UPDATED: Oliseh lashes out at ‘unpatriotic critics’ [+ video]

Declares Eagles successful after 14 matches

Super Eagles Head Coach, Sunday Oliseh, has taken to twitter to lash out at those he described as ‘unpatriotic critics,’ who he accused of trying to put pressure on the national team for selfish reasons.

Oliseh, who said in a recorded message on his Youtube Channel that he never lobbied to become the Super Eagles’ coach, added that it was unfortunate that some elements, including retired players and players’ agents, were bent on causing disharmony in the national team because he did not give them the opportunity to exploit his team.

A visibly angry Oliseh said, “I didn’t beg for this job. I didn’t even want this job. I refused it twice and it took the intervention of a highly respected friend of mine, who was in government, for me to concede and take this job.

“I took it not to serve special interests… I took it to serve Nigerians, and if there’s one thing I know that my people know, forget the critics, is that I am patriotic.”

Oliseh’s outburst suggests that the rumour that all is now well in the Eagles camp is true, but he absolves the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) of complicity in the alleged plot to destabilize his team.

He said, “I have a contract with the NFF and if they are not happy with the development of the team, they can come and we shake hands. But I want to remind the critics that we have played 14 games and lost only two, with only one being an official game. We have scored 19 goals and conceded six goals.

“We have also qualified to the group stages of the World Cup qualifiers and still on track to qualify for the 2017 AFCON.
We were voted by FIFA as the youngest National team of 2015 and moved up in the FIFA Rankings. All done in a spate of less than eight months.”

He labels the criticism that has trailed the Eagles ouster from the just concluded CHAN as ‘insane,’ describing the competition as the least important tournament held by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).

“It is a tournament that weighs the strengths of all the countries local leagues and “you can see how strong DR Congo, which has T.P Mazembe, is in the competition. How about Ghana, Egypt and other countries that did not qualify for the competition?” he queried.

Oliseh accuses some retired footballers and players’ agents of being behind the onslaught on his team, alleging that some of these people have come after him because they did not succeed in getting their players into his team.

He added: “I am serving Nigerians and not these critics. The funny one is that by some of my former colleagues, who did not contribute much to make the Eagles what it was when we were playing. They are most vociferous in their attack.

“Some of them were benchwarmers, who were always talking while on the bench. Now, they are retired and they are still continuing in their ways. My advise to them is to go get a team to coach so that when they talk people will listen.”

The Guardian gathered that the recent criticism that has trailed Nigeria’s performance at the CHAN has given some elements in the NFF the ammunition to plot Oliseh’s removal from his position.

GUARDIAN NIGERIA