*Saintfiet worried
Former Nigeria Internationalย Sam Sodjeย said it wasย nothing butย a disgrace thatย the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) is stillย dilly-dallyingย over the appointmentย of a substantive coachย for theย Super Eaglesย months afterย ย coach Finidi Georgeย walked away.
Sodje who madeย his name acrossย English Premier League Clubs including West Brom and Portsmouth, saidย itโsย unexplainableย that the NFFย has yet toย name a replacementย for Finidiย withย the qualifiersย forย theย ย 2025 Africa Cup of Nationsย due in September.ย
โItโs just sad that we are still talking about theย appointment of a coach and itโs very unfortunateย that itโsย not only footballย ย that has gone done but sports generally in the country has really gone down , โ a miffedย Sodjeย told Brila fm. โWe haveย to agreeย thatย we have lost touch of what is going on ;ย and not having a coach yet at this time is terrible .
โMaybe having an interim managerย would not have beenย a bad idea but we should have settled for this long time.ย
โWe neededย somebody in there becauseย we โre expecting to win.ย We just have to hope that we would
โBut we have to agree that preparation in this country is ridiculous.ย We are far away from where every country is; and this is really a disgrace,โ he affirmed.
In a related development, Tom Saintfiet, who has accepted the offer from the NFF to be the next coach of the Super Eagles, isย reportedly becoming increasingly worried by the delay of his appointment.
The Belgian coach, according to Score Nigeria , is equally concerned about what he termed as bad press he has been getting from Nigeria, addingย the managerial statistics attributed to him are โfakeโ.
He has made his financial demands to the NFF, which are regarded as โaffordableโ, but he has yet to receive a final word from the NFF.
The former Gambia and Togo coach also wants a definite answer on the Super Eagles post so that he could begin a proper disengagement from the Philippines, where he is in charge of the national team.
In March 2012, he was designated as NFF technical director only for sports ministry to reverse that decision on the basis that a Nigerian could also do the job.