‘They don’t have respect’ – Sunday Oliseh blasts current Super Eagles stars
Super Eagles legend Sunday Oliseh has accused the current generation of Nigerian players of lacking respect for their predecessors.
This statement comes in the wake of Victor Osimhen’s controversial outburst on social media, highlighting a growing rift between the current and former generations of Nigeria internationals.
Oliseh, a key member of the Super Eagles’ “Class of 94,” who made a significant impact at the 1994 World Cup in the USA, believes that the current crop of players does not show the same reverence for their predecessors as his generation did.
In a recent interview with Nigerian journalist Matthew Edafe on Elegbete TV, Oliseh attributed the ongoing clashes between different generations of Super Eagles players to a fundamental lack of respect.
“It boils down to respect,” Oliseh said. “The current generations, the ones who see themselves as stars, have little respect for those who came before them, especially those who are bigger than them.”
Oliseh explained that his generation always deferred to their predecessors with great respect. He cited examples of how they referred to older players with honorary titles, such as calling Segun Odegbami “Big Sheg” and Christian Chukwu “the Chairman,” rather than by their first names.
Oliseh recounted an instance where he had a disagreement with Odegbami, a key member of Nigeria’s 1980 AFCON-winning team, after the latter criticized him in an article. Despite feeling hurt by the criticism, Oliseh maintained his respect for Odegbami and resolved the issue privately, rather than publicly calling him out.
“That doesn’t mean that that generation did not fault us,” Oliseh continued. “Mr. Odegbami has written some articles, even against my person, that I felt were so bad and so badly informed, wrong and hurtful. I didn’t go out there and start shouting Segun Odegbami, Segun Odegbami, no. One time I called him and I told him ‘Big Shegs nawao, why you go talk this kind thing.’”
Oliseh lamented that such respect has disappeared in recent times and criticized the credentials of the more recent Super Eagles generations, pointing out their lack of significant success.
