‘Amoo forced on NFF as U-23 coach’

Fresh facts have emerged that the newly appointed Chief Coach of the nation’s U-23 coach, Fatai Amoo may have been forced on the Nigeria Football Federation(NFF) by very influential stakeholders from the South West region of the country.
A reliable source told Newswatch Sports that NFF was arm-twisted into choosing Amoo by some influential people from the South Western region.
A top NFF official said that some powerful football stakeholders from the region had argued that they have been short-changed in the appointment of national team coaches and demanded compensation with Amoo’s appointment.
According to him, some football stakeholders are not comfortable with the choice of Amoo as they do not believe he has the capacity to control players of the U-23.
“I want to tell you the extent to which the South West people went for Amoo to be appointed. To the extent that some governors were even calling the NFF President, Aminu Maigari, demanding that justice be done and he had no choice but to succumb to the pressure.
“Come to think of it, they were right to some extent because the region do not have a coach heading any of the national teams. But in the real sense of it, appointing coaches for the national teams should not be based on balancing regional interest,” he stressed.
However, there is strong concern over Amoo’s capability to manage the U-23 team players who are almost senior players.
“I am not saying that he is not a good coach but my fear is that he may not be able to control the big boys. Amoo is a gentleman but you need more than that to handle a team like that,” he said.
Several top coaches had applied for the job to coach the U-23 team job. Among those who had indicated interest to on the post was former assistant coach of the team, Ben Iroha.