Just like a London club in England, the Super Eagles of Nigeria have been likened to the Chelsea football club in their lack of patience for success.
The hiring and firing pattern of these two football teams has brought comparison to both the club owner and the NFF board.
On Sunday, December 12, 2021, the Nigeria Football Federation parted ways with Franco-German tactician Gernot Rohr following poor run of results and poor display in recent months.
The call for his head began to increasingly become louder when the Super Eagles were held to a 1-1 draw by Cape Verde.
Poor results and unconvincing performances followed suit making Nigerians uncomfortable with the team’s performances.
The quality of players at his disposal was the more reason to worry not minding his flair in qualification matches as he always provide the ticket even before the last leg.
ROHR’S SUCCESSES FOR SUPER EAGLES
Rohr has pulled a 54.69 percentage of wins during his time with the Super Eagles, his best win percentage as a coach.
The German has won 35 matches as coach of the Eagles, drawing 16 with 13 loses. ( stats provided by Wikipedia)
On October 7, 2017, his Nigeria-led team became the first African side to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup after a 1–0 win against Zambia.
In July 2019, Rohr led Nigeria to a third-place finish at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations.
In May 2020, President of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) Amaju Melvin Pinnick announced that all contractual agreements has been concluded for Rohr to extend his contract with the team.
He was given a target of guiding the team to win the 2021 Africa Nation’s Cup to be hosted by Cameroon and the new contract also includes qualifying the Super Eagles to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
Nigeria are in the last round of World Cup qualifiers and five out of the tens teams will make it to Qatar.
ROHR’S MANAGERIAL CAREER
Rohr has managed a total of 117 games as coach of African National teams, winning 49 games with 31 draws and 37 losses.
His managerial journey in Africa started with Gabon in 2010 but left in 2012 having managed 19 games, with 8 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses, providing a win percentage of 42.11.
Five months later, he was appointed as head coach of Niger’s National team.
There he managed 23 games, 3 wins, 7 draws and 13 losses before he was relieved in 2014.
Rohr was later appointed in 2015 by Burkina Faso and went on to manage 11 games, winning 3 with the same number of draws and 5 losses, his shortest spell in coaching.
On August 9, 2016, the German took charge of one of the best teams in the continent of Africa, the Super Eagles of Nigeria was his next destination.
There he managed his highest number of games, 64 games, 35 wins, 16 draws and 14 losses before he was sacked on December 12, 2021.
REASONS FOR HIS SACK
Nigerians unlike Chelsea supporters are allergic to failure and their desire for success is second to none.
This has always been the rationale behind the hiring and firing system of the teams.
With the likes of Wilfred Ndidi of Leicester City, Oghenekaro Etebo, William Troost-Ekong and Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis all of Watford, Joe Aribo of Rangers who has scored 6 goals for his club this season, Napoli’s Victor Osimhen, Nantes Moses Simon, Genk top scorer Paul Onuacho, Cyril Dessers of Feyenoord and many other quality players representing Nigeria, Coach Gernot Rohr has not been able to produce a team capable of challenging for a spot in the top ten of world football or mount a strong force in African football.
His most recent fallout with the fans of the Super Eagles was his 1-0 home loss to the Central African Republic, a very low ranked side in Africa and the worst of the situation was a dismal performance of the team.
Rohr was wanted out of the team and the media even flagged a campaign reporting that he was sacked when he was still the coach of the Super Eagles, this was a test run to see the reaction of the fans as there was great joy when the announcement was made earlier.
Nigeria will be managed by one of its former captains, Augustine Eguaveon, and he will be the man to lead the side to Cameroon next month for the African Cup of Nations and subsequent matches pending when a permanent appointment is made.
