‘I would have walked away if not for players’ – Randy Waldrum replies NFF

By Oyediji Oluwaseun Babatunde

The Head Coach of Nigeria’s senior women’s national team, Randy Waldrum had replied to the query issued to him by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).

The University of Pittsburgh women’s football coach in a podcast accused the NFF of interfering with his squad for this month’s FIFA Women’s World Cup by trying to impose a goalkeeper on him.

In retaliation to his refusal to invite the goalkeeper, the gaffer said NFF didn’t allow his right-hand coach, Gregg from attending the Word Cup.

In a recent development, Waldrum has hit back at the NFF stating that he ought to have resigned from his role long time ago while accusing the Federation of owing him salaries and not utilizing the $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup.

“What keep me going is the players, otherwise I would have walked away from this job a long time ago,” Waldrum told The Whistle Podcast.

“I saw the (NFF) response to my previous comments on the other podcast and it just seemed like really childish response. In the two and a half years that I’ve been here, I have never had one time that the Federation came to me and asked, what do you need coach?

“Up until about three weeks ago, I had been owed 14 months’ salary, and then they paid 7 months’ salary. We still have players that haven’t been paid since two years ago when we played the Summer Series in the USA. It’s a travesty.”

The tactician also spoke on the reduction of staff by the Federation for the FIFA Women’s World Cup, adding that: “I am not going to be quite anymore. In October, every country was given $960,000 from FIFA to prepare for the World Cup. Where is the money?

“FIFA allows your staff to have up to 22 people but we only have 11. We don’t have scouts to watch the teams in our group or potential opponents.”

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup nearby, this recent outburst from the coach further put the relationship between him and the Federation into a dicey condition ahead of the team’s clash with Canada, New Zealand, and the Republic of Ireland in Group B at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.