Former Eagles’ Coach, Rohr Berates Pinnick Over ‘Ridiculous’ Dressing Room Comments

BY VICTOR OSOWOCHI – Former Super Eagles Coach, Gernot Rohr has described as ‘ridiculous’ remarks by the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) President, Amaju Pinnick that he lost the dressing room while in charge of the National team.

Exasperated with Pinnick’s claims about the reason he was sacked as the Eagles’ handler, the 68-year-old German said the NFF had already mapped out a plan to send him packing and therefore do not need to make such uncomplimentary remarks about his tenure.

“This is ridiculous. Everybody knows it. The dressing room was always with me,” the German told ESPN, adding; “All the players are writing to me and thanking me for my professionalism, for my independent work, for my presence. The dressing room was 100 per cent behind me. And I hope it will also be 100 per cent behind the new coach.

“I think they already had this prepared. They brought the new coach [Eguavoen] one year ago, so he could have a look. He would ask for the technical reports because he was technical director and Paul [Aigbogun], his assistant, was doing for me the work of scouting the opponents.”

“But I wish them all the best because I want my players to succeed, to win the AFCON. I want Nigeria to go to the World Cup, and I’m sure that they will”, Rohr said.

The NFF boss had listed poor dressing room ethics as part of the reasons the German tactician was sent packing from handling the three-time African champions after five years in charge and Augustine Eguavoen drafted in to serve as the interim coach,

Defending why the former Burkina Faso coach was shown the way out, Pinnick had claimed that Rohr lost control of his team’s discipline – thus, he had to be fired, saying; “He [Rohr] happens to be the longest-serving manager of the Super Eagles.”

Speaking with Channels TV, the NFF President said; “We gave him all the support, but we didn’t want to wait for a disaster to happen before parting ways. The last two games were very tough games for us.

“We did everything that we could, but one major factor was that discipline in the team is lost practically. In the dressing room, discipline in the team was at its lowest edge and once you remove discipline, that foundation in the team has cracked.

“Players now talk back at you, players believe that they are indispensable. A lot of factors that will now militate against the team.”

However, the comments did not go down well with Rohr, who was named as permanent manager of the Super Eagles in August 2016, following Sunday Oliseh’s unceremonious exit from the national squad.