President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), Amaju Pinnick, has given insights into why Gernot Rohr was sacked as Super Eagles a few days before the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon.
In an interview with Channels Television, the NFF boss said the NFF took the decision as a proactive step to avert a disaster.
“He (Rohr) happens to be the longest-serving manager of the Super Eagles. We gave him all the support,” said Pinnick who was a guest on Sunrise Daily. “But we didn’t want to wait for a disaster to happen before parting ways. The last two games were very tough games for us.
“It wasn’t an individual decision; it was a collective decision by the entire executive committee. We were winning our games … there are a lot of things we took into cognisance. When you part ways, you don’t want to start ascribing blames; you just let it go and face the future with renewed hope and renewed zeal.”
The NFF president disclosed that the body considered some reports of its committees before sacking the German who managed the Nigerian side for five years.
He stated that Nigeria almost lost the ticket for the forthcoming World Cup, adding that a lot of factors were considered before the decision was taken.
Pinnick also confirmed that the NFF was owing Rohr for some months, saying the lack of discipline among the players was one of the major setbacks in the team.
“We did everything that we could, but one major factor was that discipline in the team is lost practically. In the dressing room, discipline in the team was at its lowest edge and once you remove discipline, that foundation in the team has cracked,” he said.
“Players now talk back at you, players believe that they are indispensable. A lot of factors that will now militate against the team. We are only owing about two matches of all the matches they played in both AFCON qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers.
“For Gernot Rohr, I know we paid him for about five months. We were owing him for a couple of months, then we cleared about five months.”
Follow us on social media
