A joke gone too far

When the Nigeria Football Federation named coaches that will take over from Shaibu Amodu immediately he was moved to head the Home Based, many thought the organisation had contacted them before making the announcement.

But as soon as the list was made public, Bayern Munich coach Louis van Gaal denied any interest in the job or contact from our football federation.

If that could be described as a one off thing, Italian Giovanni Trapattoni was next on the line. His agent told ANSA, an Italian news agency that Trapattoni has a two years deal with Ireland, and he will honour the contract with Ireland. He then went on to say that Nigeria is not in Trapattoni's radar.

Just when one thought the federation will learn a lesson from this embarrassment; officials told journalists that Dutch coach Guus Hiddink has sent a list of demand to the federation - on wage, bonus and allowances.

His agent's reaction to the federation was really embarrassing; he was so incensed with the federation's claim, that he diplomatically called Nigeria a nation of liar.

Just as we were reading the agent's reaction, Ratomir Djukovic, the coach of Serbia U-21 team told the world that Nigeria has been dropping his name. That the nearest he has got to the Super Eagles' job was what he had been reading online, that nobody had contacted him.

To aggravate issues, the coach told Nigeria to stop dropping his name that he was not interested in the job.

Other countries

I believe the NFF needs to borrow a leaf from other countries and clubs that have changed their coaches in recent times. When Benin Republic sacked their coach, they named a new one two days after. Bolton, one of the struggling clubs in the English premiership, did not call a press conference and a meeting of the fans. All they did was approach Owen Coyle and once the manager agreed, he left Burnley for Reebok Stadium.

Turkey, that signed our much sought after Hiddink, also had the same approach manner. They approached the coach, and once they agreed on the terms, the coach agreed to move to Turkey. Manchester City sacked Mark Hughes and named Roberto Mancini as the new coach almost immediately. Chelsea knew the man they needed was Carlo Ancelotti and they named him manager months before his contract with AC Milan expired and when the contract expired he moved quietly to Chelsea.

All these merry go round and the idea of listing hundreds of manger are needless, all we need do is, look around for the world for the kind of manager we need and name him.

The manager we need

With the World Cup a few weeks away, the type we need is one that is familiar with Nigeria and her players.

With the Egyptian football association giving coach Hassan Shehata the go ahead to talk with our federation, also in the running for the Eagles job are former Senegal coach, Bruno Metsu and English man Peter Taylor who has been named the manager of Bradford.

But I don't see the miracle any of them can do within four months. One, the time is too short to know our players who are based abroad. Secondly, they don't know the people and lastly and more importantly they don't know the culture. The above may look simple, but they are very important.

For me, the best man for the job, given the little time we have is Jo Bonfrere. One, he is familiar with our players both home and away, and more importantly, he is familiar with the culture and lastly he is not only available he has expressed his readiness to work with Sunday Oliseh and Samson Siasia.

I believe anything outside the Bonfrere option is a big gamble that may embarrass Nigeria.

Many Nigerians going by public opinion seems receptive to idea. A few argued that Bonfrere is a trainer not coach, but all these are name calling. Who is a trainer who is a coach; there exists a thin line between the two.

There are those who argued that Bonfrere is tactically deficient, yet he coached Nigeria to win the soccer Olympics gold medal. He led to win the silver at 2000 Nations Cup; he led South Korea to qualify for the 2006 World Cup. Let's go for Bonfrere and stop all these jokes that is denting our image.