John Fashanu, an ex-England international, on Friday advocated for the hiring of local coaches as future Super Eagles’ gaffers.
Fashanu, who spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja, said the idea of hiring European coaches for Super Eagles’ job was not only inappropriate but a misconception.
“I am sorry to say this, but I don’t believe in hiring European coaches to coach the Super Eagles.
“It is very difficult to bring a European who spent most of his life in a different environment to come to a different country, with different food, weather and so on.
“Then, you expect him to change the result of what’s going on with the Eagles; that is extremely difficult.
The famous Nigeria Sports Ambassador said that appointing a foreign coach was unnecessary as it resulted to waste of national resources and showed lack of respect for Nigerian coaches.
“I consider the amount being wasted on hiring foreign coaches as unnecessary, especially against the background of the consistent lamentation of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) about paucity of funds.
“It also shows lack of respect for Nigerian coaches, because I believe that we have quality coaches with high technical ability to manage the Eagles well,’’ he said.
Fashanu added that what the indigenous coaches needed to perform optimally was an environment devoid of any undue interference and the right motivation.
“I believe that if you provide for the indigenous coach the same environment and motivation provided for the foreign one, he will definitely perform.
“We must learn to support and promote our own people. We can’t be bringing in foreign coaches to run our own country.
“We have the potential, we have the players, who are potential managers and are capable of doing the job. So, we don’t need to look outside.
“I am a living witness to show that. I spent most of my life in Europe and I am coming home to say that we have better potential managers here in Africa than in Europe.
“Let’s give ourselves a chance, trust in ourselves and that’s what they don’t seem to want to do,’’ he said.
NAN reports that the Super Eagles are on the brink of qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Russia after beating Zambia 2-1 in their own backyard and defeating Algeria 3-1 in Uyo.
Match Day 3 will see Nigeria welcome Cameroon on Aug. 28, while the reverse fixture takes place five days later.
Zambia will visit on Oct. 2, before the last group game away to Algeria on Nov. 6. (NAN)