MIKEL Obi has opened up on the tenure of Sunday Oliseh as Super Eagles head coach, describing the former Nigeria captain as ‘terrible’.
Oliseh, who was one of the key players of the ‘golden generation’ of the Super Eagles that won the Africa Cup of Nations title in 1994 and Olympic gold in 1996, took over as the team’s head coach in July 2015 and lasted just seven months.
The former Ajax, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund midfielder’s tenure as Super Eagles head coach was tumultuous as he fell out with senior players, including Mikel and Vincent Enyeama, and the Nigeria Football Federation.
In a recent episode of his ‘Obi One’ podcast, Mikel expressed his impression of Oliseh’s time as Super Eagles head coach.
Former Chelsea star Mikel, who also won the AFCON title with the Super Eagles in 2013, narrated how Oliseh targeted the senior players.
“I remember the first day he came into the camp. Then we reported to the camp for international duties, then he came straight at me and Vincent Enyeama, the goalkeeper, who also was very powerful back then,” Mikel recalled.
“He came straight at us and Elderson Echiejile, and he said a few things. He said he heard there was a lot of player power with us.
“Then Enyeama was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where are you getting all of this from? We are a nice group, and you just come in, and the first thing is to attack us?
“He was like ‘I heard about you guys.’ And then Enyeama stood up and told him he couldn’t say that because we had been here for so many years. They started arguing, and literally, they were going to have a fight.
“He took Enyeama out of the team, and he came at us saying he was going to take us out of the team. He said he was going to take us out of the team; he said he was going to make sure we didn’t play anymore.
“Enyeama could not take it, and despite my pleas, he left the camp angrily and never came back.”
The Super Eagles struggled under Oliseh’s leadership and Mikel described his coaching abilities with barely disguised contempt.
“He (Oliseh) had absolutely no clue of how a manager is. He was a fantastic guy in his playing days, but he was a terrible coach. He absolutely had no clue of what he was doing,” said Mikel, who also captained the Super Eagles like Oliseh.
“The players never understood anything he was doing, and he did not know what he was doing. He was just confused because he just came in and destroyed the team’s togetherness.
“He was easily the worst manager I played under.
“He was so bitter with everybody, jealous with everybody, and had no respect for speaking to anybody, whether the physio or anybody.”
Oliseh, 49, was described as ‘African Pep Guardiola’ by then NFF president Amaju Pinnick when he was being introduced as the Super Eagles new head coach, but their relationship soon became rocky and Oliseh resigned, citing unpaid wages, lack of support and poor working conditions.
He went on to coach Fortuna Sittard shortly after his Super Eagles stint but he also left the Dutch club under a cloud and is currently without a club.
