Sunday Oliseh: All that glitters is not gold

Ah, that familiar feeling of salty cheapness that swiftly accompanies a one-off carnal tryst in the dead of night. In the time-worn fashion of the young and restless, Sunday Oliseh’s relationship with Nigerian football began with a grand seduction and ended with a cold bed and broken promises.
Who could have guessed that, having charmed all with his eloquence and dapper dress under the bright lights of television, the reality would be rather more vapid? Is that not the implied warning in the admonition that there are other shiny metals besides gold, and that a con-man may leave us with a fist full of pyrites for our foolish greed?
In place of articulate, measured suave came an inarticulate lack of decorum, his unwillingness to account for context in criticism in contrast to his demand for it once in the role himself. It painted a sad portrait of hypocrisy, off came the lustrous sheen as he wallowed in the muck of many YouTube bar-fights.

Oliseh | Has he left Nigeria worse off than he found them?

If there is any consolation to be had, it is that neither party can truly have derived satisfaction. Oliseh’s hot-blooded passion jarred against a wall of frigid unreceptiveness and financial incapacity the order in a tale of frustration so complete it absolutely chafed.
The strictures of working without remuneration ultimately proved too great. It is the lay of the land with Nigerian football: contracts are worth less than toilet paper, a factor which made Oliseh and the NFF a union of strange bedfellows. There is no end to the ineptitude of the Glass House, and it is they who are to shoulder the blame, and that in more ways than one.
Ultimately one cannot fault a child’s inability to bear hot coals. That the former Super Eagles captain was given the role, almost in subversion of due process and without any kind of review, smacked of naïve amateurishness. In that sense, is it any wonder that Oliseh turned out as he did: brash, throwing all care to the wind, acting with little thought to consequence?
It is true that his employers have been in serial breach of contract. It is also true that there have been allowances made for Oliseh that have been the privilege of none other at the helm of the Super Eagles. One of the key factors for a national team coach, considering limited camping time and lengths of time between competitive games, is the ability to eschew the limelight, the unseen hand behind the unheard voice, a rallying point.
This idea appeared anathema to Oliseh, whose taste for controversy smacked of a man not merely content to direct, but to star in his own creation. His home movies are freshest in the memory, but they were just the latest in a string of media misdemeanours, each more hilarious like the last, the slow public undressing preceding an unsightly shimmy of nude shame.
It is ironic that the short space of time before the crucial double-header against Egypt in Afcon 2017 qualifying, no doubt a factor in the NFF’s uncharacteristic long-suffering stance toward the 'African Guardiola', did not prove a powerful enough factor to stay Oliseh’s hand.
As for what comes next, that is a healthy, fun guessing game to keep everyone occupied.

How much blame must Amaju Pinnick take for Oliseh's disastrous reign?

Not to excuse a chronically inept football administration, but to abdicate now is surely the most unpatriotic and vindictive action possible. Considering he had the support of both the NFF President and the Sports Minister, even while a nation was baying for his blood, what new realities have come to light within the past few days?
Source:goal