A well-known business mogul and football enthusiast in the state, Chief Christopher Okonkwo has expressed happiness over the appointment of Coach Finidi George as substantive Head Coach of Super Eagles of Nigeria, not minding the long time frame it had taken the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to arrive at the decision.
Speaking exclusively to our reporter in Port Harcourt, Okonkwo maintained that the choice of Finidi was okay since it is in tandem with the yearnings of many Nigerian Soccer fans in settling with an indigenous seasoned soccer coach to lead the Eagles team.
“Truly, Coach Emmanuel Amuneke was earlier favoured by opinion poll to grab the Eagles plum job based on his wealth of coaching experience before it finally landed on the table of Coach Finidi George as endorsed by NFF, however, the choice of Finidi is still good for the country since both Finidi and Amuneke were great players of old and have the good technical knowledge of the game. Hence, I wish Coach Finidi George good luck in his new National assignment”.
“Interestingly, Coach Finidi looks very humble and I have no doubt that there will be mutual understanding and show of respect between him and the players so that there won’t be any friction in the course of carrying out his new assignment of leading Super Eagles team to victory”.
Continuing, Okonkwo who is known for his outspoken nature urged the NFF board not to hesitate to provide good enabling environment and better welfare package for Coach Finidi as it was done for the foreign coach, so that he will be in good frame of mind to do his job very effectively.
“Besides, I will also plead with NFF, as a matter of fact to refrain from interfere on Coach Finidi job instead, he should be given a free hand to select the best of players whom he has confidence that can deliver and by so doing, would be liable to account for anything that will stop Eagles from winning or qualifying for the World Cup Championship”.
“Perhaps, I will suggest to Coach Finidi that if he is convinced that eleven players from the same family can represent Nigeria and give us the needed victory, let it go on, instead of this idea of agitation for quota system in selection of players from different tribes which does not produce the expectant good result at the end of the day”.
