Appiah settles on Tanko - Olele, Tornado on board
It has now been confirmed that a former assistant coach of the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun, Ibrahim Tanko, will be Coach Kwasi Appiah’s main assistant during his second stint with the Black Stars.
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This was the fallout of a proposal the new Black Stars coach submitted to the Ghana Football Association (GFA) last Tuesday.
According to a source close to the GFA, Appiah has proposed Tanko as his first assistant, apparently, due to the rich experience, he brings on board through his huge exposure on the international front, both as a player and coach.
The affable Tanko shot into prominence in 1997 when he won the UEFA Champions League with German Bundesliga side, Borussia Dortmund, before climaxing his illustrious career with SC Freiburg from 2001-2007.
As fate would have it, the man who scouted for the former Stars coach, Avram Grant, at the 2017 Africa Nations Cup in Gabon, incidentally cut his teeth in his coaching career as the assistant coach of the reserve side of Freiburg under his long-time pal, Volker Finke, in 2007.
He later reunited with Coach Finke as an assistant coach for Urawa Red Diamonds in the J1 League in Japan from 2009-2010, served as an assistant coach for FC Cologne in 2011-2012, before rejoining Finke again as a trusted assistant when the German trainer was appointed to handle the Indomitable Lions of Cameroun from 2013-2015.
Also contained in the proposal, the source hinted, is the choice of former Stars captain, Stephen Appiah, and former teammate, goalkeeper Richard Kingson, as the new team manager and goalkeepers’ trainer of the Black Stars respectively.
According to Graphic Sports investigations, the issue of a second assistant coach for Appiah remains unresolved since the new Stars coach is said to be looking for somebody who has a vast knowledge of the local terrain and could help in the scouting of players for the local Black Stars.
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It came to light that the race is now a straight one between the Stars’ incumbent assistant coach, Maxwell Konadu, who served under Appiah during his first stint from 2012-2014, and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani, who is currently assisting at the GFA technical directorate.
The source intimated that all outstanding issues regarding the review of the Stars technical staff would be addressed at a GFA Executive Committee meeting next week after which the new Stars coach will be officially unveiled.
Though Kwasi Appiah, who made history in 2013 as the first Ghanaian coach to qualify the Black Stars to the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, is yet to sign the new two-year contract, he was officially due to start work last Monday, May 1.