FLASHBACK: Exposed! GFA selects players for coaches - Laryea Kingston

Up until 2018 when Investigative Journalist, Anas Aremeyaw Anas, exposed the corrupt practices in the GFA, several players had already levelled allegations against the association.

Former Black Stars midfielder, Laryea Kingston, in 2014 accused Kwesi Nyantakyi and some other GFA officials of taking monies from Ghanaian players for national team call ups.

Laryea Kingston made this revelation in an interview on TV3 in 2014, when he mentioned that his comments were not just mere speculations but the actual situation in the Ghana Football Association.

“it is not an allegation, it is the truth; it’s something I know, every call up into the national team for tournament, the management committee members they say I am bringing my three players, the national team coach only has about five players to work with.”

In 2018, Bernard Dong Bortey also levelled a similar accusation against Former Black Stars coach, Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie, after he was dropped from the squad in the 2001 FIFA U20 World Cup alongside Charles Taylor, Ishmael Addo and Stephen Oduro.

“I had an agent and he told the agent to pay 500 pounds if he wants me in the final squad and I told the agent to give me the money to spend instead of giving to him,” he revealed.

There has been similar bribery and corruption allegations in regards to the criteria for selection of players for national duty.

The former Blackstar player, Laryea Kingston added that Ghana needs a ‘strong-willed coach’ in other to win a major trophy. The country has not won the African cup of Nations in 37 years after several failed attempts.

Read the full story originally published on October 4, 2014, on Ghanaweb

Former Black Stars midfielder, Laryea Kingston, has accused the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Kwesi Nyantakyi and members of the Black Stars Management team, of taking monies from players for national team call ups.

Laryea Kingston was commenting on Ghana’s poor showing at the world cup in Brazil and reasons why the Black Stars have not won any major trophy on the continent in an interview on TV3, .

“The management have their interest in the team because they have their own players they want to call into the team. Nyantakyi will say this player or that one is my player so you need to call him into the team to play at least one game,” he revealed.

He explained that such exposure raises the profile and value of the player for onward transfer to bigger leagues outside the continent.

He insisted, “it is not an allegation, it is the truth; its something I know, every call up into the national team for tournament, the management committee members they say I am bringing my three players, the national team coach only has about five players to work with.”

The GFA has on several occasions been accused of influencing player selection for coaches but has consistently denied the claims, insisting the coaches are on their own.

But Kingston who played in the Black Stars for about 5 years argued that if Ghana wants to win any major trophy, a strong-willed coach with a clear philosophy should be appointed and be allowed to keep a consistent team for a period.

The immediate past Black Stars coach Kwesi Appiah has on several occasions been accused of not fully having control over the selection of players for either friendly matches or tournaments.

During the world cup, there were also reports that Kwesi Appiah was forced by some management team members and players to drop goalkeeper Adam Kwarasey for Fatau Dauda.

Laryea Kingston, who was a former Vitesse and Hearts of Midlothian player, also backed the Stars’ decision to demand their $100,000 dollars before their last group game against Portugal.

The delay in payment of the players’ appearance fee according to former coach Kwesi Appiah hugely contributed to their abysmal performance at the world cup.

Kingston added that the “players deserved whatever they agreed on before they went to the tournament. They [players] don’t trust the management. But i agree that they held the country to ransom.”