Sulley Muntari used ‘inappropriate words’ on me in 2014 – Kwasi Appiah

Former Black Stars coach Kwasi Appiah has reiterated the need for civility and respect between players and technical team members of the team.

Between 2007 and 2019, Kwasi Appiah served as assistant and substantive coach of the Black Stars where he crossed carpets with various players.

However, one player whose disciplinary record proved a handful for Kwasi Appiah was former Ghana international Sulley Muntari.

Appiah in his first book titled “Leaders Don’t Have to Yell’ which was launched in Accra on Friday, January 31 cited Sulley as one of the players with poor disciplinary record in the team.

Narrating his encounter with Sulley, Appiah said “During a World Cup qualifier against Lesotho, I called for Emmanuel Agyemang Badu to substitute Sulley around the 60th minute. For five minutes, Sulley ignored my call and would not come off”.

“When he finally did, he angrily headed straight for the dressing room instead of joining the rest of the team on the bench. We finished that game 2-0 and I was congratulating the team in the locker room”

“Sulley was still upset and made a comment that featured inappropriate wors. As much as he wanted to play, I did not feature him for the next next three games”.

“When there’s no clear line of respect, it is very likely that the players will not take their coach seriously. Even though I can be very friendly with my players, there’s a line of respect that my players are not allowed to cross”.

Appiah’s latest revelations lay credence to rumours of deep-rooted indiscipline in the Black Stars that has been a major barrier in the team’s quest to win a trophy for Ghana.

Players and other staff of the team have often been accused of being disrespectful to their coaches and Appiah’s claim seem to validate those reports.

In the 2019 AFCON for instance, some players were said to have defied an order by the coach not to allow ‘strangers into the hotel rooms” by bringing in their girlfriends.