Why NFF should Supervise, not Micro-manage Waldrum

Why NFF should Supervise, not Micro-manage Waldrum

By Gbenga Gboyega

The ripple effects from the back and forth between Super Falcons' head coach - Randy Marlon Waldrum, and the Nigeria Football Federation lingers on, as BSN Sports highlights the key quotes from both parties, and proffer progressive solutions moving forward. 

According to Waldrum, preparations for his team towards the 9th edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup should have started ten days ago (June 20th), a day he proposed to the Nigeria Football Federation for "home-based" camping exercise. 

"We were supposed to have a camp for 10-12 days in Nigeria before going to Australia for another 10-15 days but the Federation cancelled the camp in Nigeria."

The NFF through their Spokesperson - Ademola Olajire, then responded in like manner sighting that the proposal for a home-based camping exercise would only be "waste of resources" due to Waldrum's skeletal choice of home-based players on his 23-woman list. 

"The man wanted a two-week camping for only home-based professionals (whom he already gave very little consideration in his provisional list).

"Like two weeks ago, he released his final list of 23, meaning there was absolutely no need for any camping for home-based again except to simply waste resources."

From the NFF's response to this, Randy Waldrum proposed to open camping exercise for only two players - Onome Ebi of Abia Angels, and Deborah Abiodun of Rivers Angels, for twelve days. 

But Waldrum's conclusion of the NFF's rebuttal translated to" lack of support" leading to more "frustration" in a bid to kick-start preparations for the World's stage in faraway Australia. 

"I know we're not prepared the way we need to be. Been very frustrated with the Federation (NFF) and the lack of support.

"We were supposed to have a camp for 10-12 days in Nigeria before going to Australia for another 10-15 days, but the Federation cancelled the camp in Nigeria." 

Mixing a fair share of home-based players with their foreign counterpart isn't rocket science as purported in this matter, as we take a cue from a former coach of the Super Falcons, Edwin Okon, who spoke to Bunmi Blair on Radio. 

"I remember when I took the team to the World Cup (in 2015), and out of the 23-woman on the list, only five were foreign-based, with two of those in the starting line up."

So, yes, it is possible. But recall that Edwin Okon's squad in 2015 failed to make it out of Group D in Canada, after drawing 3-3 against Sweden before losing consecutively against Australia and the United States. 

So yes, it is also risky. 

And according to the 66-year-old gaffer, the Federation are infringing on the clause included in his contract which allows a free hand to team's selection, exclusively. 

"They wanted me to pick a goalkeeper from Nigeria for the World Cup that I have never seen. I said no, that my contract says I pick my teams." 

However, the Federation say they see incompetence in his selection, which is the major reason for their interference in the first place. 

"The NFF wanted him to groom a home-based goalkeeper tender like Chiamaka Nnadozie was groomed.

"Instead, he kept brining Yewande Balogun (who started as a goalkeeper coach!) all the time without consideration for a home girl.

"Randy says he doesn't know any home-based goalkeeper, but could pick the likes of Tosin Demehin, Rofiat Imuran, and Deborah Abiodun, from the same U-20 you spotted them."

As the saying goes, when two elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers. As glaring as the actors in this play are in relation to the adage, all parties win only if the team does on the pitch of play. 

As employers, The NFF are allowed to scrutinise and supervise, and as an employee, the head coach is expected to perform and produce results in alignment.

Moving forward, it is advisable both parties settle their grievances in due course, for the sake of the team's outing at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup which is approximately three weeks away, with hopes to go one better than the USA 1999 squad who finished amongst the final eight.