Siasia blasts critics

23.03.2008

Victor Anichebe Olympic team head coach, Samson Siasia has reacted sharply to surly reports by a section of the media about his team’s preparation for next week’s Olympic qualifier against South Africa’s Amaglug-glug, coming up at the National Stadium, Abuja.

“It is sickening to see how this section of the media has carried on. It is a shame. We have a national team preparing for a big game and what some people can see to report are about team buses and minor hitches, which happen all over the world.

“We can’t tell people not to exercise freedom of expression, but in truth, most have been throwing away the respect that people have for them. We have players in camp and foreign-based coming in within a matter of days and some journalists just won’t focus on the team’s build-up in a positive way that will ginger the boys.

“People can have their hatred and all that, but I am an employee of the Nigeria Football Association and I know how much the leadership strive to do their best in the circumstances. I was furious the other day when someone reported that I had to arrange a church bus to carry the team to training. That was a blatant lie.

“You can have your prejudices and biases against the NFA but they always put in their best within available resources. There are 11 national teams and at times, you have about five of them in camp. Even the best of managers cannot cope flawlessly in this situation.

“The truth is that some of the people who write and talk in the media like there is no tomorrow, cannot even manage their own homes!

“Football is serious business and there is no perfect man on earth to run it without flaw. We see the shortcomings of the even the so-called advanced nations everyday.

“I want to urge our people to report the team positively and ginger them to the assignment at hand. The other day we played the home –based Super Eagles, there were so many good things about the game but one reporter only reported the negative issues. I think that is highly unprofessional”.