Foreign coaches have failed us
Former Ghana football chief, Lepowura Alhaji M.N.D. Jawula, has joined the campaign for the hiring of an indigenous coach to handle the Black Stars instead of a foreigner.
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In an exclusive interview with the Graphic Sports, the veteran soccer administrator and chairman of the Club Licensing Board, said the hiring of expatriates for the Black Stars had been nothing but waste of money and time.
“These foreign coaches have failed us; they are a waste of money and they are not going to help us so we must abandon them,” stated Lepowura Jawula during whose tenure as GFA chairman, Ghana employed Italian coach Giuseppe Dossena as Black Stars coach and led the team to the quarter-finals of the 2000 Nations Cup hosted jointly by Ghana and Nigeria.
He mentioned personalities such as Ibrahim Tanko, Kwasi Appiah, Samuel Osei Kuffour, Ghana-born French legend Marcel Desailly as capable individuals who have the ability to manage the Stars to any tournament and perform better.
Unlike Bayern Munich legend Kuffuor, who won laurels for Ghana at age-group competitons and represented the country at the 1996, 1998, 2000 and 2002 Nations Cup tournaments, the others are trained coaches.
Tanko has coaching experience in Germany, Japan and was assistant coach of Cameroun’s Indomitable Lions during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. He was among Coach Avram Grant’s backroom technical staff at this year’s AFCON in Gabon.
Desailly, who won the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Confederations Cup and European Championship with France, had previously been linked to the Black Stars job even though he only acquired his UEFA Pro Licence last month ahead of a coaching career.
Lepowura Jawula was emphatic that the era of securing the services of foreign coaches for the national team must be a thing of the past. “It’s about time we experienced more of our local players and coaches to manage the Black Stars,” he stated.
He was, however, hopeful about the current Black Stars squad and noted that the team needed to be kept intact.
“The Black Stars don’t need any overhauling and must be maintained as such,” he stated.
He declined to comment on whether the current administrators of Ghana football should be overhauled.