Our AFCON trophy drought down to player imposition from big men - Mallam Issah

Former Youth and Sports Minister under the President Kufour regime, Mallam Issah says the bane of the Black Stars failing to win an AFCON title is the imposition of players and influence peddling by big men.

He says it has been going on during his time as Sports Minister as some big men could call him to help their sons or children get into the Black Stars team for exposure.

Many football fans have been of the opinion that the national team is at the beck and call of top men at the Ghana Football Association, GFA, and they decide who plays for Ghana and who does not.

The assertion was further fueled during the recent Black Stars call up for the last two AFCON qualifiers when they was talk of player imposition from the big men at the GFA.

“We are not speaking the truth to ourselves, some of us (high profile personalities) will have this influence that I want this, my player, to go to the AFCON for exposure and will go to every extent to make sure their wish is fulfilled.”

“Most of the time I will receive a call from high profile persons saying this is my son kindly help him to get into the team for me, sometimes it is not even the coach’s selection but due to the fact the coach wants to keep his job he does not speak the truth of the influence from outside,” the former minister said in a phone interview on Hello FM.

The position of the former minister has been one held by many football enthusiasts as the number one cause of the inability to break the jinx since 1982 in Libya.