Nigeria’s bid to appoint a former Tottenham boss Harry
Redknapp as Eagles coach seems to have suffered a setback as the former
Portsmouth coach has concluded plans to join Australian club Central Coast
Mariners as a consultant. Redknapp recently had a two-game spell in charge of
Jordan, overseeing an 8-0 win over Bangladesh and a 5-1 loss to Australia in
Sydney.
The 69-year-old is also acting as an advisor to Derby
County, currently fifth in the Championship. Based in New South Wales, Mariners
were A-League winners in 2008 and 2012. Redknapp’s decision to opt for the
Australian job comes after it emerged late Thursday night that the Nigeria
Football Federation (NFF) was set to name him the long-term Eagles manager.
A London tabloid, Daily Star, had reported that Redknapp was
in line to grab the Eagles job, overseeing the country’s Russia 2018 World Cup
qualifying campaign, after the team failed to qualify for next year’s Africa
Cup of Nations in Gabon. Coach Salisu Yusuf presently acts as interim coach,
with the mandate to take charge of two upcoming friendlies against Mali in
Paris on May 27 and Luxembourg on June 1.
However, Daily Star said Redknapp was approached to take
over reins of power, with a source close to the team revealing he could be
named as the next permanent manager within a few days. Redknapp is largely
untested at international level after narrowly missing out on the England job
to Roy Hodgson. But with the latest twist that he has opted to join Central
Coast Mariners, it seems Redknapp has put paid to NFF’s bid to hire him for a
role widely regarded as the biggest job in African football
Source: Vanguard
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