The New Super Eagles Technical Adviser and our Culture of Mediocrity

Gernot Rohr, New Super Eagles Technical Adviser

In the course of the month, a new technical adviser for our beloved Super Eagles was announced after months of searching and speculations. Gernot Rohr, a German, was offered a two-year deal by the Amaju Pinnick led Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) at an odd but simple ceremony at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, in Abuja. The NFF handed Rohr a target of qualifying the Super Eagles for the 2018 FIFA World Cup finals in Russia. While his deal has understandably been generating a lot of mixed emotions from all and sundry, my grouse with the “Oyinbo Man” is that his credentials seems “run-of-the-mill”, that’s even stating it lightly without being too critical of the NFF’s choice.

A quick Google search of the man’s resume reveals that aside from taking Bordeaux to the UEFA Cup final some 20 years ago where they lost to Bayern Munich home and away, he hasn’t won any honor or laurel for any club or country he has coached. The 53-year old who was a former footballer, was fired by Étoile Sportive du Sahel in 2009, following a third-place finish in the Tunisian league, outside of the 2010 CAF Champions League places. That same year, he was named as the new head coach of the Ligue 2 team FC Nantes, his contract running till 30 June 2011. However, by the end of the year, on 3 December 2009 to be precise, he was fired once again by the club and duly replaced. My guess is as good as yours for the reason of his sack. The following year in 2010, he became the coach of Gabon’s national football team. His stint there was uneventful, as he won no major tournament with the team. He became manager of Niger’s national football team 2-years later but resigned in 2014. He subsequently became the manager of Burkina Faso but was sacked at the end of 2015.

From the above, it is not out of place for one to categorize our new technical adviser as mediocre. For a fact, football is a universal game enjoyed and unifying many people around the globe. Our own Super Eagles has always been a source of joy for many Nigerians and symbol unifying every Nigerian, regardless of ethnicity or religion. However, in recent years, this has not been the case. Failures to qualify for the African Nations Cup and World Cup have left a lot of Nigerians disillusioned with the team. I remember when our Eagles were really “super”, especially during the 90s when they won the African Nations Cup and performing wondrously in our first ever World Cup, up till the early years of the 21st century. In those days when the Super Eagles played, streets were deserted; while pubs and viewing centres were filled to the brim. Even NEPA as they were known then, couldn’t spoil the delight of watching the Super Eagles in action as generating sets were always on stand-by.

Nonetheless, for a country with over 170-million people that is filled with abundant football talents to have only won the African nations cup thrice and struggling to qualify for the tournament and World Cup from the African continent is truly pathetic. Part of the problem has always been getting a good coach for the Super Eagles. In recent times, the officials saddled with the responsibility of hunting a sound coach for the Eagles has always politicized it, exhibited nepotistic tendencies, or simply monetizing it by putting the position up for auction to the highest bidder. After recently experimenting with our local hands, they’ve brought in a foreigner. I am not against bringing a foreigner to take up the job. He can be white, brown or black, provided he has the credentials and capabilities to deliver the goods, will be a no-brainer for me. Thus, I do not think it is far-fetched for us to get a world class manager or technical adviser as the case may be for the Eagles, with a proven track record.

For me, the choice of Mr. Gernot Rohr by the NFF is simply an extension of our penchant for mediocrity. In other climes, most officials saddled with such a responsibility will head hunt excellent people that can proffer results; however, in Nigeria, this is not the case. In our clime, mediocrities are largely preferred, perhaps so that those that appointed them can manipulate them to do their bidding. Another perturbing aspect of our “Nigerianism” is our penchant for the senseless celebration of mediocrity. Underachievement, second-raters, and averageness seem to be the rule in all facets of our society. Go to the public sector, an uncountable league of mediocrity dominate and call the shots there. A governor building a single road or commissioning a borehole during his tenure is revered and hailed like a Messiah. A young woman with no secretarial skills to speak of gets promoted to “Oga’s” office faster than any of her properly trained colleagues. Sadly, mediocrity has become our national symbol and mainstay. We condone it, celebrate it, accept it and it has become norm.

For me, the 2-year deal that was given to the German is not enough time for the obviously mediocre man to perform wonders. Call me a pessimist; but without mincing words, I do not expect any tangible outcome to come out from the appointment of the German. I wouldn’t be surprised if we do not qualify for the World cup in Russia. What Nigerians need is a world class Technical Adviser that can not only qualify our Eagles for tournaments, but also win them or perform admirably in them. We need a man with clout and a proven track record of laurels that he has won with other countries at top-flight tournaments. We need an experienced hand that can effectively scout for Nigerian players both home and abroad and select them based on merit and performance for the Super Eagles team. We need a man that can build the team from scratch and make them renowned and feared by every opponent, African and non-African. Qualifications for the 2018 World Cup is just around the corner. I sincerely hope that the German proves me and a lot of like-minded Nigerians wrong.

Written by Abdulsalam Jubril
You can follow me on Twitter via @Abdul_Jubril