Football Coaches Association of African Nations (FCAAN) national coordinator and head of protocol in Nigeria, Akande Fatai Adejumo Smith has charged Super Eagles’ new handler, Finidi George to map out a developmental scheme in agreement with tacticians of the youth national teams.
Smith, who is also the technical director of Lagos-based BYT Football Academy, added that a graduated development of players through the Golden Eaglets, Flying Eagles and Olympic Eagles is needed to ensure that players in the senior national team fully inculcate the Nigerian style of football.
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The articulate coach added that, aside from teaching the benefits of developmental strides in national teams, FCAAN also tries to instil in all coaches the right ethics and ideals of their trade.
Smith explained FCAAN’s ideology thus: “Basically, the motive is to get our coaches educated to the highest level of coaching education. This means we want to take control of what we do in coaching football.
“Thank God that Finidi is now the Nigerian national team coach. That’s the kind of thing we want to see, but when Finidi goes, somebody else has to be there. Also, don’t forget, that some people will be fielding Finidi with players – that being our local coaches.
“In a proper structure, every coach in our youth system should be his assistant.
Automatically, the coaching method has to trickle from Finidi downward. If our coaching department has a playing formula, you give it to Finidi.
“He makes a plan for the type of players he wants to use, and he looks at them. He tells the next person in under-23, under-20, Manu in the Golden Eaglets. So, when the boy is coming to the senior national team, he already has 70-80% of what is expected of him.
“FCAAN is always stressing this procedure, and it is what we are teaching. The very moment a lot of coaches get into those very key areas, definitely it will be better.
That’s why we keep training them. We keep asking key questions when we see things going wrong. But Nigeria still has a long way to go in this aspect.
“That’s what we try to do, but we don’t have control over them. The very moment you leave your match venue, you go back to your domain and start your team back. The good thing is that we are always watching ourselves. We have how we check our coaches.
“So, if you come with something contrary to that, maybe the headquarters in the US can sanction you because you are like an ambassador. Once you become an FCAAN coach, you are not expected to do unethical things.”
Coach Smith then revealed his perception of FCAAN’s ethics and disclosed that it has helped in shaping his calm demeanour during matches, even when things are not going in his favour.
In response to why coaches verbally assault match officials, Smith stressed, “I can’t do that. Even if the referee is found wanting, I might say it calmly, but I won’t go to the extreme. We must note that even the ones who have VAR make mistakes.
“I can’t take it out on a referee. I would rather use my energy on the players, check what has gone wrong in the game, and try to correct it.
“Don’t forget, the quality at your disposal determines what you can interpret. If you are lucky that your players have been abroad, it’s an advantage against another team.
For the other coach not to know that, but start misbehaving, then we have to check him and ask him, ‘What have you done with your team’ instead of blaming the referee.
“That’s what we tell them at FCAAN. We check them all the time.”
 national coordinator and head of protocol in Nigeria, Akande Fatai Adejumo Smith){kind=link}