FIFA boss Sepp Blatter has delivered a stinging rebuke to coach Berti Vogts over his spell in charge of the Super Eagles even as reports out of Austria indicate the German may be heading there in the near future.
Vogts quit the post last month in the wake of a hugely disappointing Nations Cup campaign after their quarter-final exit.
Blatter suggests that Vogts' inability to stay in the West African country during his reign could have been responsible for Nigeria's worst Nations Cup display for 25 years.
"My old friend Berti Vogts was in charge of Nigeria and he didn't even live in the country - that surely can't be the correct way proceed?" Blatter asked.
"Vogts was not living in Nigeria because he said his players weren't there. But to feel a team you must feel the country."
Only four coaches out of the 16 teams at the recent African Cup of Nations were from the countries they were leading.
But in a report in BBC Sports yesterday Blatter believes national team coaches should come from the same country as the players and wants foreign coaches to be banned from national teams.
"In Africa recently, many of the countries competing in the Cup of Nations had foreign coaches but all have now gone," Blatter said.
"Of course, national associations are free to choose who they believe is the right man but I do think that the cause of international football would be made stronger with indigenous coaches.
"I cannot believe that it is possible to properly bring young players into international football and motivate them and bring improvement through a translator.”
However, in spite of the controversy still raging over his status with the Nigeria Football Association (NFA), it is clear that Berti Vogts is going ahead to plot his next move if reports out of Austria are anything to go by.
According to Austrian newspaper Salzburger Nachrichthen, the former German national team manager is being considered by one of the top clubs in the country – Red Bull Salzburg.
The current Austrian champion is bankrolled by one of the richest firms in the world Red Bull, makers of the very popular energy drink.
Paul Breitner, a former national team mate of Vogts, was said to have recommended the 61-year-old former defender to the Austrian club, which has a rich history of working with German players – Oliver Bierhoff and Thomas Hassler being some of the notable ones to have plied their trade with the Austrian champions.
Hassler was part of the initial coaching crew Vogts brought with him to the Eagles. He, however, later resigned late last year in order to concentrate fully on his coaching job in Germany
Incidentally the club was once managed by the former skipper of the German Machine Lothar Matthaus, who has been very critical of the way Vogts has been treated by Nigeria.
Austrian newspapers indicated that the former Scotland manager was almost certain to become the next handler of the ambitious club side, which is yet to become a major player in European football despite the huge investment of the energy drink company.
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