Media have destroyed Ghana football – Sports Analyst

The failure of journalists to criticise the administrators of the country’s football accounts for Ghana’s continued decline in football, Thomas Monreaux Best, a sports analyst, has said.

According to him, many sports journalists have been compromised, with many forming a cabal to “condemn” other reporters who criticise officials of the Ghana Football Association, the main body in charge of running football in the country.

“You, the media, have destroyed Ghana football. This is because whatever is undesirable you support it,” he told show host Chief Jerry Forson on Ghana Yensom on Accra100.5FM Monday, February 6, during a post-mortem of the country’s performance at the recently concluded Africa Cup of Nations, which culminated in yet another unsuccessful attempt at conquering Africa.

Ghana were knocked out of the competition by eventual winners Cameroon at the semi-final after losing 0-2. The Black Stars subsequently lost to the Stallions of Burkina Faso in the third place play-off, failing to win any medal at the competition.

Calls have been renewed for GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi to step down on the back of the Stars’ unimpressive display at the competition. On the domestic front, clubs in the Ghana Premier League are cash-strapped following the inability of the Association to land a new sponsor for the league after Capital Bank – then First Capital Plus Bank – pulled out of the deal. Mr Best said these developments, in addition to the near-death of grassroots soccer as calls for colts football to be reinstated, have not been heeded, have contributed to the failure of fresh football talents coming through the ranks.

The unpleasant situation with the country’s football notwithstanding, the attitude of some “media guys” have made it difficult to hit out at specific individuals whose ineptitude have led to the status quo, adding that a number of such sports presenters were using their positions as journalists to conceal the true state of football in the country from their viewers, readers, and listeners.

“So, what I am saying is, if you know the truth, why don’t you tell the person (sports administrator)? Most of the media guys have sold their integrity, their birthright, so even if the person is at fault he is unable to tell him,” he said.

In his view, though there are several “visionless” individuals at the helm of Ghana’s football, the GFA president is that “single person” destroying Ghana soccer yet cannot be told to the face, as there are journalists who come out to “condemn” any criticisms levelled against him.

He called for journalists in the country to close their ranks and with one voice mount pressure on the executives of the GFA to leave office following their failure to voluntarily resign their positions after the fiasco of Gabon 2017.

“…I am telling you all these people (the GFA executives) should have resigned, but if you and I become one, we will be able to wipe these people away,” he explained.