Atlanta ’96 Olympic soccer gold medalist and former Chairman of Wikki Tourists of Bauchi, Patrick Pascal, has lamented the role played by some former internationals in the retrogressive trend being experienced in Nigeria’s football.
Pascal, who spoke with The Eagle Online, admonished ex-international players to look beyond coaching the various national teams if they must contribute to the development of the game.
“It is sad that some of us (ex-internationals) now see coaching national teams as their legitimate right. It should not be because there are other areas we can contribute to the development of the game in the country,” he said.
The former utility player of Shooting Stars Sports Club also admonished the Nigeria Football Federation to shun sentiment in appointment of coaches.
He said: “Not all great players will be great coaches. Whenever we want to appoint coaches, we should go for the best in terms of records and achievements, not the sentiment of being a former international.”
Pascal, who plied his trade in top clubs in Turkey, also charged the NFF to look inward for talents rather than over-reliance on foreign based players.
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