Under fire Super Eagles’ Chief Coach Berti Vogts is expected in Abuja today for crunch talks with his employers – the Nigeria Football Association (NFA).
It will be the first time the German will be visiting Nigeria since he lead the Eagles to a disastrous outing at Ghana 2008, where they failed to get past the quarter-final stage.
Once the Eagles, who laboured to qualify from Group B, crashed 2-1 to the hosts, Ghana, the tactician headed back to Germany for a ‘short rest’.
However, in the wake of the disappointing outing of the national team there have been very stringent calls for the FA to immediately terminate the appointment of the former Scotland manager.
But the 1974 World Cup winner has put the Glass House in a quandary by refusing to tow the honourable path of resigning; instead insisting that he was already looking towards preparing the Eagles for the World Cup qualifiers, which kick off in June.
In fact the unrepentant sweat merchant in departing Accra, said he would be using his ‘break’ to see if he would be able to cope with the Nigerian media, which he sees as being very hostile towards him.
Glass House officials who confirmed the German’s arrival, also admitted to THISDAYSports that Vogts had written to notify them that he had formally written to FIFA to complain over the delay in receiving his January salary, which has yet to be paid.
“Yes it is true Vogts is arriving on Thursday (today). We expect him to formally brief us on what happened in Ghana and his plans to ensure that a repeat doesn’t happen,” explained the FA official, who insisted that as long as Vogts’ was yet to be sacked he would still be expected to carry out his job as national team coach.
“You heard what our Chairman (Alhaji Sani Lulu Abdullahi) told the media on Tuesday, when he pleaded for patience on the Vogts issue. Until we finally decide on what to do with him he (Vogts) will continue to carry out his duties,” said the official.
However, it is clear the German will want to ‘clear the air talks’ over his status with the Glass House and also find out the true situation as regards his January salary, which should have been paid on the 25th according to the contract Vogts signed February last year.
Telecoms giant Globacom, which picks up the wages of the coach, have already told THISDAYSports that they were not the cause of the delay since going by the agreement they have with the Glass House, the second national carrier is supposed to receive a clearance letter from the NFA before remitting the money to Germany.
The company, according to officials, is yet to receive such a letter from the Glass House.
“They (NFA) know the payment process, until we receive the letter from them we won’t be sending any money to Germany,” explained the Globacom official, who assured the company has Vogts’ salary ready.
THISDAYSports also confirmed that Vogts had already been in touch with FA officials on the phone from his base in Germany inquiring about his delayed January salary, threatening to head to FIFA if the issue was not resolved on time.
He has since made good his threat by writing Zurich – a copy of which he also sent to the Glass House.
Vogts, who guided Germany to victory at Euro’96, had agreed to coach the Eagles in a blaze of publicity in a signing ceremony which took place in a high brow London hotel last February.
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