The comeback king is dead, as the NFF have finally lost their patience with Nigeria boss Stephen Keshi .

The national team coach was sacked a fortnight after it was reported that he had applied to replace Herve Renard as the manager of the Cote d’Ivoire. The Big Boss denied that he was actively seeking out new employers, protesting that his name had been submitted without his knowing.

Perhaps his objections might have been enough to have saved his skin, maybe the NFF could have given him the benefit of the doubt, had his name removed from the Ivorian shortlist, and the whole situation could have been dealt with differently.

However, things didn’t unravel this way, and the federation concluded that enough was enough for the Cup of Nations 2013-winning coach.

The statement that confirmed his departure, presented here in its entirety, was largely devoid of emotion, but was poignantly oblique in the way that it touched on the coach’s broader failings, without directly referring to the Ivorian situation.
Had Keshi’s journey up to this point been less riddled with conflict and controversy, and had the Big Boss not cultivated such a tortuous relationship with the NFF, he might have been given a second chance.

In the context of the coach’s reign to date, the federation had little choice. Whether you believe him or not, it’s one nightmarish headline too many.

The decision pushes the Afcon triumph of 2013 further into the past. The coach’s latest indiscretion reminds us that that glory, the achievement that was meant to herald the beginning of a brand-new era, was merely a false dawn at the beginning of a disastrous few years for the national side.

Once again, the behaviour of the coach, and his wrought dealings with the administrators have stolen the headlines.

When the world thinks about Nigerian football these days, they don’t think about Ahmed Musa’s promise, of Moses Simon’s magic hips, of the mesmerising showings of Jay-Jay Okocha, Nwankwo Kanu et al., they thing of Keshi, motionless on the touchline, motivated by question marks, the NFF sharpening their knives in the Glass House.

The focus must return to the football, and the on-field output of the Super Eagles.

The reports about Keshi—unless they can be proved to be false, without any shred of doubt—undermine both the coach himself and the federation’s decision.

We are playing a power game here, and the country’s football powerbrokers cannot be seen to be soft or to be blind supporters of the Big Boss independent of his actions.

Similarly, for how long can Amaju Pinnick continue to oversee a farcical federation and hope to keep his own reputation intact? In this world of sponsors and partnerships, sponsorships and partners, the NFF chief can ill-afford for the circus to continue in Nigeria.

The decision creates uncertainty in the short-term, of course, and a new successor—a sensible choice—must be appointed in order to maximise the team’s on-field options and place the focus back on the football.

Of course, Keshi’s return was celebrated with a victory over Chad, but there were no guarantees that, had the coach stuck around, the attention would have been on the players rather than the off-field machinations.

Nothing is certain yet, of course, and the identity of the Big Boss’s successor is of critical concern, but Keshi’s stock has fallen so, that this decision was almost the only one the NFF could have taken.

Not only were the Big Boss’s reigns characterised by disputes—some of which, admittedly, were not his fault—but it has become difficult to retain too much faith in the coach as a motivator, as a tactician or as a judge of player.

Such is his decline, that Nigeria fans shouldn’t mourn this latest decision. Certainly, this week the same old stories of tumultuous, incompetent Nigeria will be trotted out by the world’s media—the NFF deserve them—but perhaps cutting ties with Keshi, and the baggage he brings, demonstrates that the federation realise the value of ending the off-field circus once and for all.

We can only hope…

k

[size=20pt]keshi wey me don sack tey tey



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took time to read this epistle but all i could say is sorry bro

see this one. U still dey hope?? Hope 4 wetin??

Amaju Pinnick is a hack who wants to reap where he has sown. His troubles are just starting.