Frimpong Manso: Bad pitches affect quality
A former Black Stars and Asante Kotoko defender, Stephen Frimpong Manso, has bemoaned the deplorable nature of some Premier League playing fields which affected the quality of play during the just-ended season.
“When playing fields are deplorable, quality players become the losers. This is because technically, it affects their style of play.
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"Players always resort to playing long balls on such fields instead of the usual crisp short passes which create excitement in football,” Frimpong Manso explained during an exclusive interview with the Graphic Sports.
“When long balls become the order of the day in competitive matches, it undermines the quality of play because quality players are always played out of the game.
“This is because they find it difficult to fit into teamwork, and eventually fans who pay to watch such matches do not enjoy it as they should,” he stressed
“Good players are comfortable with the ball when they control, hold and exchange passes, but this becomes difficult when the field is bumpy.
“That is why it is important for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to implore club administrators to improve all football pitches before the next football season so that the fans and technical men can realise the full potentials of quality players,” he suggested.
He noted that the just-ended league created some excitement due to its competitive nature. He, therefore, urged club administrators to improve the contracts of their players by offering them better salaries and good service conditions to enhance their welfare.
He maintained that improving the welfare of local players would motivate them to take their time to develop their potentials locally, instead of seeking to play for foreign clubs prematurely.
“Selling players prematurely affect their performance because they find it difficult to fit into the foreign teams, thus denying them more playing time which eventually affects their career.
“It is for this reason that club administrators should improve the conditions of service of their players to motivate them to play a bit longer in the local league before transferring them to foreign clubs,” he advised.
He said when more quality players were induced to play for local clubs, the league would become more exciting to attract big time sponsors.