Former Super Eagles captain and coach Austin Eguavoen on Sunday disclosed that the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) still owed him wages years after he disengaged from his assignment with the football body.
Eguavoen who spoke about the development in an interview with Sunday Punch noted that nobody should blame any Nigerian athlete who refuses to give his best to Nigeria because when you get hurt, you are left to your fate.
According to him, “People have been talking of coaches being owed here and there. I’m also being owed, not by (Pinnick) Amaju’s board but by the past administration. But it’s still the Nigeria Football Federation. I have called Amaju several times, I have called Musa Amadu and he apologised, I have called everybody but nobody has said anything about it. So, I’m not going to cry over it. Who would blame any Nigerian athlete who doesn’t give his best to the country? When you get hurt, you will be left to your fate.”
Asked if he has applied for the top job of the Super Eagles, he said “For the Eagles job, I don’t think I want it right now because I’m trying to leave the country so that I can improve myself. If you count the first three coaches in this country today, I’m among the knowledgeable ones and I know that. But why I’m not being called to the national team is what I don’t know.”
Eguavoen admonished the NFF to conclude its plans to hire a foreign coach if that is the step they have concluded on. “If we want a foreigner, we should do it as quickly as possible because we don’t have much time ahead of the 2018 World Cup qualifiers. We are in a very strong group. If we don’t have the right money to pay an expatriate, then let’s look for a local option fast”, he said.
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