Give Amodu, others a chance - Onigbinde pleads with media

Patrick Ngwaogu, Abuja - 07.05.2008

Former chief coach of the Super Eagles, Chief Adegboye Onigbinde has appealed to the Nigerian media to give the team's new technical crew the opportunity to thinker the senior national back to reckoning.

Speaking in Abuja, the FIFA/CAF instructor said any negative impression would draw the crew back, which would not augur well with the country’s football.

The Modakeke High Chief, who celebrated his 70th birthday last Sunday, said: “I want to appeal that what we are doing today is not for these gentlemen, but for all Nigerians. Today we have 208 member nations of FIFA and it is estimated that we have over 300 million people involved in football. If you remember at any match involving Nigeria, we always have over 140 million coaches. So that means we have to accept the responsibility that would make these people succeed.”

He was full of praises for the Nigeria Football Association (NFA) and the people of Nigeria for the confidence reposed in the coaches, assuring that they were going to work tirelessly to achieve the desired success.

“We want to assure you that as patriotic citizens of this country, we won’t let them down. We’re going to join hands to ensure that we re-write our football history again.

“I remember in 1982 when applications were invited for the position of a head coach for the national team, which I applied for and got. I know what I went through and my hope then was that system would change. The NFA as constituted today can be really praised for the steps taken.

"In 1982, we went through the same process, but this time round, it is more thorough which shows that the NFA as constituted today is more progressive. When they started there were doubts. But with unfolding events, we’ve seen they are progressive,” the former Technical Director of Trinidad and Tobago said.