Owngoalnigeria.com which broke the appointment of coach Manu Garba has received an explanation from a top brass of the Nigeria Football Federation ( NFF) on why the coach was reappointed.
Garba lead the Nigerian U17 team to World Youth Championship glory in 2013, but under his guidance the 2016 team failed to qualify for the tournament which Nigeria won in 2015 in Chile with former U20 coach Emmanuel Amuneke as head coach.
The reappointment of the coach popularly referred to as Manu has generated lot of controversy, but according to an executive committee member of the NFF, his appointment is purely on merit and he gave his reasons.
” We are not interested in winning the U17 World Cup all the time. We want to shift the focus from winning at all cost to developing players. Look at the record of Manu Garba. Nine Super Eagles players played for him at some stage at U17″, he told Owngoalnigeria.com in an exclusive chat.
” The idea of the U17 is to develop players and Manu has been very successful in that regards. Why should we change him. Even his team that failed to qualify for the last Championship already has seven players in Europe. More than the amount of players the team that won it in 2015 has at the moment”.
” Overtime Manu has proven himself at the U17 level. His ability to spot talents and passion to work with young players is second to none. His appointment is one of the best thing we have done for youth football in Nigeria “.
Osas Mahawi
