Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr says he will have a meeting with the president of Nigeria Football Federation Amaju Pinnick in January to decide his future.
“The President of the Nigeria Football Federation has told me that we will sit down in January 2020 for a discussion and the conclusion of the extension of my contract, which runs out on the 30th of June,” Rohr told Insideworldfootball.
“To be very honest, I have enjoyed the last three years with the national team of Nigeria, because I can see the progress that I have made with the players over this period.”
“I think that I have the chance to do something with this group for the 2021 AFCON in Cameroon and the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. The players are young, disciplined and willing to learn. I am very happy with them and my staff. We have formed a strong team, a strong unit,” he said.
“But I am surprised that the federation is taking their time to conclude a contract. And to be honest, I am also surprised that when I was given a contract extension after qualifying for the 2018 World Cup, it was only extended until July 2020, which is right in the middle of qualifiers for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon. That is not normal and it is only the federation that can explain the reason for this.”
“According to the provisions of my current contract with Nigeria, I am free, from January 1st 2020, to enter into a pre-contract agreement with any club or national team, to start work with them on the first of July 2020. That is my right.
“After the AFCON in Egypt, I was approached by some national teams but I made it clear that I was still under contract with Nigeria and was happy to continue with my work here.
“I will wait for my conversation with the President of the Nigeria Football Federation in January, when he says that we shall arrange a time to sit down and talk. We shall see what happens.
“While I have had a good time with my players and staff over the last three years, I have to say that relations with the administration have not been very easy, especially when it comes to the payment of my wages and that of the bonuses and allowances of my players and staff. There needs to be a lot more respect in this regard.
Rohr claims that he is owed close to $100,000 in bonuses and allowances by the NFF.
Jean-Jacques Bertrand, who served as the lawyer of Manchester United legend Eric Cantona, has been negotiating with the NFF on Rohr’s behalf to get the arrears paid.
“I preferred to get Jean-Jacques involved because it got to a stage that I didn’t want to be speaking to the federation about money all the time. It got tiring… I wanted to take my mind away from money and simply focus on my job and let him deal with the issues off the field,” Rohr said.
Nigeria, under Rohr, won a bronze medal at the last Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt and have made a strong start in the 2021 AFCON qualifying campaign, winning their first two matches against Benin Republic and Lesotho.
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I think this man has been very reasonable and he knows his job. Rhorh appear slow but the overall stats reveals that he is doing well. I think he deserve another opportunity on one or two years contract more. However, two years is here already. I think NFF should constitute a new committee that will start searching for his replacement underground so that the transition will be seem less.
Anyone who let’s go of a good thing, can only get a bad thing as replacement. Under the current very toxic Nigerian socio-political atmosphere, with a highly disorganized sports administration, no coach can do more than Rohr is doing. Being a good coach also includes being a great manager of human resources. This man has brought great unity and discipline to the Super Eagles camp. There are no more mafias in the Super Eagles. Yet this man has been working on empty stomach, quietly. How many of us can tolerate that? Well, I won’t be surprised if Nigeria don’t renew his contract. We like making bad choices. Good things don’t interest us. By the time we let go of Rohr, we will still be debating who the next coach should be when the date of the next qualifiers come knocking on the door. Even when we eventually succeed in getting a new coach, he will walk out on us at the middle of his contract, just as many others have done in the past, because no coach, whether local or international, can tolerate for long the terrible acts of the NFF. Rohr was able to work without payment for so long because he has businesses around the world that fetch him money. Shame on the NFF. Shame on Nigeria! Nigeria is the only country that is always yearning for change from a good thing to a bad thing. This is the beginning of the end of the current super Eagles which was beginning to take shape once again, winning both home and away games and standing their ground against top-rated teams. What a shame!
A coach defeats Argentina hands down, plays a draw against mighty Brazil. Humiliated highly rated Cameroon not once not twice but on three different occasions, yet they want to let him go. Does anyone think Rohr will look for a job if he leaves SE? No it iswe who will lick our wounds. Tufiakwa!!!! may God save this country.
