"Philippe Troussier was an idiot" - Mark Fish

"Philippe Troussier was an idiot" - Mark Fish

By Sampson Adedeji

Former Bafana Bafana defender, Mark Fish has lambasted former coach of Nigeria's Super Eagles Philippe Troussier, who took Bafana Bafana to the 1998 World Cup in France.

The French gaffer was appointed Nigeria coach in 1997 during France'98 qualifier and was in charge four matches, BSN Reports.

He won the four matches and qualified Nigeria for the World cup before he was shown the exit door by the Nigeria Football Association ( NFA).

The South African national football team, despite having won the Africa Cup of Nations two years prior, were in turmoil following the sacking of Clive Barker and needed a coach at the last minute to take them to their first ever World Cup.

SAFA had appointed Jomo Sono on an interim basis and the team finished as runners-up at that year’s AFCON in Egypt, but the bosses at the top wanted a bigger name to take the team to the global showpiece in France. Enter Troussier, who had been the head coach of Kaizer Chiefs in 1994.

Under the Frenchman, Bafana Bafana were woeful, losing the opening game 3-0 to host nation and eventual champions France and drawing their games against Denmark and Saudi Arabia to get eliminated in the first round.

Now, Fish has revealed what he really thought about the man who was in-charge of the team during the tournament.

Many things happened at France 98,” Fish wrote on Twitter.

“Troussier should never have been the coach as we were separated from the beginning when he said local based players one side and foreign based players the other. He was an idiot.”