French coach Paul Le Guen rejects offer to manage Super Eagles over security fears

FRENCH coach Paul Le Guen has rejected the offer of becoming the new Super Eagles manager after he and the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) were unable to agree to the terms under which he would work.

 

Earlier this week, the NFF offered Mr Le Guen the job with a $40,000 monthly salary while his assistant is expected to earn about N1.5m ($5,220). However, he has rejected the offer as he was not prepared to live in Nigeria and was also not happy about being given specific targets to meet.

 

On Monday, the NFF's technical and development committee recommended Mr Le Guen to its executive committee for appointment subject to the concluding of contract terms. About 24 hours later, the NFF spokesman Ademola Olajire, confirmed the Frenchman’s rejection of the offer, saying Mr Le Guen was not ready to live in Nigeria while working for Nigeria.

 

Suleiman Yahaya-Kwande, the chairman of NFF’s media and publicity committee, added: “Apart from this, he also did not want to be given a target. Our statement on the recommendations was clear, to the effect that all appointments made at the technical and development committee meeting were mere recommendations, which had to be deliberated upon and agreed to by the board."

 

Another top source in the NFF said Mr Le Guen cited insecurity in the country as part of his reasons for rejecting the offer. . He argued that allowing Mr Le Guen have his way could compromise the target set for him.

 

“The fear of a state of insecurity and other disagreements accounted for his rejection of the Eagles job we offered him. We were sceptical when Le Guen insisted he was not going to live in the country and we all remember the last experience we had with Sunday Oliseh.

 

 “In fact, Le Guen’s refusal to live in Nigeria was the first point of disagreement and we don’t want to hire another Oliseh as coach of the Super Eagles, who will not live in the country. So, we had no option than to terminate the contract discussion because his position of living outside Nigeria while working for Nigeria will not augur well for the country’s football," the source added.

 

He argued that the Frenchman insisted he would only accept the contract if he would be visiting the country few weeks to the team’s matches. Mr Le Guen had also expressed concern over a clause in his proposed contract which required that he would be travelling to different parts of the country.