‘Disaster was about to happen’ — Pinnick gives reasons for Rohr’s sack

Amaju Pinnick, president of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF), says Gernot Rohr was sacked as Super Eagles coach due to the lack of discipline in the team.

The NFF on Sunday announced the dismissal of Rohr and appointed Augustine Eguavoen as the interim coach.

Reacting to the development on Sunrise Daily, a Channels Television programme, on Monday, Pinnick said contrary to popular belief, lack of motivation resulting from poor welfare played no role in the decision to part ways with Rohr.

He said the NFF only owes the players allowances from two matches, while Gernot Rohr is owed “a couple of months” after he was recently paid for five months.

Pinnick said the decision to sack Rohr was collectively arrived at by members of the football committee, adding that several factors were put into consideration.

“It wasn’t an individual decision, it was a collective decision by the entire football committee,” he said.

“We were winning our games but there are a lot of things we put into cognizance. When you look at it, you don’t want to blame but let it go and move on to a new hope and new zeal.

“We did everything for one major factor — that discipline in the team has practically been lost in the dressing room. Discipline in the team was at its lowest and once you remove discipline, that foundation on the team will be lost.

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

“So, we need to change things because leadership is all about protecting whoever is working with you. We don’t want to go through all that, we had to take the bull by the horn before disaster starts happening. It was about to happen.

“We are only owing about two matches of all the matches they played in both AFCON qualifiers and World Cup qualifiers. For Gernot Rohr, I know we paid him for about five months. We were owing him for a couple of months, then we cleared about five months.”

In October, Pinnick had defended Rohr’s preference to work from abroad even though his contract mandated him to work in Nigeria.