Anxiety rocks Black Stars backroom staff as big shake-up looms

Members of the Black Stars backroom staff have been making frantic and worried phone calls after it emerged that some will be sacked as Kwesi Appiah takes charge of the squad.

Some of the backroom staff have been calling close allies within the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to discover their fate in the wake of the federation's decision to embark on a big shake-up.

This comes after the GFA vice president George Afriyie threw the future of the backroom staff into doubt after revealing the decision to make changes.

This means some could be reassigned to other national teams while other could be asked to go completely go home in the second coming of coach Kwesi Appiah who started work on Monday.

Rumours are rife that the backroom staff will be boosted by new faces like Tanko Ibrahim, Stephen Appiah and Richard Kingston who have all been seen monitoring matches with Kwesi Appiah.

If these observations are true, then at least three position in he seven-member backroom staff are on the line after just four years in the post.

Afriyie says key to the success of Kwesi Appiah in his second stint in charge as Black Stars coach is agreed changes to the backroom staff.

“Kwesi Appiah is the right coach for Ghana looking at the current circumstances. What is important to happen now is that Ghana Football Association have agreed to make changes in the backroom staff [which Avram Grant left behind],” Afriyie told Royal TV.

"We have the medical and the technical aspect so it will be necessary to sit down with Appiah on the changes.

“We will not sabotage any decisions from him but we cannot also allow him to bring any coach he thinks can help his course.

The GFA must be involved in such crucial decisions because we are planning for the future. We need someone who can fill the void when he is not around or has landed a lucrative contract in future which is more than what he is going to have now and he is ready to leave.

“If coaches chose their assistants without any input from the GFA in the past, then Appiah wouldn’t have become an assistant under Cluade Le Roy because the Frenchman could’ve said that he will bring his own to feel secured."

Former Black Stars goalkeeper Richard Kingson says he is open to working on Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah’s technical team.

With Appiah starting his duties as Black Stars coach on Monday, speculation regarding his backroom staff has ramped up, with the likes of Stephen Appiah mentioned as a likely candidate to be team manager.

The role of goalkeeper coach could well go to 38-year-old Kingson, who played for Ghana from 1996 to 2012 and was a member of the Black Stars’ squads at the Olympics, five Africa Cup of Nations and two World Cups.

Ghana will begin their 2019 Africa Cup of Nations group stage qualifying with a home clash against Ethiopia in early June.