By KATE OBODO
Following the recent free fall of Nigeria’s football culminating into the crash of the Super Eagles and Super Falcons out of the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations and the London 2012 Olympics, renowned military sports administrator, Brigadier-General Emmanuel Okaro(rtd) has said that having ex-players as coaches has not done much in helping Nigerian football.

“I will say ex-players are a curse to Nigeria Football. The problem with  most of our ex-international is that most  of them are not mature. Being an ex-international is not enough to make one a good coach.

The question we should always ask is, do they  have all it takes to be able to manage a  national team? Because most of their behaviour is nothing to write home about except of course Stephen Keshi who has handled national teams of Togo and  Mali. I think over the years he has been a man and has matured. If I am  asked to choose, I think Keshi should be allowed to handle the national team.”

Continuing, he said, “I am sure he will be able to handle the young players that are coming up in the national team. What we should also be concerned about in choosing a coach  for the Super Eagles  is  his educational background, his ability to manage players with maturity and his technical knowledge.

These are the major things we should look out for.  If you look at these ex-internationals  who want to coach the national team, what is the level of their education? Anybody can get a coaching certificate, but does that make him intelligent and technically sound?

Those are the  things the people  administering our football should put into consideration.  We have  some ex-players who have been ensuring that our football goes the proper way, like Segun Odegbami, Felix Owolabi, Adokiye Amiesimaka.

These people are not coaches but are intelligent men who have tried to proffer solutions to our  football but nobody is ready to listen  to them.”

When asked the kind of coach he wants for the Eagles, Okaro said “the kind of coach I want Nigeria to have now is one who can manage the national team very well. Secondly, such a person must be academically and technically sound and also know the rudiments of the game.

He must have a managerial skill especially on how to manage players. These are the qualities we have to  look out for, not coaches who  always talk on the pages of newspapers. A coach who is technically sound does not need the press to blow his trumpet  for him all the time,” he concluded.