The announcement that head coach of the Nigeria U-20 team Manu Garba have been demoted to the U-17 team came as a surprise to most Nigerians but not to owngoalnigeria.com.
Already the coach have been the victim of so many bad press sponsored by football agents who couldn’t force him to take their players to the last U-20 World Youth Championship in New Zealand.
Manu Garba was stubborn to a fault regarding his players selection especially to club chairmen who wanted to impose players he termed as overage as some of them have spent over six seasons in the local league.
That sole decision angered a lot of them who now wield powers at the Nigeria Football Federation but not only them even agents whose wards couldn’t make the team despite playing in the last U-17 World Cup.
Alhassan Ibrahim and co readily come to mind as his career and some others who played qualifiers for the U-17 but got knocked off by the MRI scan prior to the World cup were also dropped despite playing at the qualifiers for U-20.
Agents of the players never took his decision lightly as it cost the players deal and some even their careers as they relied on the world cup as a shop window to sell themselves to European teams.
