Local or Foreign, who succeeds Avram Grant?
The search for a new Black Stars Coach is here again and we are back to square one. It is fine to celebrate success but it more important to heed the lessons of failure. The team has failed to lift a major trophy since 1982.
Failure they say is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligent. Connoisseurs of the game have attributed Ghana’s failure to win a silverware in the last 35 years to the consistent hiring of expatriate coaches whose contribution to our game is nothing to write home about.
Historical overview of former Black Stars coaches shows that, 23 expatriate coaches have been hired since the establishment of the team in 1958. It is interesting to know that all these foreign coaches failed to win the Black Stars a single nations cup trophy. Only seven different indigenous coaches have had the opportunity to train the senior national team and they have four trophies to show.
If these statistics is anything to go by then I am tempted to share the sentiments of the bookmakers but others are also of the view that this current crop of local coaches do not command the respect and clouts needed to manage the players.
A six member committee has been set up by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for the search of a new coach in the wake of the departure of Israeli trainer, Avram Grant. The composition of the committee has raised eyebrows because of the lack of technical expertise on the part of GFA capo, Kwesi Nyantakyi and notable members like the Vice president of the Football Association, George Afriyie and former General Manager of Asante Kotoko, Samuel Opoku Nti.
The masses is of the view that, it would have been prudent to choose people with the technical know-how to compliment the committee. The committee has been tasked to use a two prong approach in the search of a new coach. It’s either by head-hunting or applications.
The majority leader in parliament, Hon. Osei-kyei Mensah Bonsu has added his voice to the subject advocating for the appointment of an indigenous trainer. He opined that huge sums of monies are spent on foreign coaches and the results is nothing to write home about. “Let’s look out for the upcoming ones who are purposed to achieve things for themselves because you pay $50,000 and you don’t attain any results and you’re happy with it”, he said.
Household names like Ibrahim Tanko (former assistant coach of the indomitable lions of Cameroon), James Akwasi Appiah (who was relieved of his duties after the 2014 debacle in Brazil), Maxwell Konadu (assistant coach of Black Stars) and other notable names in our local league like, Bashir Hayford, Mohammed Polo (the dribbling magician) and Abdul Razak (the golden boy) have all emerged to take up the mantle to steer the affairs of the team.
It is a conjecture that, former Tottenham Hotspur coach, Harry Redknap has expressed interest in the vacant job. Other foreign coaches tipped to secure the job includes, Havre Renard of Morocco and Milutin Sredojević of Uganda.
“It seems that failure tends to be more public than success. Or at least that’s what we perceive it to be. We fret it, we try to avoid it, and we question ourselves every time we have unconventional ideas. But the simple truth is – no great success was ever achieved without failure”-Ekaterina Walter. I encourage the committee to get it right in their quest to appoint the new Black Stars coach. The long wait for the nations cup trophy continues, who is the favorite to succeed Avram Grant?
Source: Sportsniteleaks.com
