HE IS BACK AND THIS TIME DIFFERENT

Ghana’s favourite son is back or should I say Kotoko’s star boy is back. Judging from the poor management of Ghana’s former coach - Avram Grant, It was imperative that Ghanaian fans will turn on him . Coach Avram Grant’s stay in Ghana as the head coach of the senior side and earning close to about 250,000 cedis was seen as greedy and wicked by ordinary citizens who hardly made any income in the supposedly corrupt Government, that was sent packing in the 2016 general elections. Avram Grant left the coaching position and the Country in the first week of February,2017 after repeated speculations that he was going to be fired within that month – could say he prevented a major career disgrace! 

Avram Grant will surely not be missed by Ghanaians in anyway ,but one person who’s exit from the senior national side was missed by most Ghanaians in the “Don of Grant”  was Ghana’s own James Kwesi Appiah ,who managed the senior side from 2012-2014 and went into the record books as the first Ghanaian to qualify Ghana to a FiFa worlworldd cup tournament. Coach Kwesi Appiah left the coaching position after a disgraceful run in the 2014 FiFa world cup. The team was literally without a leader as the players showed massive disrespect to almost every authority. Coach Kwesi Appiah’s first spell as the Black Stars coach was nothing but a sad story. 

2017 being the year of change for most Ghanaians, a new coach was appointed for the Black Stars and as expected by most Ghanaians, the coach who lead Ghana into  the ditch in 2014 was reappointed. I quite remember speaking on the topic at Dynamite FM and that I was disappointed with his appointment. Many People thought I didn’t like Kwesi Appiah and they were wrong . I was disappointed because the same people who brought shame to him and almost ended his coaching career are the same people who now think he is the best man after bringing in a coach who spent most of  his time at SKY Sports instead of assisting in the development of football in Ghana. 

Change is in the air and everybody is changing, Kwesi Appiah included. Unlike his first spell as the Black Stars coach , he now doesn’t consider himself as the “underdog” . He has had time to reminisce 2014 and has gathered lots of advice. He is now seen as the main man by the players – mostly the foreign player – who somehow caused the most trouble for him in 2014.

Kwesi Appiah is now standing strong and will be under no influence from the snakes in the FA – who influenced some of his decisions and left him alone when fire ants started climbing.

I hope Kwesi Appiah will continue on these good path and surround himself with people he can trust and most importantly he should let his influence and power be felt on pitch and off pitch.

BY FT9