Operation local coach must start now

*By: Adzigodi Dennis Narterh, (**Soccer factsfile newspaper).*

* Email: sportsdoctoronline@yahoo.com*

*After the refusal by Milovan Rajevac to sign the new deal offered him by the GFA, the search for a substantive coach for our national team, the Black Stars has begun yet again. *

*As I already had read on TV3’s News 360 last Tuesday evening, the argument whether the G.F.A should once again opt for a foreign coach or this time stick to a local coach is still going on among all Ghanaian football loving fans. *

*But this is also the perfect time for a nation like Ghana to take a lesson from Egypt and most importantly reflect on our past historical records and achievements. It is obvious that Egypt, an African side has stuck to their local coach Hassan Shehata for the past years and he has chalked success after success for them and also made Egypt the best African ranked team in the FIFA ratings.*

* In Ghana most of our past football achievements and cups won were by local coaches; thanks to famous Black coaches like C.K Gyamfi, Sam Arday, Sellas Tetteh, E.K Afranie etc. who were able to coach our various teams (both senior and junior levels) and won glory for the country, a strong indication that a black man is capable of handling the national team.*

* Even history of the prestigious FIFA World Cup has shown that no foreign coach has ever won the World Cup trophy. All 19 of the global football competition have been won by local coaches. Isn’t that another strong indication that our dream of winning the World Cup trophy is in the hands of our local men?*

*Even in 1991 when Otto Pfister led the Black Starlets to win the U-17 World Cup, all the preparations and qualification were made possible by Coach Afranie and other local men.*

*But the quest for a local coach to handle the Black stars will be very difficult at this time because of the following factors;*

*1.** **Where 80% of our national team players are foreign based*

*2.** **The huge financial gap between our local coaches and these foreign based players*

*3.** **Lack of respect and command and interference in the job of local coaches.*

*For Ghana to have a local coach and be successful then we need to rely and invest in some of our past foreign based stars who are well -off in terms money that can match that of the current generation of players that we have now.*

*Names like Abedi Ayew Pele, Tony Yeboah, Tony Baffoe, Sammy Kuffour, C.K Akunnor and recently retired Black stars captain Stephen Tornado Appiahcomes to mind. *

*These Big 6 have to be approached and given the necessary support in terms of Training and Refresher coaching courses by the GFA as soon as possible so as to form a solid Technical and Selection Committee in the few years ahead. *

*With these six man team who themselves are past and experienced professional players and have sound financial background and have played under experienced coaches in Europe; will no doubt earn the respect and command over these generation of rich players.*

*I think this is possible considering the huge amount we were prepared to pay Milo, about sixty five thousand dollars and ten thousand dollars to Akwesi Appiah. *

*Now we can use the balance of about Fifty five Thousand Dollars to send most of seasoned local coaches to top class world coaching courses if not our past stars. I think young coaches like Akwesi Appiah, Coach Opeele Boateng , Sellas Tetteh, Paa Kwesi Fabin , Nana Kwaku Agyemang and many others need national assistance for solving Ghana’s future coaching Problem. *

*This is my dream and I hope the Ghana Football Association will act on it. For these past stars, is their time to serve Mother Ghana and Ghana football.*

*Until this is done the chance of a local coach to handle the stars team and be successful is very slim. For now a foreign coach is still the answer and the GFA must do just that until we find a solution to this local coaching problem. *

*For Marcel Dessally, even his dedication and commitment to Ghana shows how serious he want to take Ghana football to a higher level but I think he must be able to convince Ghanaian football loving fans that he can do the job based on the fact he has no past coaching experience and also he must know for a fact that based on the current performance of the Stars more is expected from the in coming coach by all Ghanaians. *

* Long live Ghana Football!*

* “But once again, Operation local coach must start now”*