Former England and Wimbledon striker John Fashanu has on Friday, denied dumping Nigeria for the Three Lions.
In an interview, he said “So many people believe that I turned down my country Nigeria to play for England but that wasn’t the case at all.
“The former Brazilian coach of the Green Eagles, Otto Gloria, invited me three times and on those three occasions I turned up to play for our country, to play for our motherland.
“It was unfortunate because I noticed that most of the players when they asked me to go to the right, I will go there but the ball will go to the left and if they asked me to go to the left, the ball will go to the right. One day, the coach Gloria came to me and said, ‘John Fashanu, you are a wonderful player, you are a great player and you are a world-class player but in Nigeria the players don’t really want to play with you,” he added.
Speaking on his relationship with his late gay brother, Justin Fashanu, who was the first black player to earn £1m, he said, “….. many people used to get that mixed up.We were completely opposite, chalk and cheese. That was something that I could never accept, I could never accept his attitude and his declaration that he was gay.
“In England he used to trouble me and try to fight me but I could never accept the fact that he was gay and I still till this day don’t believe that he was gay.
Having contested for the NFF president position and won, hence chairing the league for one year, he admitted that issues of corruption made it impossible. He said, “I was too English then, but now I’ve been in Nigeria for 17 years. Now, if I contest for a public position it will be very different.”
He however advised that “assets declaration is a must for everybody who goes into a position where there is a lot of money. Declaration of assets is very important.” This, according to him, will tackle a major challenge facing the Nigerian football.
He also urged Nigerian players around the world who have been invited to play for the country to come back home and at least try to get in.
