Being owed salaries one of reasons I’ll never coach Nigeria again –Oliseh

Former Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh has given reasons why he would never consider taking the job again even if he were called upon by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

Oliseh was boss of the national men’s team between 2015 and 2016, with an impressive statistic as he lost only two out of 14 games.

The 45-year-old former Fortuna Sittard of Netherlands manager, while speaking with Punch in an Instagram Live interview, said, “I don’t have the intention of ever coaching the (Super) Eagles again.”

He added: “I loved working with the boys, I love coaching my country, but the atmosphere around it was no longer healthy.

“I didn’t want the job anymore. Health-wise I was not feeling too good; secondly, we were owed salaries. I was spending money on my health and on my team. I just couldn’t die on the job.

“Truth is, we have a foreign coach now and from what I heard and know, he is being paid four times the wages Stephen Keshi and I were paid and these are two players (himself and Keshi) who won trophies for Nigeria.

Read Also: Opt for Man Utd permanent deal than return to China, Oliseh tells Ighalo

“I’ve never heard Gernot Rohr complain about wages. Keshi, while he was coaching, was always complaining, when I was coaching for four months, I was unpaid, for six months my assistants were unpaid, so I had to leave the job; we were also being frustrated.”

Oliseh stated that he had plans to take the team to the next level before he parted ways with his employers, the NFF.

“I had good plans for the team. You will notice that at a time I brought in (Wilfred) Ndidi, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho, young players who are dominating now. I brought in a world-class goalkeeper (Carl Ikeme) because I felt the old breed were ready to leave.

“The same philosophy I used while with the Eagles was the same philosophy France used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

“Sometimes you ask yourself questions about Nigeria. You won laurels for the country as a player, you’re doing well as a coach, you were about qualifying for the World Cup and you’re unpaid for four months.”

Oliseh represented Nigeria between 1993 and 2002, and was a member of the team that won the Africa Cup of Nations in 1994 and the Olympic football gold of Atlanta ’96.

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now