Grant must stay here - Thompson

A Member of the Black Stars Management Committee and Chairman of the GFA Legal Committee, Ernest Thompson, has called on the Ghana Football Association to compel Black Stars Coach Avram Grant to stay in the country and develop local talents.

This follows the Local Black Stars failure to secure a ticket to the 2016 CHAN tournament in Rwanda after losing by a lone goal to their Ivorian opponents at the Robert-Champroux Sport Stadium a week ago.

The former Hearts of Oak legal luminary recalled how a similar arrangement by the GFA enabled the then Stars’ Serbian coach, Milovan Rajevac, to steer the home-based national team to the final of the maiden African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Cote d’Ivoire.

He therefore urged the FA to repeat same now to help improve the lot of Maxwell Konadu’s team which failed to qualify for the biennial tournament for the first time last Friday.

“The FA should put Grant in charge of the CHAN team; that will compel him to stay in the country and monitor local talents.

“The GFA did so with Milo (Rajevac) and should do same for Grant so he can be encouraged to stay in the country and help develop local talents,” Thompson stressed.

Avram Grant has come under immense criticism for not staying in the country to help develop the local game, but Ernest Thompson believes that if he is given the CHAN team, it will compel him to stay in the countr