Jay Jay Okocha backs Super Eagles coach Gernot Rohr

Former Super Eagles midfielder Austin Okocha said Gernot Rohr deserves to remain in charge of the national team and praised the Nigeria Football Federation for renewing the Manager’s contract.

Rohr has been criticized by several former players of the Super Eagles, including former Coach Daniel Amokachi after the team failed to beat Sierra Leone in their 2022 African Cup of Nations qualifiers.

In an interview with brila.net last week, Amokachi opined that the Coach is not the right man for the job and should be relieved of his duties.

Meanwhile, Okocha refused to echo the sentiments of his former national teammates, he insists Rohr has done a good job since his appointment in 2016 and deserves to stay on.

"For now, I will score him seven out of 10 because when he came in things were not steady and he has steadied the ship,” he told brila.net

“He inherited an abandoned team and so, for now, he is following his own direction, he has created his own team. But we all know football is about results, of course, if the results don’t go his way our people will criticize him, you know everybody in Nigeria is a coach. But if results go his way of course we will praise him. Even if you are the best coach if you don’t get the result you will be under pressure.”

While Notable former Nigeria internationals, including chief Segun Odegbami, criticized the NFF for renewing, Rohr’s contract, Okocha, however, lauded the Federation’s decision to keep the manager.

“I’m in support of the contract extension because for every country to be successful you need continuity and you need direction.

“But if we keep hiring and firing we wouldn’t be able to build the team. So I believe it’s a good step, it’s just for the results to improve,” he concluded.