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Colin Udoh, Special to ESPNJun 17, 2024, 03:58 PM
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- Itinerant writer. Engineer in a previous incarnation. One time Black Belt. Lover of football, flirter with other sports.
Former Nigeria coach Finidi George, who resigned from the Super Eagles job on the weekend, told ESPN he heard about the NFF's decision to hire a foreign technical advisor after they'd had a three-hour meeting with him and failed to mention it.
The 53-year-old was officially confirmed as permanent coach and unveiled on May 13, after holding the job in an interim capacity for two games in March following the departure of former coach Jose Peseiro.
But two poor results in World Cup qualifying, a 1-1 home draw against South Africa and a shock 1-2 reverse at Benin Republic, led to calls for his dismissal. Last week, the NFF board announced following a meeting, that they would appoint an expatriate Technical Adviser for the team.
Although there was no word about Finidi in the NFF statement on Wednesday, an official told ESPN at the time that the former international would remain on the technical staff and see out his one-year contract.
However, George confirmed to ESPN on Saturday that he handed in his resignation, explaining he did so as a matter of principle. He said NFF did not have the courtesy of giving him a heads up about the decision, despite having made it a day before holding a three-hour meeting with him.
"They met on Wednesday and took a decision to hire a technical adviser," he told ESPN. "I have no problems with that.
"But we had a three-hour meeting on Thursday, looking back at what happened and talking about the way forward. At no point did anybody mention that they are getting a technical adviser.
"I was on my way home and just landed at the airport when I got a call about it. I was so surprised I had to park by the roadside to read about it.
"For two days, I waited to see if they would have the courtesy to inform me, but I did not hear from them. So I decided to resign."
In his letter to the NFF, George wrote: "Although our recent results in the qualifying matches were not as desired, I remained committed to getting our World Cup qualification campaign back on track. However, with the recent changes to the technical crew, I believe it is time for me to vacate my position."
But that was not all for the embattled coach on Saturday. Early in the day, forward Victor Osimhen went on his live social media to launch some withering comments about the coach following a media report that claimed the coach questioned his commitment during the meeting with the NFF and Sports Minister.
Finidi declined to address the issue on record, except to point out that he had reached out personally to Osimhen. However, two officials who were present at the meeting confirmed independently that George did not make any of the statements attributed to him regarding Osimhen.
George now goes into the record as the shortest permanent coach of the Super Eagles, after spending a total of 34 days on the job, finishing with a record of one win, one loss and two draws.
