Former foreign coach of the Nigerian national team, the Super Eagles, Jo Bonfrere is again eyeing the same job 15 years after he left.
The 69-year-old Bonfrere, a Dutchman believes that he is ‘the right man’ to return Nigeria to the summit of African football, 15 years after he was sacked as coach.
Bonfrere who coached the nation;s team towards the Nations Cup in 2000 expressed his desire to replace Sunday Oliseh who resigned from the post.
The foreign coach, who was sacked by Nigeria in 2001 after losing a World Cup qualifier in Sierra Leone, was also assistant Super Eagles coach from 1990 to 1994 and led Nigeria’s under-23 team to gold at the Atlanta Olympics.
“I have worked in Nigeria for a long time in the past and I know what to do to get the Super Eagles flying again,” Bonfrere told BBC Sport on the telephone from the Netherlands.
“I love Nigeria because that is where my football mentality is most at home and I have a fantastic relationship with the people there.
“Other foreign coaches have also failed because they come with the arrogant attitude of being a world class coach and a big name to perform magic there, and that wrong notion meant they had no passion, desire and the required knowledge to succeed on the job.
“I was very successful because I did not separate myself from the reality. I worked with youth and domestic players; I had faith in my Nigerian assistants and gave my best despite all the challenges.
“No one has done what I achieved and I believe I am the right man to return Nigeria to glory days in Africa and the world.”
Bonfrere began his stormy romance with Nigeria in 1990, when he was the de facto assistant to Clemens Westerhof. The Dutch coaching duo worked together at the 1990, 1992 and 1994 African Nations Cups, winning silver, bronze and gold medals.
Bonfrere was also Westerhof’s assistant at the 1994 World Cup and subsequently managed the Under-23 team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
But arguments over his salary and team selection made him quit the job in the United States, from where he returned to his native Holland.
He returned in 1999 and took charge of the Super Eagles at the 2000 Africa Cup of Nations where Nigeria won the silver medal. [myad]
