The chairman of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) says the coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Jose Peseiro has been given a three days ultimatum to accept a pay cut or lose his position as coach of the team.
“The Technical Committee has given him Peseiro two days to respond to our proposed pay cut or we disengage him finally. We will allow him to continue if he accepts a reduction in his 70,000 USD monthly salary and other conditions of service”, he explained.
“If he turns down our proposal, we will consider appointing a coach to oversee the dead rubber game against Sao Tome and Principe in Uyo, then we start to search for a new substantive coach that the NFF can afford to pay his salary.”
OwnGoalNigeria.com can exclusively reveal that the other conditions of service mentioned by the NFF chief, includes the bizarre clause of having at least three players from the Nigeria Professional Football League in every squad and in tournaments.
Peseiro is said to be heavily opposed to the clause and wants it removed, arguing that it keeps some of the best players, who can challenge the regulars out of the team. A case study is the case of Victor Boniface and Gift Orban, two players the coach couldn’t have in his team despite their red hot form last season.
He said with the ultimatum of reaching at least the final of the Africa Cup of Nations and also qualifying for the World Cup, he wants to be totally in charge of players selection without needing to satisfy a clause by calling up a player he has no faith in.
In their argument, the NFF said aside from the fact that the clause helps them to save money in the light of high exchange rate in the area of flight tickets, It is also a way of putting the local league in the spotlight.
Already, Peseiro took the first step against the clause by calling up 23 foreign based players for the dead rubber AFCON qualifiers game against Sao Tome and Principe, saying it’s the only window he has to try some players based abroad who have been on his radar ahead of the start of the World Cup qualifiers in November.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
