Nobody Fired, Nobody Resigned

NIGERIA is unique. A debate has ensued about what to do with the Super Eagles, who have done such irreparable damage to what was left of the image of Nigerian football. We thought everyone knew what to do about them – and their officials.

Why the contemplation and circumspection? Nigerians knew long after the first two games that Nigeria was off key in the Nations Cup. It would have been less painful if the hopes had not been built over the wintry training in Malaga and the assumed proficiency of a foreign coach called Hans Hubert Berti Vogts, who at moments of bare wakefulness promised he would win the Nations Cup.


Officials of the Nigeria Football Association say it was not their fault that the Super Eagles turned in their worst Nations Cup result in 26 years with the best arsenal, a combination of world class players, world rated coach, the 12th highest paid in the whole wide world. For the first time in a long while, we had an NFA board at harmony with itself and the National Sports Commission.


Have you wondered what would have happened if the usually unpaid Nigerian coach returned this scandalous result? Would he not have been fired from Ghana? Would the disappointed fans not have sought out his family houses, up to the third generation, and burnt them?


Vogts is not an ordinary coach. This makes the affair even more depressing. He won the World Cup with Germany in 1974, was capped 96 times, captained Germany, and led Germany to victory in Euro 1996, before a remarkable decline in his coaching career. The remaining part of his story is an unmitigated disaster, the results in Ghana have added to those records that spanned Germany, Kuwait and Scotland, where he resigned, citing “unbearable media insults”.


Apparently, the Nigerian media would not rise up to the occasion of forcing him to leave our football before he does further damage. It is not too late to start since the man has decided that he would not go voluntarily.


Suppose we cannot sack Vogts, as we are not his employer? His engagement came through a private arrangement beyond the powers of the NFA. After the initial convoluted vexations over Vogts, many NFA members realised that they have not seen Vogts’ contract: they did not know if they had the powers to sack him.


Eight years ago, Bonfrere Johannes arrived to handle the Eagles for the 2000 Nations Cup, which Nigeria partially hosted. His contract included a provision that he had to get the Eagles to the semi-final or he would be fired. The press then protested, thinking Nigerians deserved something better, having been in eight earlier semi-finals of the Nations Cup. The unseen Vogts contract may not have any such provision.


Our shock is that no honourable NFA member is so incensed about the disappointment to resign. We would mark our worst result in 26 years without a sack or a resignation. It is a record.