Coach Akonnor: Don't sack Hughton, needs time to rebuild
Former Black Stars coach, Charles Kwablan Akonnor, has advised the management of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) not to make hasty decisions based solely on recent results when it comes to the current Black Stars coach, Chris Hughton.
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Inasmuch as he believed results were what mostly guaranteed the job security of Black Stars coaches, he was of the view that the manager needed some time to rebuild the team into a formidable side.
Speaking to the Graphic Sports in an interview last week, Coach Akonnor said there was the need for patience for the coach because the current manager inherited a team that was not performing at its peak and required more time to turn things around.
“I urge management to be patient, sometimes I can understand their emotions and how they feel but it’s always not about result. If the team has gone down for some time, it means that what we are doing we need to be patient and give him a bit of time.
The former Wolfsburg star acknowledged that the team's performance had been on a downward trend for a while, and believed Coach Hughton was working to improve the situation.
The ex-Black Stars coach said he understood the frustrations that might arise when the team was not achieving immediate results but emphasised on the importance of considering a long-term plan, especially when the team's performance had significantly declined.
Akonnor suggested that the management should look at the broader strategy for team development and improvement.
He also challenged the players to be disciplined and take the instructions issued them by the technical team seriously because they were the ones who mostly took the blame when the team was not achieving results.
“The players also need to be disciplined by listening to the technical men who are in charge. Most at times, the blame is put on coaches because they are responsible for that which I agree but sometimes players too are being reluctant to do what they are asked to do so it gets difficult for the coach”, Akonnor advised.
Extolling the credentials of the Stars management, he said they were men who had achieved so much, and their records could not be doubted insisting that it wasn’t a lack in competence with regards to coaching.
“They are able technical men who have done this job for some years now. The likes of the head coach, Chris Hughton, has done well for himself as a manager. We all know him, and he is not a new name in the game.
“Didi Dramani has also been in football for quite some time, and he’s done his job very well and Boateng is also a good man, very knowledgeable about the game tactically and so we are not that poor about the game tactically.
“Sometimes we turn to blame them a lot, yes I agree, but maybe the players too must also play their part for the team to function, it’s not always the coach’s fault”, he said.
