Former first vice president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Chief Amanze Uchegbulam, has rubbished the statement by the former England coach, Sven Goran Eriksson in his book, where he said that the officials of the Nigeria’s football body demanded to take half of his salary before giving him the job of the managing the Super Eagles at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
The Swedish football coach said in his book that he was in the race to lead Nigeria to the first World Cup on African soil – South Africa, but his refusal to ‘play ball’ was the major reason why he missed the opportunity.
But, reacting to the allegation by the former Manchester City manager, Uchegbulam, who was one of the top four powerful officials of the Sani Abdullahi Lulu-led NFF board, challenged the Swedish coach to name the culprits.
“It is very important I put things in proper perspective. I was the first vice president then. Because we had chequered the journey to qualifications for the 2010 world cup, President Goodluck Jonathan’s government set up a Presidential Task Force with then Governor Rotimi Amaechi as Chairman. Other members include Segun Odegbami, John Fashanu, Austin Okocha, among others while Patrick Ekeji was the Secretary.”
“Some of us resisted the interference which landed us in trouble. Our executive committee decided to settle for Amodu who qualified us for the World Cup, but the Government never wanted that. The PTF interviewed some foreign coaches and later settled for Lars Lagerback who took the Super Eagles to South Africa.”
“The outcome is now history. Lulu’s Board never wanted a foreign coach and consequently, didn’t interview anybody. I am sure Eriksson may be referring to the PTF led by Rotimi Amaechi, not the NFF Board then. We didn’t interview any foreign Coach and there is no where anyone in the board could have interacted with him. I challenged the Coach to further by name those that made the request from him,” Uchegbulam stated.
The Swedish football coach said his inability to play ball with the football authorities deprived him of the opportunity of leading the Nigeria team to the first World Cup on African soil – South Africa. He wrote in his book titled ‘My Story’.
“After Nigeria lost the semi-final of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Nigerian FA had sacked the team coach, despite just four months remaining before the World Cup, in order to bring in a European replacement. Like many other African countries, Nigeria did not trust the domestic coaches.” He wrote in his book titled ‘My Story’.
He continues: “I flew to Abuja, the Nigerian capital, to meet the Nigerian FA and, I thought, negotiate the job as Nigeria manager. I knew the Nigerians had also shown interest in the coach of the Egyptian national team, but I assumed the job was mine if I wanted it. I should not have made that assumption.
“We met at the Hilton Hotel in Abuja. In the meeting room, perhaps ten people were sitting, as if on a panel, behind a table. Right away, they started asking stupid questions.
”After the meeting in Abuja, they told me that half of my salary will be deposited in a special bank which I rejected and that was why I was not given the job.”
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