NFA Moves to Hire Foreign Coach
By Tunde Sulaiman
THISDAYSports can exclusively report that the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) will formally begin moves to employ a foreign coach this weekend when the Chairman of the board Alhaji Ibrahim Galadima meets with the association�s scribe Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi in order to agree on a date to call a board meeting.
It is only the Board that can initiate moves to employ a foreign coach for the national team the Super Eagles.
According to a Board member the board has to formally instruct its technical committee to begin the search before the first steps are taken towards that effect.
"So far the board hasn�t instructed the technical committee to start work on screening prospective applicants for the job. And until that is done nothing can take place as regards employing a new technical adviser because it is the responsibility of the board to do so and not anyone else," explained the source.
THISDAYSports, however, learnt that tomorrow�s World Cup clash between Nigeria and Algeria will afford the board the opportunity to initiate the move since many board members will be present in Abuja to the watch the match.
"We will use the occasion of the match to hold informal consultations amongst ourselves pending when we shall formally hold our board meeting where the FA's official position will be taken."
We leant that in view of the urgency surrounding the employment of a foreign coach the Board would most likely meet as early as next week in order to put an official seal on the brief of their technical committee.
Earlier in the week FA scribe Chief Taiwo Ogunjobi had said that the association would have a new technical adviser in place before Eagles next World Cup match in September against Zimbabwe in Harare.
But while the Board member declined to refute the scribe�s assertion, he did caution that the date might not be feasible �because there was still a lot to do before bringing in a coach.�
"I won't say that we won't have a coach by then but I will say that a lot of work still has to be done. Because even after we (Board) have agreed on the person we still have to send it to the ministry for ratification. But even before we get to this point we have to first agree on the person then ensure that we have the means to pay him before going to the minister. So you see it won't be an easy process," explained the board member.
A previous attempt by the present board to hire Bryan Robson late last year was torpedoed by the minister on the grounds that the Board did not follow 'due process'.
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