Kwasi Appiah justifies decision to strip Asamoah Gyan's Black Stars captaincy, says it was the right decision

Former Black Stars coach, James Kwasi Appiah, has justified his decision to strip striker Asamoah Gyan of his captaincy before the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt.

About a month before the start of the 2019 AFCON, Kwasi Appiah rocked his own boat by naming Andre Dede Ayew as the captain of the Black Stars as a replacement for Asamoah Gyan who was still in the team.

Asamoah Gyan who was compensated with the General Captain position felt dissected and retired from the team, a decision the legendary striker rescinded upon the intervention of President Akufo-Addo.

Reflecting on his decision after four years, Kwasi Appiah has said that he made Asamoah Gyan captain in the first place in 2013 and felt that he needed to change the leadership in 2019.

“I gave the captaincy to him [Asamoah Gyan] at a time when we were going to the Cup of Nations [AFCON 2013 in South Africa], are you trying to tell me when we were going to the World Cup, I should have given the captaincy to Sulley because he deserved to be the captain? I thought he had captained the team for eight years and I felt he had done more than enough for Ghana. I told him to join me and let us handle the team."

“He didn’t agree but if you don’t do what is right, that is my belief, if you are not sincere to yourself and try to massage issues because this is my friend or this is my son, you’ll never get results or you’ll not be successful in what you want to do. For me, that tournament, that’s the more reason why I took him,” he said in an interview with JoyNews.

On the decision to settle on Andre Dede Ayew as the successor to Asamoah Gyan, Kwasi Appiah stated that the former West Ham United forward was already the assistant captain of the team and he decided to promote him.

“I thought, Dede [Andre Ayew] is the assistant to you [Asamoah Gyan] because Dede [Andre Ayew] has been in the team for a while, so if Gyan is not there, then automatically, it should be Dede [Andre Ayew], so I will not say because this is my friend or this is my brother, the right decision should not be taken?" he noted.