FATAI AMAO'S BOMBSHELL…

By NBF News

Super Eagles'former assistant coach, Fatai Amao, is not one of those calling for the head of Coach Samson Siasia, who he insists is not the problem of the team which surprisingly failed to pick a ticket to next year's Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea/Gabon.

Amao, who was sacked alongside Coach Shuaib Amodu, after the two of them qualified Nigeria for the South Africa 2010 World Cup, said the nation's football problems went beyond Siasia, even as he noted that all those involved in the running of the round leather game in the country have failed.

Hear him: 'Siasia is not the problem with the Super Eagles. Virtually, everybody involved in the game in the country, every stakeholder, should share in the blame. We are where we are today because we have failed to do the right thing. The best of coaches including Mourinho could not take the super Eagles to anywhere.

'We are putting wrong persons to run the game, club officials cheat with impunity, winning matches by dubious means and presenting over aged players for age group competitions. We just can't make any progress the way things are now. 'Our league is bad and that is why we can't get home lads to play for the Eagles. As things stand now, no coach can take the Eagles any where. We must be prepared to do the right thing if our football must bounce back'

Amao pointed out that in the ill-fated game against Guinea, Siasia had to play a Fengor Ogude, who is not a defender, in the right full back position simply because he is plying his trade outside the nation's shores.

'Not even one home-based player could fit into the team. If we were playing football at home, Fengor wouldn't have played in that position against Guinea,' he said.

Amao stressed that when he was there with Amodu, fans accused them of not playing attractive football, even when the team was getting results. 'We were sacked even when we were getting results. Today, rather than get result, we have reached the pinnacle of our football disaster and that shows there is a fundamental problem that goes beyond coaching. We need to look at areas where we have erred and solve the problems.

'We need to go back to the era when the like of Henry Nwosu were discovered from schools. We must reorganize our league and take age group competitions more serious and we must not continue to play politics with the game,' Amao said.