Former CAF and FIFA executive committee member, Dr Amos Adamu, in this interview with Tribunesports OLAWALE OLANIYAN and BUNMI ADELEYE held at the Tribune House, Ibadan, speaks on the Super Eagles’ qualification for the 2018 World Cup, among other issues bordering on Nigerian football. Excerpts:
Accountability
Yes, there must be accountability. Any public fund that is collected must be properly accounted for, but one thing people must understand is that the way a sports administrator
will account for fund is not the same way with a journalist. In football, I cannot give you a receipt for everything I pay for. For instance, when I meet a player before a crucial game and
I know that if I give him $1,000, he will go to the field and ‘kill’ himself, I will gladly do it because I want result, but when I am asked to account for what I spent, I won’t tender a
receipt for such extra bonus or payment. I will put it that, on my honour I spent this amount on this player since I’m the one in charge and they must understand because it is in the
interest of the nation. Of course yes, it was judiciously spent because I did that to motivate the player in question so that he can put in his best.
It is not every transaction in football that has a receipt. There are certain things you can do as an official to make your athletes or players happy, you have to do them. If you say
because you won’t get a receipt to cover the $1,000 freebie, you won’t spend it, and then you lose the match, how much have you lost? So for me, I will spend it even if government says I should pay back, I will but I will let them know why I gave out the money in the first place.
If government puts you in charge of a venture, you have to do what is right to achieve a positive result. I will stand by my actions. Of course, I will defend it very well even if the
matter gets to the presidency.
The Largerback experience
It depends on the stance of the football authorities, if they feel we should change the coaching crew. For example, Shaibu Amodu of blessed memory coached us to qualify for the World Cup in 2010. Prior to the championship, the football authorities brought in Lars Lagerback, somebody who did not even know the names of our players. When he went to the World Cup, what did he bring back? They gave him money, they did everything to encourage him but he could not win anything for himself and for us in Nigeria. I can remember that I told the football authorities that this coach [Lagerback] could not take us anywhere. I told them that somebody qualified us for the World Cup and you dropped him, are we crazy? I didn’t keep quiet and we all saw the result at the end of the day.
My philosophy
I don’t pet players, though I always defend them in public, but when we are together, I will go to the dressing room and talk to them. I could say ‘you are useless, stupid and if you
don’t win, I will ask these people [crowd] to beat you up because you want to embarrass us’. Intentionally, I wanted to get the best out of them and when they came out to the pitch, they would perform well. When I bring out the anger in them they won’t want to disappoint Nigerians who have come to the stadium to support them.
I recall that when the late Stephen Keshi, as a player, and his colleagues were camped in Ota, Ogun State, I was always going there to monitor the situation in the camp. While their
training session was on, I would tell the manager of the hotel to lock all the taps and when these players came back from training, they would complain to me that there was no water and I would tell them there was tap running about 500 meters away. I would sit down and watch them whether they would sleep without taking their bath and one after the other, they would go and collect water from the available tap. And before they would return, I would order the manager of the hotel to unlock the tap. I was doing this to test their perseverance. Even at times, I would delay the payment of their allowances just to annoy them and make them sit up but at the end, we would still laugh together.
Appointment of foreign coach
When you are talking of a coach, he could be green, white or black, he could be from any race so long he can give us a good result. He could be an indigenous coach or foreigner, I am not particular about the colour of our coach and even the players. Whether we are using foreign- based players to prosecute our matches is immaterial to me. What matters is the result after all, they are Nigerians. I don’t mind having a foreign coach in charge, I don’t have that in my dictionary. A coach is a coach, a player is a player. One thing about Nigerian coaches is that if I called any of them and asked him, ‘can you coach the Super Eagles?’ his reply would be yes, he would jump at the offer without asking for any contract to sign and when he leaves the job, he would begin to lament that they didn’t pay him. How will I pay you when you failed to finalise your contract with me in the first instance? In fact, when you ask a foreign coach to come, the first thing he will ask you is how much are you going to offer me? He will even have a manager who will handle the contract on his behalf.
So, when you know the terms, you have to stick to them. Before I would employ a coach, I would tell him this is the kind of players we have on the ground, this is our level and this is
where I want us to be, will you take us to this level, can you do it? If he said yes, he could do it, then, I would ask, how much do you want? and the deal is done but once I see any sign of non-seriousness in him then, I would know what to do. I was the one who sacked Phillipe Troussier because he thought that Major Hamza Al-Mustapha could save his job. He travelled without permission from his employers and when I asked the people at the NFA then, they were trying to offer an excuse that the man [Troussier] was well connected. I invited pressmen to a briefing and said we have sacked Troussier. So, I was expecting Al-Mustapha to come and ask me why I sacked Troussier and that was the end of his [Troussier] era in Nigerian football. In fact, when the Sports Minister then asked for what led to the incident, I said he [Troussier] travelled without permission. So, one must take responsibility for one’s actions. Once you know what you are doing, people would praise you.
On the late Amodu, I told him people would criticise you, but he should listen only to what was reasonable. When you get the result, this criticism will stop. For me, I do not mind
criticisms, they help to correct one’s mistakes. One day, it was alleged that a coach embezzled money and he came to me with the publication in a newspaper crying. I asked him, did you ‘chop’ the money and he said no. I gave you N10 million to organise a programme, the publication claimed you have embezzled N15 million and you came here crying, you don’t know what you are doing, go back to your office.
Unforgettable moments
It is difficult to reproduce the 1994 squad because situation has changed completely. Look at how we managed to build the team to the 1994 World Cup. We had a good squad at the World Cup, so to say. I knew we were not going to the 1994 World Cup to win the cup, my target was for Nigeria to finish in the knockout stage which was achieved.
As the sole administrator of NFA then, I told Fanny Amun prior to Japan ’93 that I wanted him to raise a team that will win the World Cup and I asked if he could do it. He said yes, ‘I can do it’. After that we provided all he [Amun] asked for to camp the team at the Rojenny Games Village, Oba [Anambra]. Then, I told him if I heard anything uncomplimentary about the team [Golden Eaglets], I will sack him. So, he took the team to Japan and nobody knew about the team. The first time they came to Lagos, they played against Benin Republic in a friendly and after the match, everybody started saying, ‘are these Nigerian players, where did you get them and so on?’
Nobody abused Amun, he had the authority to treat the players the way he wanted and I told him If I didn’t ask him to stop what he was doing, he should just continue. At the end, we went to Japan and conquered the world.
Eagles’ current standard
I am happy that we have a formidable team now ahead of the 2018 World Cup and Nigerians should just allow this team to continue. There is no point changing a winning team except due to uncontrollable circumstances like injury or whatever. I believe this team would go to the 2018 World Cup and bring result. The only thing I want is that the coach [Gernot Rohr] must respect his employers. The NFF must make him to be up and doing. They should make him to realise that yes, he has coached Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup, but we can bring another person to do the job, he will sit up.
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