'It was 10 days of hell in Atlanta, I'll never touch NFF job with long pole, I dont want to die young' - Samson Siasia
Samson
Siasia, Nigeria's Bronze winning coach at Rio 2016 has made more damning
revelations as to how the team weathered the storm to achieve success at Brazil
during the summer.
In an interview with
BBC, Bayelsa born Siasia revealed he had quit his post as under-23 coach
and has now made more startling revelations as to the team's adventure in
Atlanta and Rio de Janeiro.
'I'm still being owed
five months salary. They said it's due to TSA (Treasury single account) but i
hope they will pay me since my contract has elapsed so that i can go and rest.
I thank them for the opportunity to serve my country and it's time to go and
rest before thinking of the next move' Siasia told Complete Football magazine.
'I
want to savour this bronze medal which is worth more than gold, i'm going on
vacation to the United states next week. I need the rest. After that i can
begin to plan. For now i need to rest.'
When
Siasia was asked the driving force behind his strength in adversity giving that
he had faced similar situations at Benin 2005 African youth championship, FIFA
U-20 World cup and Beijing 2008, he said;
'I think it's the never
say die attitude of the average Nigerian. We usually give our best when our
backs are to the wall. It's the power of Naija. I needed to prove myself and
didn't want to use a lack of funds as an excuse not to do well. The whole country
was behind us and at the end of the day, we did what we had to do. It's a
personal principle to give any job i get my best shot and that's what we did.
Seeing the joy that medal brought to Nigerians was enough satisfaction for me.
I mean the reception at the airport was massive and i also thank the media for
their support'
When
asked if he'll be wiling to handle the team again, Siaisa emphatically replied;
'My brother, the answer
is no, Capital NO! The experience was harrowing. I don't want to die young. I
still have a family that needs me to stay alive. Nobody ought to be subjected
to that kind of experience once in a lifetime. But for Siasia, it's now more
than once. Since 2005, the story has not changed. I won't touch the job with a
long pole if there are no changes to the way we run our football. It's a
no,no,no for me.'
'Sure i'll love to win
Gold but who says it must be with Nigeria? If another country offers me the
opportunity to lead them to the Olympics and i see that they have a culture of
doing things the right way, why not? As for the record that you talked about
(Africa's most successful coach at the Olympics) i'm glad but i'm not chasing
records. I just want to do a good job anytime i'm called on.'
When
Siasia was asked how his team managed to defeat Japan, despite arriving in
Brazil five hours before kick off, Siasia said;
'What happened was that
we had already packed our luggage for two days hoping we were going to travel
at any moment so we didn't train for those two days. When things started
getting out of hand , a friend of mine chartered a small plane, a 30-seater plane,
which was our only option to get to Brazil in time for our first match. So i
brought all the players downstairs to explain to them why we had to make do
with that small plane. The alternative was to miss our first match which was
unacceptable. They were all afraid because of the size of the plane. You know
Mikel doesn't even like flying at all, let alone in a small plane like the one
we had at our disposal. All the boys were so afraid but i convinced them them
to leave for the airport and that nothing will go wrong'
'We arrived at the
airport in the evening to take the small plane and that was when we heard that
the guy who took us to Atlanta for camping had something to do with Delta
Airlines but they didn't come through until that day. They said they saw the
news on television that the team was stranded and that they had a plane going
to Rio and that they can drop us off in Manaus on their way. That was right
before we boarded the small plane so we told the players that we have another
option of a bigger plane for the next day. They were all excited and said they
will wait for that extra day because they were not comfortable with the smaller
plane. We waited and flew the next day. The agreement we had with them was that
any amount that were due to be paid them by the sports ministry should be
donated to any charitable organization of our choice. The boys were happy and i
think that finally changed their mood and prepared them for the match
ahead.'
'Another thing that
helped was the experience we had in Atlanta. Our first ten days were not so
good because the sponsors didn't come through and there was a shortage of
everything. We were struggling to transport the players to and fro training and
all that stuff. It was very serious and i was tempted to give up sometimes but
when i looked at the players i knew i just couldn't do that. We had so called
sponsors who were supposed to take care of us for 10 days, just 10 days but
they couldn't do that. Even some of the friendly games that were lined up we
couldn't play them . It was 10 days of hell in Atlanta.'
'When Delta offered to
fly us, it was a relief. I'd spoken to the Minister of Finance, i also spoke
with the Vice president as well as Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji
Lai Mohammed. I thank them all for their assistance and good intentions but
nothing actually came through. The guy who chartered that plane for us, i don't
want to mention his name because he doesn't like publicity, paid $140,000 and
we had to abandon it for the bigger plane. It was a big mess! So i believe
having gone through all this difficulties, the players flt challenged and
determined to show the world that they deserved to be a part of the Olympics
and that with or without troubles they are as good as any other team.''
'The experience was
harrowing, do you know how much i spent on that team right from Nigeria and at
the Atlanta camp, i thank God for football lovIng friends who came to our aid
at the U.S. Looking at the faces of my players when we had no money was a scary
experience for me. How can i camp someone's child without feeding him well and
rebuke him if he didn't do well? The players achieved what we did because they
were as good as any other team, they gave their best for Nigeria and i salute
them.
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