Its evident the coach wishes to stay and continue the wonderful job hes doing. Why on earth would they not pay him for heavens sake? We have not had a better coach since over the past 25 years. Yet this is all he gets. This is so sad.
Something tells me Rohr will leave and the assistants will take over
Who is the assistant. ? . I guess amaka.. the most improved coach.
I really don’t understand what is happening to Mr Amaju Pinnick, he started so well but now ending so badly. He got a humble and very sound coach who is quietly doing his job but yet taking all the shit from the FA and he dosen’t want him. Rohr has been meeting all his target with ease and preparing a team whose possibilities is just mouth-watery, but yet Mr Amaju and some unreasonable fans keep criticizing without been realistic in their judgement.
If he was that bad how come CAF nominated him among the Top coaches of 2019 (with only 5 national team coaches in Africa out of over 50 making the list). His progress with the team is visible to all even the blind can see it except those that shut their eyes.
And all this achievement on top been owed salary and yet he chooses to keep quiet because he is a humble and an accomplished entrepreneur. He is best suited for Nigeria because even if we try to get a Klopp or Gardiola can we pay them consistently.
Like someone said only in this country will the politicians choose bad over good and the masses are meant to suffer the consequences of the choice of the political class. I rest my case.
Egypt was paying Aguirre 108k p/m (AFCON R16), Cameroun was paying Seedorf 96k p/m (AFCON R16), Morrocco was paying Renhard 80k p/m (AFCON R16).
We were paying our “failure” of a coach 30k p/m before later increasing it to 50k p/m, yet he has to fight every month to get his pay……and some people are asking for World Class coach (160k p/m) for the SE.
You know what? Evil makes people lose their sense of reasoning. That is why a witch/ wizard will seek to destroy everything good about even their own children, not even imaginiing that they will come to need same children when they get old. These people attacking Rohr are just pure evil. They never seem to understand why it will definitely be a disservice to our football to let him go. Rohr deserves loads of commendations instead of all these insane discredit.
The Rwanda genocide of 1993 would likely hit us soon.. It’s so largely unavoidable.. We really don’t have an option.. Nigerians are one of the best citizens you can find on planet earth,, suffering yet willing to indure, hopeful when it’s obvious there is no hope anywhere forth coming.. Our fathers died hoping for a better Nigeria yet they never saw one, we would die also hoping for a better Nigeria but we would never see one if we continue to keep silent
Nigeria is a failed nation, who did this to us… Only few own all the wealth and would die for it, not willing to release the wealth amongst it’s people..
They know Nigerians are powerless against them mainly due to our ignorance to how and what they do exactly to our wealth and resources.. They keep in dark to make us work.. Indeed knowledge is power, one day the greater majority of Nigerians would fully understand what goes on in the large houses and the annoyance it would carry with it would results to lots of deaths and that time is near, very near.. No wonder they are scared of people talking, the hate speech is another means of silencing the masses so vital information wouldnt get to the majority.
I m honestly warming up n just can’t wait for that day.
The NFF under Pinnick has done relatively well, but what baffles me is the persistent lapse in critical decision making. Take the case of coach Imama’s flops, not once, not twice, but thrice! I know people learn from their mistakes, but was it not obvious that Imama’s neck was too fragile to bear the load NFF was placing on his head? Someone should have said: “No! Let’s try another coach.” That’s not being intransigence. It’s steering the body in the right direction, for the sake of not taking away the ONLY thing that currently gives Nigerians a kick (sic): soccer.
For the current matter regarding Oga Rohr, I won’t preempt the decision of NFF. I do hope the members return to their villages to take purifying baths before taking the decision on his contract extension. Considering our POSITION today in global football, I think Rohr merits contract extension. Note that one’s position in a field of endeavour is the sum of aggregate scores. Some of our fans miss the poin by being fixated on particular achievements, like winning the AFCON. How about the qualifications to the AFCON? Have we missed qualifying in the past? And the discipline among the players? Selection of players based on merit? Marketability of SE as a brand? Respect for the SE? And our position in FIFA ranking?
