.

Oliseh was appointed Nigeria head coach in 2015 and he took charge of 14 international matches, but he resigned in the following year.

“No, I don’t have the intention of ever coaching the [Super] Eagles again, I loved working with the boys, I love coaching my country, but the atmosphere around it was no longer healthy,” Oliseh told Punch.

“I didn’t want the job anymore. Health-wise I was not feeling too good; secondly, we were owed salaries. I was spending money on my health and on my team. I just couldn’t die on the job.

“Truth is, we have a foreign coach now and from what I heard and know, he is being paid four times the wages Stephen Keshi and I were paid and these are two players who won trophies for Nigeria,”he continued.

“I’ve never heard Gernot Rohr complain about wages. Keshi, while he was coaching, was always complaining, when I was coaching for four months, I was unpaid, for six months my assistants were unpaid, so I had to leave the job; we were also being frustrated.”

The former Nigeria captain revealed the plans he had for the Super Eagles which included Carl Ikeme.

“I had good plans for the team. You will notice that at a time I brought in [Wilfred] Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho, young players who are dominating now,” he continued.

“I brought in a world-class goalkeeper [Carl Ikeme] because I felt the old breed were ready to leave. The same philosophy I used while with the Eagles was the same philosophy France used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Sometimes you ask yourself questions about Nigeria. You won laurels for the country as a player, you’re doing well as a coach, you were about qualifying for the World Cup and you’re unpaid for four months.”

Oliseh had an impressive statistic of; 14 Games (Only two losses) 19 goals scored, six conceded as Nigeria coach.