We didn’t want disaster to happen before sacking Rohr —Pinnick

President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick has offered an explanation on why the football house decided to sack Super Eagles coach, Gernot Rohr.

The Franco-German technician had been on the receiving end of heavy criticism from fans and other stakeholders of Nigerian football following what was termed as poor performance by the team.

Rohr, who took over a depleted Super Eagles in 2016, was finally shown the door by the NFF about a month before the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), a tournament he had led the team to qualify for.

Many ex-international had called on the NFF to let Rohr continue in his job until the end of the continental tournament, but Pinnick says the board thought differently.

Speaking during an interview with Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Monday, Pinnick said the NFF could not wait for a disaster to happen before letting the coach go.

“We gave him all the support, but we didn’t want to wait for a disaster to happen before parting ways,” said Pinnick.

Read Also: Calls for Sack: 8 times Rohr slipped, including his ‘no shame in losing to Madagascar’ comment

The call for the sack of Rohr was heightened after the Eagles struggled to seal their place in the playoffs of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

The team were beaten at home by Central African Republic before struggling to earn a draw at home against Cape Verde, a game that could have meant the end of the road for Nigeria.

“The last two games were very tough games for us,” Pinnick continued.

“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 cognisance.

“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.

“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.

“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.

“For Gernot Rohr, I know we paid him for about five months. We were owing him for a couple of months, then we cleared about five months,” he added.

The Super Eagles will now be led by former Nigeria star, Austin Eguavoen on the interim. It is yet to be known if he would lead the team to Cameroon for the AFCON next year.

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