Well, a new coach may lift us higher on the rung, but are we certain of that? Will he be as understanding as Rohr if his salary/bonuses are delayed?
Simply put, the odds favour Rohr. Will NFF do the needful?
I need Rohr to stay and he should be rewarded with an improved contract. He deserves better treatment and replacing him will be impossible at the soonest so Amaju should behave himself and act like the wise man I know him to be except if there’s more to this contract.
There must be something wrong..let NFF let rohr continue his job,and let him look at the home base too..na small small..but what’s even wrong with our country and salary payment self.
I just don’t understand why Rohr is insisting on SE. Since he has performed well, he should make the right decision and go get a better deal elsewhere.
He has done well with the team and should consider offers from elsewhere.
The simple reasons why Bonfire Jo, Westerhof, and Keshi (RIP) and Shuaib (RIP) names will resonate forever is because they broke records.
I believe Rohr too has broken records taking us from 70 to 30 in the world, winning bronze in his first nations cup with a young team, drawing with brazil and winning against Argentina.
I hope the best decision is made for the future of SE.
Nigeria should drag the current NFF administrators to FIFA for possible sanction over poor handling of Rohr and other related issues with levity. Anything short of this will spell doom for our promising Super Eagle.
Drey and his chalatans are here disliking comments. Let us not allow political confusion to ruin our sense of commenting and destroy our conscience when the truth is aired.
This low sense of esteem and reasoning is the cause of Nigeria struggles today and affecting the nation at large.
CS is not feeding anyone or adding to bank accounts we need to becareful use more sense and less emotions no one is in competition.
What is it exactly with u and comment likes and dislikes@ chima????. Do you comment to expect likes or do you just make intelligent contributions based on the subject matter? Ure too old, way old for this my man. I never expected u to bring down urself to this sorry level. Pls, make ur contributions and remove ur hawk’s eye from the number of likes and dislikes U get. Grow up man!
Contract issues of this pedigree shouldn’t have even been a subject of public debate had NFF fulfilled with professionalism and transparency their Co-Signed contractual obligations to Mr. Rohr who discharged his part of the contract creditably even with NFF excesses in an honorable and professional manner with a Bronze Medal feat in Afcon after our long absence in the tournament in his short stint. This man Amaju Pinick doesnt get sternly checked when makes errorneous move which is why he does what he likes but should he fail to meet the Nigerians expectations of understanding what sustainable development and th role of retention in good relationship in this critical decision making moment for his administration in this contract fiasco,then our soccer ambition of conquering the continent again might become a mirage for some more years to come. NFF Be wise!!
I do not think Rohr has performed better than the Coaches before him. Nigeria has won Nations Cup on three different ocassions and had always got to second round of the World cup. What has Rohr won for Nigeria other than always building a team for the future? Nigeria needs a Coach that has the ambition of going into a tournament to win the trophy and not the one that goes into tournament to try. My candid opinion is that Rohr should be allowed to take a walk. If Nigeria is not ready to get a Coach that has winning mentality, we should as well forget football for now.
@ Eric, u just talked as if Rohr has gone to 7 tournaments without winning any.
So, a coach with winning mentality can build a team better than Belgium, Brazil, Germany etc that didn’t win the last world cup …or may be u didn’t know that Tunisia that we beat in 3rd place the last tournament is 2nd in Africa behind Senegal that didn’t win the cup also.
My question for u… who’s the coach u have on mind?
We all know how long it takes the NFF to find a new coach. Rohr has been really good. Gradually but steadily he has built a Super Eagles that can hold its own against world class opposition. NFF will make a great mistake killing this momentum. He has his eyes set on the 2022 world cup. Then many of our players would be at their peak. Let us keep him after tidying up a few loose end. NFF just do the needful. Fulfill your contractual obligations and the coach will talk less.
