‘Don’t owe Finidi salaries’ News

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‘Don’t owe Finidi salaries’

By Daily Sports Nigeria on May 14, 2024

The Nigeria Football Federation on Monday officially unveiled Finidi George as the new head coach of the Super Eagles, leaving a rash of mixed reactions in its wake.

The former Nigeria winger, who assisted erstwhile head coach Jose Peseiro at the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations in Ivory Coast, where they finished as runners-up, was presented to the press by NFF president Ibrahim Gusua and Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh, at the NFF headquarters in Abuja.

The football body announced that Finidi would be assisted by Daniel Amokachi, Benjamin James and three foreign coaches, but terms of his contract remain shrouded in secrecy.

With his first real test less than a month away, the ex-international says his personal targets are in tandem with the NFF’s.

“If you get to see my contract, it’s boldly written there what the NFF wants. But personally, my first target is to reach the 2026 World Cup and AFCON qualifiers will be coming up soon. But the major one are these two games we have which are against South Africa and Benin Republic. From there we will set the tone and take it from there,” Finidi said.

NFF president Ibrahim Gusau also said the football governing body was determined to fully support Finidi and his assistants to lead the Eagles to new heights.

“We want to avoid any issues of having conflicts in the area of paying coaches, for the coach we are going to arrange how we will be paying on a monthly basis but for every other assistant, we are engaging them on an invitational basis,” he said.

“We are going to engage them on an invitational basis, once we invite them for a match, qualifiers, or tournament; we give them whatever they are entitled to, including other allowances that the team is entitled to. Whatever the team is entitled to at any point in time, that is what the assistant coaches are entitled to and we will also agree on certain amounts that we are going to agree on to pay them whenever they come for matches or tournaments. We just want to avoid issues of having a crisis in the payment of salaries.

“I want to assure Nigerians that we will do our best to make sure we support Finidi and give him whatever he needs to work and his salary will not be a problem because we will do our best to support him.

“Right now, as part of his contract, we must get him a comfortable house where he will stay in Nigeria which is in process and we will give him the privilege to agree on where he wants it, we will provide him transportation, he has a car already and we will provide him a driver. We just want Nigerians to support us in prayer.”

However, some Nigerians shared their opinion in the comment section of the post of his unveiling on the official Instagram handle of the football body on Monday. While many simply congratulated Finidi and wished the former Enyimba handler luck, several others lampooned the NFF for not disclosing the terms of his contract, expressing concern that it could be a deliberate act of enslavement.

Mayorakins threw the first jab at the NFF with his post, “Smh, playing politics with football.”

bobby_ray_213 then posed a question on the lips of millions of Nigerian football lovers, “What are the details of his contract? Who makes up his backroom staff?”

chike_cco warned, “Collect contract oo, we no wan hear u for media tomorrow say nff Dey owe u.”

Also, hsuberu advised the former Real Betis star to seek divine intervention.

“Yes. Hand over to Jesus. Nothing dey spoil for Jesus hand,” he wrote.

bright_db queried, “What’s the length of his contract? When is he resuming work?”

umoh_mendy tasked NFF on prompt payment of his salary, “Make una no owe him his wages, oo.”

Babszoly fired, “For 1 year? They are clowns.”

“Finidi, be careful about scouts,” warned tk1467d

Uwemekarika added, “Transparency in his contract and decision to invite only active current form players with a blend of home base players.”

Finidi and his technical crew have their job cut out over the need to qualify the team for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be jointly hosted by 16 cities in three North American countries: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America, from June 11 to July 19, 2026.

The Eagles are not doing pretty well in the CAF qualification series, being third behind Rwanda and South Africa in Group C, which also comprises Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Benin Republic after two rounds of games.

Finidi’s debut in the dugout will be on June 7, when the Eagles entertain rivals South Africa for their game-week 3 fixture at Moshood Abiola National Stadium in Abuja.

Three days later, the three-time African champions will embark on a trip to Ivory Coast for a date with Benin Republic at Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny in Abidjan.

This will be followed by another trip to Rwanda on March 17, 2025, and two home games against Zimbabwe and Rwanda on March 24 and 31, respectively.

Source Punch Ng

Posted May 14, 2024