Eriksson joins Nigeria jostle
Posted: 2010-02-11 14:39

Former England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has formally joined the line-up to take over the vacant job of Nigeria coach.

KickOffNigeria.com understands that a formal letter from Eriksson's agent Athole Still expressing the Swede's interest for the job was received by the Nigeria Football Federation on Tuesday.
Still however, declined to comment on the situation

"I cannot speak on my client's situation at this time," Still told KickOffNigeria.com.

That comment is a marked and telling departure from the last time, a few months ago when Eriksson was mentioned in connection with the job and Still categorically and unequivocally denied that his client was interested.

Guus Hiddink, Louis van Gaal, Hassan Shehata, Ratomir Djukovic, Peter Taylor and Giovanni Trappatoni are the other names under consideration, although van Gaal and Shehata have ruled themselves out of the running, while the Russia football federation spokesman Ilyav Kazakov said his bosses would not release Hiddink to Nigeria.

The NFF have set the end of February to name a new coach, but Still says that would be too late for his client.

"I am not confirming that Eriksson is considering or being considered for the Nigeria job, but he has three major job offers and the end of February would be too late for him."

Tow of those job offers, according to Still, are from World Cup-bound teams.

NFF Executive Committee member Taiwo Ogunjobi, who is at the head of the team coordinating the head hunt for a new coach, also declined comment.

"We don't want to employ coaches on the pages of newspapers," he told KickOffNigeria.com. "We have done enough talking. Now, we want to do our business confidentially and make a decision after our interviews on February 26.

http://www.kickoff.com/2010/news/13850/sven-goran-eriksson-joins-nigeria-jostle.php

"It is not good for us to keep talking about different people, and it is also not fair to the people we are speaking with."

Colin Udoh