The fancy of coaching in Africa are well illustrated by the fact that only one of the 16 coaches at the African Nations Cup starting on Friday was in charge of his team in the last tournament two years ago.

Veteran French coach Roger Lemerre is, not surprisingly, a survivor from the 2004 finals in Tunisia where he steered the host country to their first Nations title.

The other sides returning to the tournament in Egypt or playing again after missing the 2004 finals have new men at the helm, including Ghana's Ratomir Dujkovic, who was in charge of Rwanda two years ago.

Continuity has never been a hallmark of African football and failure in competitions such as the Nations Cup is an almost certain guarantee of dismissal.