Amodu Named As Super Eagles Coach

After weeks of speculation Nigerian football fans will next week be told that Shaibu Amodu will return to take charge of the Super Eagles.
In fact the Board of the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) will make the announcement next Monday after their emergency meeting called specifically to tackle the coaching issue.
Sources told THISDAYSports that the decision to settle for Amodu, who was sacked along with Stephen Keshi after guiding the Eagles to the bronze medal at Mali 2002, was taken after the preferred choice Dream Team handler Samson Siasia declined the offer.
Instead the former international opted to stay with his U-23 Eagles as they prepare for this summer’s Olympic Games in Beijing, China.
The Glass House had been leaning towards the U-23 coach to take over from Berti Vogts, who was relieved off his duties after the Eagles poor showing at Ghana 2008.
In planning to make their position known Monday, it was learnt that Glass House bigwigs had secured the green light from the National Sports Commission to bring back the former BCC Lions handler at a meeting they had yesterday.
Amodu, along with Siasia, Keshi and a few others had been interviewed for the position last month by the Technical Committee of the FA but to the surprise of many rather than announcing their preferred candidate the Glass House named assistant technical director James Peters as interim Eagles coach.
However, it was made crystal clear by the FA official that in offering the one time Orlando Pirates handler the job, he should be ready to work under a foreign coach whenever one is employed.
“We’ve made it clear to him (Amodu) that he is on probation until when we feel he deserves to be confirmed. But even then he will still have to be ready to work with a foreign coach if we so choose to hire one,” explained the FA official.
The FA’s largest financiers Globacom have already made it clear that they would be ready to pick up the wage bills of any ‘high profile’ foreign coach the Glass House settles for.
The FA has been under increasing pressure to put it coaching house in order especially with the Nations Cup and South Africa 2010 qualifiers kicking off next month.
After Nigeria failed to make the last World Cup finals in Germany and the Eagles dismal performance in Ghana, they had no room for further error.