Sunday Ogorchukwu Oliseh has been unveiled by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), replacing sacked Stephen Keshi, as coach of the Super Eagles.
The 40-year-old was the overwhelming favourite to be handed the role after the ‘Big Boss’ was shown the exit door by the NFF three weeks ago.
And last Wednesday, Oliseh finally signed a contract with the NFF which ties him to the Super Eagles until 2020, becoming the fifth player in the 1994 class to handle the senior national team after Austin Eguavoen, Samson Siasia, Daniel Amokachi and Keshi.
“It’s a great honour to be coach of this great nation,” said Oliseh at the unveiling ceremony in Abuja.
“I’m not coming as a messiah; I’m coming as a man who wants to serve his country and give 150 per cent.
“Gone are the days when we had individual players who can win games on their own. But we have potential,” he said.
He also laid down the law to players of Nigerian origin on his requirements before they can feature for his team.
“No player outside of first division in Nigeria or elsewhere will play for the Super Eagles. We will work together with the technical committee because if we fail, they fail,” he added.
The ex-Nigerian international will now hope to inspire an immediate improvement in the Eagles’ fortunes, starting with a win against Tanzania in an Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier in September.
Highly cerebral and a definite modern man, Oliseh brings lots of ideas to the Nigeria job, but will he succeed in an environment where hardly anything works?
The former Super Eagles captain thus crosses a threshold – from being the intellectual and armchair critic, rather TV pundit, to working and practising all his lofty ideas on the field with the Nigerian national team.
It is a role that has burnt up many in the past and a thankless position that could turn one into an enemy of 170 million people faster than any other. Ask his forerunners – Shaibu Amodu, Austin Eguavoen, Samson Siasia and Stephen Keshi – and they would tell about the pressure of satisfying every household coach.
“It is no secret that managing Nigeria’s national senior team is a burden and nightmare very few top coaches in the world want to bother doing, not because the talent or prospects are not there, but more or less because working with (these) administrators in the NFF is a nightmare,” he had posted on his blog after the 2013 AFCON victory, as he predicted that the fortunes of the team would not improve.
So why is he taking the job?
Oliseh is the quintessential modern man – active on social media, a writer, talker and analyst. He’s been working as a member of the FIFA Technical Study Group since 2013 and holds a UEFA Pro Coaching Licence.
Despite never coaching a major side, many think he is what Nigerian football has been waiting for; someone with a lot of ideas who can communicate in five languages and is able to hold audiences spell-bound.
His predecessor, Keshi, could speak English and French fluently, but was usually unable to talk about defined team tactics.
Nigeria has gone a notch higher with Oliseh who speaks English, French, German, Italian and a little Dutch.
Oliseh, who regularly analyses football on continental TV station, SuperSport, is at ease writing about everything from corruption in politics and sports to eulogies and criticism of former team mates.
In a 2013 post, he hit out at Keshi’s handling of criticism and his inability to “differentiate constructive criticisms from destructive ones” and then declared that he was not out to take his job.
In recent times, he has spoken about the need to treat national team captain, Vincent Enyeama, with respect, after the 101-cap goalkeeper was asked to face a disciplinary panel for criticising the choice of Kaduna for last month’s AFCON 2017 qualifier against Chad.
With his record of being a no-nonsense leader during his time as skipper of the Super Eagles, it is curious how he would handle clashes between the NFF and the players.
He has not hidden his disdain for administrators of the national team and how they have handled players’ welfare in the past.
“As captain of the Super Eagles for years and player for a decade, in several competitions, we never had a competition without having to confront this problem of money, and now 11 years after retirement from it, the problem is still there,” he wrote in another post.
There is a lot of adulation at the hiring of Oliseh, and many people are optimistic that Nigeria has finally got an ideas man.
However, there is a lot of difference between ideas and practice. How well the former midfielder can handle the heat will determine his legacy.
Can he make difficult decisions? Can he find new talent to improve the fortunes of the Super Eagles? Can he do this without falling to the lure of easy money from player agents like some of his predecessors?
Can he skilfully meander in that delicate place between NFF’s expectations and players’ agitations? Will he be able to deal with inflated egos of national team stars? Will he measure up to fans’ expectations for their team?
“The good thing about playing for Nigeria is that, the moment you play your first game, you’re a superstar. But the moment you play your first bad game, even your father would call and say, ‘My son you’ve put me in trouble’,” he said.
Can he stand the heat in Nigeria’s pressure cooker and remain as cheerful and intellectual?
In 2002, he was forced to retire early after being dropped from the squad to the World Cup in Japan and South Korea. There was uproar against him and his supposed ‘mafia’ which administrators claimed was trying to hold the country to ransom. He was set up for the kill and hounded out.
Past managers of the Super Eagles
Foreign managers
• John Finch (1949)
• Elliot Williams (1954–1956)
• Les Courtier (1956–1960)
• Dominic Taylor (1960–1961)
• George Vardar (1961–1963)
• Joey Blackwell (1963–1964)
• Jozsef Ember (1965–1968)
• Sabino Barinaga (1968–1969)
• Karl-Heinz Marotzke (1970–1971)
• Jorge Penna (1972–1973)
• Karl-Heinz Marotzke (1974)
• Tihomir Jelisavcic (1974–1978)
• Otto Gloria (1979–1982)
• Gottlieb Goller (1981)
• Manfred Hoener (1988–1989)
• Clemens Westerhof (1989–1994)
• Jo Bonfrere (1995–1996)
• Philippe Troussier (1997)
• Bora Milutinovic (1998)
• Thijs Libregts (1999)
• Jo Bonfrere (1999–2001)
• Berti Vogts (2007–2008)
• Lars Lagerback (2010)
Local managers
• Daniel Anyiam (1964–1965)
• Peter ‘Eto’ Amaechina (1969–1970)
• Festus Adegboye Onigbinde (1983–1984)
• Chris Udemezue (1984–1986)
• Patrick Ekeji (1985)
• Paul Hamilton (1987–1989)
• Shaibu Amodu (1994–1995)
• Shaibu Amodu (1996–1997)
• Monday Sinclair (1997–1998)
• Shaibu Amodu (2001–2002)
• Festus Adegboye Onigbinde (2002)
• Christian Chukwu (2002–2005)
• Augustine Eguavoen (2005–2007)
• James Peters (2008)
• Shaibu Amodu (2008–2010)
• Augustine Eguavoen (2010)
• Samson Siasia (2010–2011)
• Stephen Keshi (2011–2014)
• Stephen Keshi (2015)
• Sunday Oliseh (2015 -???)
