‘Disaster Looming’ – NFF gives reasons for Rohr’s sack
Amaju Pinnick, President of the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF), has revealed that Gernot Rohr was sacked as Super Eagles coach to prevent a “disaster” waiting to happen.
Pinnick said this on Monday while he was a guest on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily breakfast programme where he made it known that the NFF gave the German tactician all the necessary support to succeed with the team.
“He (Rohr) happens to be the longest-serving manager of the Super Eagles. We gave him all the support, but we didn’t want to wait for a disaster to happen before parting ways. The last two games were very tough games for us.” he said.
“It wasn’t an individual decision; it was a collective decision by the entire executive committee. We were winning our games … there are a lot of things we took into cognizance. When you part ways, you don’t want to start ascribing blames; you just let it go and face the future with renewed hope and renewed zeal.”
He said the NFF only owes the players allowances from two matches, while Gernot Rohr is owed “a couple of months” after he was recently paid for five months.
Pinnick also said the decision to sack Rohr was collectively arrived at by members of the football committee, adding that several factors were put into consideration.
“It wasn’t an individual decision, it was a collective decision by the entire football committee,” he said.
“We did everything that we could, but one major factor was that discipline in the team is lost practically. In the dressing room, discipline in the team was at its lowest edge and once you remove discipline, that foundation in the team has cracked,” he said.
“Players now talk back at you, players believe that they are indispensable. A lot of factors that will now militate against the team. We are only owing about two matches of all the matches they played in both AFCON qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers.
The football federation has appointed Augustine Eguavoen, currently its Technical Director, as the Technical Adviser of the Super Eagles on an interim basis.
