NFF technical committee
chairman Felix Anyansi-Agwu has slammed Stephen Keshi after the coach expressed dissatisfaction with the new contract proposed to him.
Keshi has described a new two-year contract tabled for his consideration as “a slave contract”.
But Anyansi has taken exception to Keshi’s latest comments, insisting the coach is not bigger than Nigeria and he should walk away from the deal if he was not happy with it rather than resort to the pages of the newspapers to negotiate.
“For Keshi to work with the NFF he needs to bring himself down and strive to get good advisors because the current ones he has are not doing him any good at all,” Anyansi said in an interview.
“If you are not satisfied with something is it not best for you to approach those that gave you the stipulation and work at negotiating your way out?
“Keshi never did that. He went to the pages of the newspapers to express his dissatisfaction with the contract offer. Is that the medium through which he got the job offer? He is thinking that he is bigger than Nigeria or the NFF. That is a lie and for him to work with us he needs to put himself under our control.
“We are not saying that he should not seek for negotiation, but the way he is going about it shows that he only has bad advisors around him.
He added, “If he is not satisfied with what we have stipulated in the new contract offer why can’t he take the bold step of declining it and keep quiet. Is he the only person in the country that will be embarrassing everyone via the media,?” queried Anyansi.
Meanwhile, Coach Stephen Keshi had earlier described as “a slave contract” what has been offered him to continue as Nigeria coach.
Keshi said he has received his new contract from the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), but has been far from impressed with what has been offered him.
“From the clauses I have seen so far, I don’t know what words to use but the contract can be described as a ‘slave contract'”, he remarked probably in reference to clauses which make him answerable to several persons and committees.
Further checks showed he has been offered a two-year contract effective from March 1, 2015 with him to meet several targets or else the deal is off.
He should reach the semifinal of the 2016 CHAN and also the last four of the next AFCON or the contract will be called off at “the absolute discretion” of his employers.
He will also have to abide by a code of conduct.
Keshi himself revealed that he will be paid five million Naira (less than $25,000), which was what he also received during his initial three-year contract, which ran out after last year’s world Cup in Brazil.
Fifty-two-year-old ‘Big Boss’, who has handled Togo and Mali, lost out to the Franco-German Gernot Rohr on the top coaching post of Burkina Faso last week.

Handball players in action in a recent tourney