It is an undeniable fact, that of all occupations in the world, the job of coaching a football team, be it at the club or national team level is one of the most hazardous because of the stress and pressure attached. It is also a known fact that the job of coaching a football team is one of the most insecured jobs in the world because of the reality that a coach can be hired and fired within the twinkle of an eye depending on a number of factors, which he might have no control over.
No matter the volume or level of attacks, insults, abuses, threats, etc, the football team coach is confronted with, he is expected to remain focused on his job and try to make a way out even though he might be subjected to painful conditions in terms of suspension, placement on half salary, ultimatum to win so and so number of matches in order to keep his job until the sledge hammer finally falls via the termination of appointment, its a common trend.
These conditions are what a football team coach faces at the microscopic club level and is even worse at the macroscopic level when he is appointed as a national team handler, which means that he is saddled with the responsibility of managing the football destiny of the mass of the population of the country, which is not easy.
The Herculean task of managing a country's national team is one of soldier come, soldier go, but barracks remain and so requires discipline, maturity, knowledge, temperament, mental stability, expertise, character, among other qualities because of the pressure of the job which is better imagined since it is only the person so appointed that wears the shoes and so knows where it pinches. The national team manager shoulders the expectation of national pride, dignity, passion, patriotism and commitment of the whole country in competition with other countries.
Since his appointment as the Super Eagles gaffer, Sunday Oliseh has been at the receiving end of attacks, abuses and criticisms from various quarters over the performance of the national team in matches which was the same lot suffered by his predecessors and will also be of his successors when he leaves the hot seat. Infact, some people even questioned the rationale of his appointment after the dismissal of the last occupant claiming that he was just appointed without being screened by the technical committee, which they expected to be the process through which such appointment should undergo.
Despite all these challenges, Nigerians, being very passionate football lovers and enthusiasts, kept faith with Coach Sunday Oliseh and the Super Eagles urging, encouraging and criticizing him at every turn when the Super Eagles play matches all with the aim of seeing Nigeria excel on the football field.
However, one was taken aback, shocked, disappointed, angry and insulted when following the Super Eagles exit from the recently concluded African Nations Cup (CHAN) for African based players in Rwanda and in reaction to the string of criticisms that trailed the Super Eagles ouster, Coach Sunday Oliseh in an interview retorted with crude, uncivilized, uncultured, arrogant, irresponsible, indiscipline and insultive language to his critics, calling them insane just because they exercised their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech in calling for his sack as the national team handler.
Sunday Oliseh, by his arrogant and indiscipline posture and comment, even as a national team coach has proven some of his age long critics right that he is mentally unstable, immature and unfit, character wise to manage the super eagles and has further confirmed that he has not learnt his lessons from this negative attributes which culminated to his untimely exit from the national team as a player even at the peak of his career.
Coach Sunday Oliseh, needs to be educated and psychologically tuned to the fact that as the national team coach, he is responsible and accountable to the Nigerian people and not vice versa. So if he is being criticized, one expects him to realize that variety is the spice of life and the job of coaching a football team, be it a club side or national side, carries with it, a lot of responsibility and expectation, of which positive and negative criticisms, abuses, insults, threats and even physical assaults are part and parcel of.
Sunday Oliseh's statement at the chat that the CHAN tournament was unimportant and that he didn't lobby or beg to be appointed as the national team and was ready to go if he is not needed, is the height of insolence, arrogance and disdain for national pride, dignity and sensibility.
If the statements credited to Sunday Oliseh at the interview is true, of which one expects a retraction and an apology to the Nigerian people in the days to come, because it is uncultured and unacceptable, then the NFF have put the destiny of the country's football in jeopardy by saddling the responsibility of managing the football destiny of over 160 million people in the hands of a man in need of psychiatric and psychological treatment.
Thanks.
Nelson Ekujumi
SOURCE: NELSON EKUJUMI
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