Some followers of Nigerian football have taken a swipe at the new head coach of the Super Eagles for asserting the oldest player will be made the captain of the team.
The former Enyimba coach, who was announced as the substantive handler of the team last week, made the assertion at Brila FM in continuation of his tour of media houses.
The former Nigerian winger said being the oldest player in the team was an age-old order he had no plans of deviating from.
“Seniority has decided the Super Eagles captaincy and that will be maintained in my time (as coach)”, Finidi stated during his media tour.
The decision doesn’t sit with some concerned Nigerians, who expressed their reservations in the comment session of the post on the Facebook page ‘Ptw Doherty D-Pathwaysports’ by David Doherty, a UK-based football administrator.
Doherty posted, “Since AFCON, you people have been trying to remove Ekong, but thanks to the cry of good Nigerians, he got called back to the squad and did the unthinkable. Some members of the 94 set are stuck in the 90’s… Maybe someone needs to remind Finidi and his cohorts that the football they played then is not the same now, and a lot has changed within and off the pitch. Tiago Silva is a senior player and legend; he led from behind at Chelsea, with young Reece James as captain, and Gallagher stepped in for most of the season.
“If Ekong is recovering and won’t be available, Ndidi steps in as captain and starter. Omeruo is not a starter. Argue sensibly. That was how you people locked the door on Leon Balogun for speaking up”.
The post sparked reactions with Rotimi Mustapha suggesting that Finidi’s move might create disharmony in the camp.
“Why do you have to fix what is not broken? Finidi is trying to create confusion in the team already. Why is he starting on a faulty note? He should just carry on with the AFCON momentum and concentrate on how to build a versatile midfield that has always been the bane of the team”.
Temitope Adeola added, “If it is not bad, don’t fix it”. If I were Finidi, I wouldn’t move the captaincy at all. It didn’t look like an issue to me until he spent a good amount of time discussing why the oldest player on the team should be the captain. I feel we should be looking at how to handle South Africa and Benin. What the issue of captaincy will do is apparent. Obviously, it may divide the house”.
Adekunle Idris Abdulkareem also expressed his worries. “Ifeoluwa Leo-Olagbaye, what’s all these captaincy issues we are hearing now? Does Finidi know what he is doing at all?”
Samson Ayodele added, “Ndidi should be the captain as Ekong is recovering from his rehab, and Omeruo should just zip up and let the younger players come in now. I hope Finidi George will never let anyone else manipulate his brain box”.
Lightning Bolt also shared his thoughts on Finidi’s comments on Brila FM, “Finidi said on Brila that not much has changed in football. Omo, my mind is well prepared already. We are not going to the World Cup”.
Ignatius Maduaka stated, “Finidi is starting on a faulty note, you said. Let’s not forget the issues he had with the players on his first assignment as their acting coach. I do know why I see problems with his leadership ability.
Is captaincy supposed to be his concern now, bringing confusion to the team? What’s wrong with continuity? If it doesn’t work, change it later. Was it not their same captaincy issue that created problems in Oliseh’s team?
“I don’t just don’t understand these ex-internationals from 1994. The captaincy was taken away from Javier Machinero and given to Leo Messi, and nothing happened, or didn’t Neymar Jr. captain the national team ahead of Silva and Daniel Alves? How about Kylian Mbappe? Football is not about seniority but about leadership input on the field of play. They want to remove Ekong, but not Musa. Delulu. I told people this coach was clueless”.
