Labbadia’s conundrum as metaphor for rot in Glass House

To the consternation of many, Germany’s Bruno Labbadia, turned down Nigeria’s offer to coach the Super Eagles just four days after the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) announced his appointment. Stakeholders reckoned that the embarrassment would have been avoided if the federation had been meticulous in its recruitment process, GOWON AKPODONOR reports.

On Friday, August 30, Nigerians were jolted when news made the rounds that former Germany international, Bruno Labbadia, who was, three days earlier, announced as the 37th head coach of the Super Eagles, has rejected the offer.

The rejection, which first started as a rumour, was later confirmed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) when it said that the former Bayern Munich star turned down the job because stringent German tax laws ensured that the parties could not come to an agreeable financial settlement.

In a statement explaining Labbadia’s position, the NFF President, Ibrahim Musa Gusau, said: “We have been on the tax issue for the past three days, and I told him clearly that there was no way the NFF will agree to offset the concomitant tax percentage on his salary that will be demanded by German tax authorities. It is not possible for us to shoulder the responsibility of shelling out another money, between 32 per cent to 40 per cent of his salary after paying the agreed monthly wage.

“The NFF and Mr Labbadia reached an agreement in principle before we made the announcement that he would become the head coach of the Super Eagles. The tax details were never part of our discussions, and he had personally agreed to all terms before the tax issue came up. We were doing our best to be flexible in the discussions, but he was adamant that the NFF had to pay the full tax