Town's Nigerian international winger Finidi George says he is not impressed with the Nigerian FA's appointment of Festus Onigbinde as their new manager. He feels that Ruud Gullit would be a better man for the job.
Gullit was the name being bandied about as Amodu Shaibu's replacement even before he was sacked on Monday, but yesterday the NFA named former Nigerian manager Onigbinde as his successor.
Finidi says he knows little of the man appointed: "I don't know him very well and I don't know that he will be the manager when the World Cup comes, we will have to see. We want to do well in the World Cup and we need a manager who knows European football, someone like Ruud Gullit. He has played in Europe and has managed here in England. The Federation of Nigeria should have a good look around to see who is available."
Shaibu's spell as manager was characterised by in-fighting and dissent and Finidi's lack of confidence in the new man can hardly bode well for Onigbinde's future.
The Town man says that he will be putting Town first from now and and regrets turning up to the pre-African Nations' Cup camp on time as few others did: "After our friendly game with Japan in Southampton, we all made an agreement to meet at the training camp by January 5th. I now regret going there on time. There was nothing I could do once I was there. I was one of the first players there and it was disappointing that the others did not come until some ten days later. I have learnt my lesson now and I will not miss any more Ipswich games to go to play for Nigeria; I will be here with Ipswich until the last game of the season."
He also feels that we did not see the best of Nigeria, or indeed himself, in the ANC: "We were disappointed with our performances in Mali. We went there hoping to win but it was not to be. They were not the best of conditions. The hotels were not of a good standard, the pitches were very bumpy and it was difficult to play in such hot weather. We were due to play Egypt in a friendly before the competition but there was no way we were ready. We had not acclimatised so we had to put that one off. Then we played the Ivory Coast and we had to drive for seven hours to play the match and then seven hours back again. It was not very good preparations, there was too much travelling and not enough training."
There has been talk in Nigeria since the ANC suggesting that the more experienced players should be dropped for the World Cup in favour of younger legs. This is a view that Finidi doesn't agree with: "You cannot go into a world championship with just young players. They may fight and want to win but experience counts. We were disappointing in Mali, the fans were very disappointed, but when it comes to European-type football I know a lot and the conditions in Japan will be very different from Africa. If those critics want us out fine, but I if I can do well in the Premiership then I can play well in the World Cup."
Finidi has said that he will retire from international football after this summer's World Cup.to push Town down to 14th in the Premiership.