It is to be recalled that the former National football coach, Sewnet Bishaw, had been left on the bench after a couple of triumphant results – to use the parlance of the game. Although his weaknesses were well known to the Football Federation’s new leadership, the poor results since the end of world cup qualifications are presumably the main factor contributing to his farewell.
The new leadership, under the presidency of Juendin Basha, took some time and caution in replacing him. The recruitment process was conducted as transparently as possible. Thus, some 27 applications, including two local contenders, were received and carefully evaluated in order to make the right decision.
The employment contract agreement between the Ethiopian Football Federation and the 57-year-old Portuguese coach, Mariano Barreto, was signed on the April 22, 2014, with a monthly payment of 18,000 dollars. This is non-taxable, other than housing, transport, facilities and other fringe benefits. Mariano would start his coaching job as of May 1, 2014.
Coach Barreto had been working in Ghana between 2003 and 2004 for nine months, and for several other teams, including the Russian team, Dyanmo Moscow, and the Cuban team, Cuban Krashador. In his press briefing, the new coach has expressed his views about Ethiopian football players’ natural talent and the fact that most of the members of the squad are over-aged. He has indicated that they will make attempts to recruit younger players and prepare them for the next prequalifying matches to be held in Morocco next year. That seems to be the main target and the dreams of the new Football Federation leadership – perhaps stipulated in the contract agreement.
I do not know what others feel about the monthly payment of 18,000 dollars – which is close to 360,000 Br a month. Although it could be a premature speculation to make at this junction as to whether all the objectives will be met within the next two years, it would be unfair on my part to keep silent about the decision of the leadership to pay that much money in view of the country’s economic power.
I could not believe my ears when I heard the figures and the conditions of employment. With due respect to the new leadership, no matter what the coaching experience of the new coach could be and no matter what results he could attain with the Waliyas, such a vast sum of money for a football coach is not acceptable at all, in my opinion. Let me elucidate my reasoning.
The amount may be peanuts in terms of other national coaches in Europe or elsewhere. Junedin may be calculating his ability to pay that much money from the reserves of the national Football Federation accounts. I have no issue with that line of thinking. But my arguments are based on the rationales of spending that much money.
The new coach is of the opinion that our national players will have to be replaced by younger and more agile players in due course. No coach has the ability to mould players by design and enable them to qualify for the coming matches, short of miracles. These days, miracles happen to be rarities.
Unless the leadership can somehow be certain in sustaining its financial reserves, the monthly payment will have a direct impact. Other countries conduct betting, fixed entrance prices and mobilise finance from television and radio commercials and the sale of various articles.
They work hand and glove with the media and are able to cover any payment related to coaching or the acquisition of players. Fetching players is believed to be the result of able coaches.
What, then, is the source of the income in Ethiopia?
The level of performance in football teams and their players may correspond to the experiences of the coaches. Sewnet’s achievements, though they slumped consistently towards the end, cannot be so poor as to be worth such a great payment difference.
One can be certain that public money should not be squandered under the pretext of the national sentiment of qualifying for the 2015th African Cup of Nations.
What profit will Ethiopia gain from such an expenditure?
Any expenditure should be justified after a cost and benefit study. The benefits of deploying an experienced coach are obvious and undeniable. The question, however, is balancing the benefits and the coasts.
As I have been arguing time and again, the ability of the members of the national squad depends on many factors, including age. This is because old dogs cannot learn new tricks – as the saying goes.
The coach may train both players and other coaches to adopt new and current techniques of playing football at the international level. But unless the players have the physical agility and capabilities to adopt the lessons, the two year contract period will be too short to produce anything. By that time, most of our present players would be aging. By the same analogy, new and younger recruits could be too young or inexperienced to shoulder the responsibilities.
Leadership, in general, and football management, in particular, requires a thorough understanding over which direction to lead the objectives of the engagement. Spending well over 8.64 million Br in two years for the nation’s football team requires, in my view, a substantial justification of the cost to be commensurate with the tangible benefits that can be drawn.
In any case, we all hope that the payment for the coach will prove worthwhile. But we should also be ready for the scenario that the coach may not be able to deliver the intended results. We should know that Ethiopian football is not yet in a business style.
The Federation ought to know that it will incur a huge amount of expenses other than the salary of the national coach, whose duty is limited to coaching and preparing the national team for matches.
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