By George Aluo
Samson Siasia is not a politician and he is not one of those clamouring for the restructuring of the country. But the former Super Eagles forward who after his illustrious career had gone ahead to coach the Eagles believes the place where that word “restructuring” is most needed now is in the nation’s football.
Siasia who spoke exclusively with Daily Sunsports over breakfast recently at Drury Suites in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA said Nigerian football must be restructured if we must not struggle to beat even soccer minnows like Republic of Benin in international engagements.
He pointed out that he was not surprised when the home Eagles fell 0-1 to Benin in a CHAN 2018 qualifier at State d’ Lamite, Cotonou. The Ikechukwu Ezenwa captained side managed to romp through to the competition billed for Kenya after securing a 2-0 victory in Kano.
Hear Siasia: ” Are you surprised we lost to Republic of Benin? It shouldn’t come to you as a surprise. Why won’t we struggle in any match no matter how weak the opposition. One thing you must realize is that while other countries are working hard to improve and take their game to the next level, we are sleeping at home and we are not just sleeping but doing the wrong things. Things that would continue to take our football backward. Come to look at it, we can’t even maintain even ordinary pitches in 2017. All our pitches are bad and what we are doing is building artificial rubber pitches that are not good for the career and health of our players. Look at the Abuja National Stadium turf, is it not a shame that the Eagles can’t play there. I hear the contract for the regrassing of the pitch has been awarded to a woman who is the wife of a top government official. What kind of job do you expect that kind of person who knows next to nothing about football to do. Look at our clubs, none just none is a true professional side. So, how do you expect us to continue winning. It won’t work…there is no way you can continue to get results when you don’t plan well. Look at the team I took to the Olympics in Rio and won a bronze with, where are the boys today….only one or two of them are in the Eagles today. This is because we don’t plan well.”
On the way forward: “We must come up with a new blue print for our football, restructure the way it is being run. We need to get football out of government control. The game is big business in Europe, America , Asia name it. Even in Africa, it is big business in serious countries like South Africa and the North African countries. But in Nigeria the minister wants to control the soccer federation. State governments are running clubs and leaving it in the hands of their cronies. Things won’t work that way. We need to restructure the way we run the game. That is the only way the private sector, corporate bodies can put their money in it as they are doing in England and other places. Why is it that a Nigerian billionaire, Dangote is interested in buying Arsenal and not a Kano Pillars? The reason is that the setting in EPL is not the same in the NPFL. We need to take the game to the private sector. Let them invest in it. It is when you pump money into football that you get result. The players are professionals playing for money, same for the coaches. When you cook a good soup, you must have added many ingredients. We must stop playing politics with our football. That is why we are now struggling to qualify for international competitions. Even when we qualify, we find it difficult to do well. I know what I went through to win a bronze for Nigeria in Rio.
On Super Eagles: “I pray they qualify for the Russia 2018 World Cup. The team started the campaign well. But if we qualify for the World Cup, we must begin to do the right thing, putting the right policies in place to do well. We have the talents, what we need is to harness the talents . If we don’t plan well, even the best coach in the world won’t take the Eagles anywhere.”
On his next job now that he is out of contract: “I m at the moment cooling off with my family here in the States. You can see that I drove all the way from Atlanta, Georgia to Charlotte to see the patron of ex- Rangers in USA, Benson Ejindu who is my host here in Charlotte. Being out of contract for now, is not a big deal. Coaching is all about hiring and firing.
“I m not desperate for a new coaching job.. I have got offers from some clubs and even from the Rwanda FA. But I turned down the offers because I don’t want to go into a job I would regret going into. Rwanda FA interviewed me via Skype which to me was not the best. They now said I should buy myself a ticket to Kigali after which they will give me a refund. That to me was not a good way to start a coaching relationship. An FA that truly wants a coach would right from day one respect the coach. It is only a hungry coach that would jump at any offer. But the truth is that I m not completely idle at the moment. I have a project I m handling for the Niger Delta Development Commission ( NDDC) on how we can use football to better the life of the youths. It is part of the Niger Delta amnesty project. My appeal is for the governors of the Niger Delta region to support the project. Such a project can help to curb youth restiveness in the region. It is a project that I m working very hard to see that it succeeds just like my soccer academy Sia One soccer academy project.