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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