As Nigerians await what the future holds for Stephen Keshi, former Abia State governor, Dr. Orji Uzor Kalu yesterday, threw his weight behind the coach, urging for a new four-year contract to keep the ‘Big Boss’ as Super Eagles’ manager.
Kalu’s backing comes amid uncertainty over the Super Eagles’ preparations for the 2015 Nations Cup and is a bold step towards sustaining pressure on the need for continuity.
He said: “There should be no vacuum. I want the Football Federation to keep Keshi. He must learn from his mistakes. This is not the time to hire a new coach, rather, Mike Emenalo and Sylvanus Okpala should be engaged to work with him.”
The former governor ad­vised that Keshi’s designa­tion should be changed to accommodate his former team mates so that all tac­tical deficiencies could be plugged.
“Keshi could become technical adviser. Emenalo takes the position of chief coach while Okpala as­sumes the responsibility of assistant coach. That combi­nation would be unbeatable. Emenalo knows so much about modern club foot­ball and is tactically sound. Okpala sees a lot from the bench too,” Kalu said.
He urged the NFF to send Keshi to Germany on a three-month refresher course in the bid to take Nigerian soccer to the next level.
His words: “That is what he needs. The Germans have a lot to offer in terms of modern soccer technol­ogy. You saw what their squad did to Brazil. That should be the next destina­tion point.”

Don’t sack Keshi –Kalu