Fred Pappoe denies holding a grudge against Nyantakyi

Contrary to rumours that his exit from the Ghana Football Association was as a result of a hostile relationship between him and the President of the FA, former Vice President of the GFA, Fred Pappoe says there’s no feeling of acrimony and animosity between him and his former boss.

Speaking on Sports Check with GhanaWeb Sports editor, Daniel Oduro, the Accra Great Olympics Director despite admitting that the relationship between him and Nyantakyi was not one that could be described as friendly, iterated that it will be against the tenets of football and his personal beliefs, for him to develop a hostile relationship with the GFA President.

Fred Pappoe explained that his positions then as Vice President and an Executive Committee member of the GFA drew him close to the GFA President and they both worked as colleagues but not friends.

“Bad blood (with Nyantakyi) because of football? I must be a very cheap person to do that. Football is only football and at the end of the day football is fun. I was his Vice President and an Executive Committee member so by virtue of that I had to make myself present at the FA a certain number of times. In a day, in a week, in a month I had to attend meetings, look at letters, I had to chair committees, do works at FA. He also had to do same so definitely our responsibilities were bringing us together”, he said.

Fred Pappoe was then asked if Nyantakyi was his friend and he responded by saying “We were colleagues not friends. We don’t need to be friends to work. You can work without being friends. Once the work is being done, that is fine but friends as in being my body body, calling him at midnight to chat, no no. This is just football and we have more serious lives outside football”.

Papsey as he in known in the football circles is the first person to serve as a vice president under Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Fred Pappoe reigned from 2005 to 2011, a period that witnessed remarkable success in Ghana’s football.

As the chairman of the management of the Black Stars, Fred Pappoe led Ghana to its maiden World Cup, beating The United States and Czech Republic to finish second in a group that was tagged “group of death”. The national under-20 team also won the FIFA Youth World Cup in 2009.