Sunday Oliseh ..... A fresh Start

Oliseh Emerges As The New Coach

Sunday Oliseh has officially been introduced as the new manager of the Super Eagles of Nigeria following the termination of Stephen Keshi. This makes Oliseh the fourth ex -player  to be appointed as head coach from the 1994 golden generation. News broke out on the BBC through Oluwasina Okeleji that the NFF had contacted him and were in discussion with the former international player. The NFF eventually came out with an official statement confirming they have tabled an offer for Oliseh and specified the details of his new role.

The Man - Sunday Oliseh

I remembered many years ago, when I read about a certain 19 year old player already in Belgium in the complete football magazine. At the time, the Super Eagles did not really have the perfect person for their defensive midfielder position. He was eventually invited and debuted against Ethiopia; a game the Super Eagles demolished their opponent by 6 - 1. Personally I had not seen much of him in the local league before then, but he had a very brief stint with Julius Berger of Lagos. 

Oliseh was discovered alongside fellow under 23 mate Joseph Dosu from the Lagos State University by Joe Erico the manager of Julius Berger at the time.

Former BCC Lions of Gboko player Bolaji Douglas once said that he remembered the lanky midfielder when his club played a friendly against Julius Berger - he was so slim and came along with his school notes.

He established himself as a top class midfielder playing in some of the best football clubs like Ajax, Juventus, Dortmund e.t.c.  

He is famously remembered for his ferocious which  goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta would not have forgotten in a hurry in the epic game between Nigeria and Spain.

Sunday Oliseh is intelligent, principled, has good leadership qualities and in-tune with modern day football requirements. He can articulate his understanding of a game in clear coherent terms. Sunday Oliseh's potential as a prospective modern day manager did not come to me as a surprise. 

During the 2004 African Cup of Nations - He was invited as a guest pundit on BBC  highlights of the tournament . The BBC presenters - Mark Bright and Garth Crooks were so carried away by his technical prowess of the game, that they literarily forgot they were anchoring the programme.

I am quite excited at the prospect of Oliseh becoming a successful manager even though there have been divided opinions about his appointment. The major concern of some Nigerians borders on his thin experience as a manager except for his brief spell with a 4th division club in Belgium. Now I am not disputing the importance of track records or experience but we should ask ourselves has an inexperienced manager been employed before? What were the success of the the inexperienced managers?

Oliseh in his Borrusia Dotmund days

Rudi Voller's first experience as a manager was to handle the German senior team and to a very reasonable degree, he succeeded - leading Germany to the 2002 World Cup finals against Brazil but he had some humps along the journey -  His team lost to England 5 - 1 in Munich but overall he did well.

Another example that comes to mind is Jurgen Klinsman; he took over from Voller and led Germany to third place at 2006 World Cup.

It is also important to note that it could go bad for a debutant manager - Sabri Lamouchi is a case in point, his managerial career was not particularly a success with the Ivory Coast National team. Although he got them to the 2014 World Cup but they did not go beyond the first round. 

Stumbling blocks

Whilst I am quite excited about Oliseh's prospect as a manager,unlike,Voller's and Klinsman's who had some sort of success, his challenge could be with the set structure on ground. The German rookies had a very good support system, good football structure and enabling environment that accommodated their inexperiences. I cannot convincingly say the same for Oliseh especially when you consider the Nigerian football setting. We all witnessed Stephen Keshi tenure  how he had to endure certain members of the football federation. Oliseh will not just be managing the Super Eagles but he will have to manage the egos of the men in the Glass House (Nigeria Football Federation Secretariat). Some of the NFF member could start working against him if things do not go their way. He will also have to learn to deal with the shenanigans that goes on within the NFF. 

Major Concern

According to the NFF website, Sunday Oliseh alongside his foreign assistant will have their hands full as they will be more involved in other roles. I have highlighted some of their responsibilities below:

• Create a five year developmental plan to fashion a unique playing and coaching philosophy for all the national teams and liaise regularly with the coaches

• To arrange clinics and seminars periodically for coaches of Clubs in the Nigeria professional Football League

• Oliseh's foreign assistant will be more involved in the development of programmes, work with Youth teams and certified academies towards developing the game from the grass roots

Firstly, I think Oliseh and his foreign assistant are being encumbered with too much responsibilities aside of their primary role of managing the Super Eagles. Secondly where does this leave Amodu Shaibu whose role is to enforce the above. I hope this will not be counter productive because Nigerian fans and to some degree a cross section of the media would come hitting hard if all goes wrong.

We can only wish Sunday Oliseh ALL THE BEST!

Twitter - @amoky