Cooreman risks outright sack

Akwa United head coach, Maurice Cooreman may be sacked unless marked changes are noticed in his relationship with his assistants, the management of the club have announced.

Cooreman was suspended twice within a two-month period by the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) club between April and June and may eventually be sacked, according to the Akwa United Chairman, Paul Bassey.

Bassey says Cooreman has refused to work with his assistants and warned that the Belgian tactician will be sacked if he ‘goes solo’ in future.

“The first time he (Cooreman) was suspended, it was because he went unilateral. I have being to two World Cups and 15 Nations Cups and I know that in football, there are some benches were you find as many as six or seven coaches. Some of these coaches handle the attack (of the team), some of them take care of the midfield and even goal keeper trainers so Cooreman cannot operate solo,” Bassey told supersport.com.

The club chairman who is also a member of the technical committee of the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) added that Cooreman should follow due process if he is uncomfortable with any of his assistants.

“We (management of Akwa United) have told him that he must work with his assistants. If he believes his assistants are not good enough, then he should recommend them for the sack. When we lost to Enyimba (in the NPFL on April 24), he picked the team unilaterally. The other coaches (assistants) said they were not part of the team but Cooreman said he would take full responsibility (for the consequences of his actions). When he eventually came back from the first suspension, I appealed to him to work with the team as we could not afford to have a one-man coach in the Premier League. The first day he returned, he went solo so I had to suspend him again,” he said.