Eric ibekwe@ tank you for saying the truth you are a true nigerian.
@sean. van gal. Frank rijkad. Roland blanc. Amunike. Hector cooper. Pochetino.
Clean that mistake wey dey drop from your mouth. Nyen Nyen Nyen, you think you will bring these coaches(with the exception of amunike) and owe them like mad the way you are owing Me Rohr. Iffa hear peem from that your angle, I go put on the generator wey dey power thunder to different locations….. Just carry your support go to Djibouti or Comoros, not a country as Nigeria with a high level of disorganisation and ITK individuals, Just like you are exhibiting now. Nonsense and Nigerians!!!!!
Like i said before more than Rohr alone, the NFF is the main problem of nigerian football.
Caution! We are in the middle of qualifications.
Rohr has not done so well, he is simply manageable, there is nothing fantastic about him.
For the kind of money he is paid, the least we should get is a great entertaining football.
If he loves the free money he is making in nigeria, he must leave in nigeria.
After all, nigerians are every where in the world trying to make a living.
If what we have at the moment is the very best of Rohr, ( certainly his best to me) then he should not get more than a year or two years of renewal.
Emmanuel Amuneke should be the number one assistant to Rohr.
He must be given targets like AFCON trophy, last sixteen at the next world cup, and incremental benchmarks like an identifiable parttarn of entertaining football like we had under Westerhorf and Bonfere Jo.
There is no need for an examination if there is no pass mark, we must have a paasing score or grade to measure him against, and clemens Westerhorf achievements is just a good one.
Again Rohr should be very greatful to Nigeria and nigerians for giving him the opportunity to improve his resume.
He must be eternally greatfull to Nigeria, and not the other way around.
If Rohr remains in Niger for a hundred years he would never qualify for AFCON, let alone the World cup.
Oga CJ Abeg they put facts when you dey write down things. No dey write like say your ignorant of the facts. You didn’t qualify for the previous nation cup, your FIFA ranking was abysmal, you couldn’t attract grade A friendlies, and you are here saying he should be grateful(As how now?). The only thing that is good is NFF you guys wan join chase am, so that we go con start all over again…Which of these current crop of players are playing for the top 7 teams in Europe? All this indicators show we need to be humble and keep building with a good manager.
“Rohr should be grateful to Nigeria for improving his resume”….wen you refuse to grateful to him for taking you out of the abyss of shame (71st in the world) to a position of respect that made almighty Brazil want to spar with us and which they were grateful they did as we gave them some lessons to take home.
B4 taking up the SE job, Rohr’s CV read
UEFA cup silver winning coach
Swiss Cup winning coach
AFCON qfinals with Gabon
Ex Niger and Bfaso coach
Former Technical Director of German FA.
When hatred beclouds people sense of reason, they begin to act as if their brain is paining them.
Westerhoff left Nigeria and went downhill.
Bonfrere Jo left Nigeria and became a nonentity in the field of coaching.
Rohr is yet to leave Nigeria but Morocco, Cameroon, CIV, DRC are all breathing down his neck. Even Ghana our noisy neighbours are using corner corner eyes of love (apologies to Chief Zebrudaya) to look at him. Yet it is Nigeria that improved Rohr……LMAO.
Why did we run to him on Arsene Wenger’s recommendation If his CV was nothing to write home about in the first place.
If Nigeria did not improve in the last 3 yrs from the level of the likes of Botswana, Niger, Sudan and all those who only qualify for AFCON 2 times in 10yrs to the level of Senegal who are perennial favourites, how would his CV too have improved. LMAO
When we tell them to go and refund their parents all the hard earn money used in sending them to school now, they will take offence.
Rohr is not good, he’s clueless, he’s stupid, he’s tactless, but he’s currently the 19th best national team coach in the world.
Truly, the generator that can power thunder to different locations need to be switched on. I don’t mind sponsoring 2 barrels of diesel to support that cause.