The curious case of black stars returnees

By Nii Ayitey Tetteh

I shifted for the umpteenth time in my seat. I had waited a week to share my thoughts. It was a very delicate issue; one that even had the President of the land intervening. I felt so strongly about the issue I refrained from sharing my thoughts because I believed my emotional state wouldn’t have permitted an objective view, so I postponed. One week later, I still didn’t know where to begin. I picked up my music device, slotted it in the jock for some reggae. A few minutes later, I got my inspiration in the number ‘there are more questions than answers’ by Jonny Nash.

A smiled formed as my cheek bones rose. Indeed, there are more questions than answers with respect to the return of Andre ‘Dede’ Ayew, Jordan Ayew and Kevin Prince Boateng from temporary retirement. The trio, at various points in time, had called time on international duty for a number of reasons; the Ayews for psychological and personal reasons, Boateng for inability to combine both club and national team duties.

ONE SUBJECT, TWO SCHOOLS

Their return split the nation right in the middle; some excited, some disinterested; two markedly opposing schools of thought. The first school, the excited group, believe that the presence of the trio in the Black Stars set up will elicit or increase Ghana’s chances of claiming football glory. It is their believe that fundamentally, the trio in addition to another absentee Michael Essien, will ease Ghana’s World Cup qualification and ensure meaningful participation. The Black Stars, this school argues, needs experienced and big match players to negotiate the final round of qualifiers and make a mark on the world stage. Fair comments! But the disinterested group, the second school, had other concerns.

They believe that the approach used in wooing back the players; where the Coach, the GFA President and eventually the President of the Land had to intervene, set a bad precedent. This approach they argue, smacks off ‘begging’ and that there are other elements of team building that needs gelling in finding glory. The players’ presence alone will not guarantee success, in fact; it may even create new problems. To this school, the honour and pride of playing for the national team has been watered down. Playing for the national team, they argue is a rare opportunity to serve the nation and players should come chasing to play with passion, commitment and sacrifice and not the other way round. With respect to call ups and team selection, aren’t the coach’s hands tied now? Won’t these returnees grow egos and feel more important around the team? How would the players who have played majority of the qualifiers feel? In the absence of the returnees, the team has been building tactical and social cohesion; won’t their return disrupt this rhythm? And last but more importantly, has the impasse, which initially lead the players into temporal retirement, been resolved? Nothing has been mentioned in that regard yet, isn’t the return merely dressing deep seated wounds?

I am pretty sure you are wondering what my take is, aren’t you? Well, I will let you in on it in a bit. Before I say anything at all, let me make a clarification. I believe that for pure football reasons, the returnees will add to the team, yes I do, nothing against the sporting talents of the trio and even Michael Essien to come. However, I did not find it the least interesting how the whole matter has evolved. The impression has been created that the nation, represented by the Black Stars officials wronged the aforementioned players and that is why delegates upon delegates were sent to no avail until the president stepped in.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS

Well, I am all for conflict resolution and I believe that the President in his wisdom stepped in in good faith, but I also believe that the players should have been made to admit or bore some responsibility for the deterioration of relations. For instance, the source of Dede’s drop from the 2013 AFCON team had to do with miscommunication between him and the coach, has he admitted his role in that matter which exacerbated to mistrust? Has Jordan been educated about the need to bid his time, respect the coach's decision to overlook you when you don't fit into his tactical plan despite your obvious top form, instead of him being a judge over his own form and call ups?

What about Boateng? He cited inability to combine club and national team duties. Has the situation changed? I don’t think so. In fact, he is under more pressure to perform after having an average 2012/2013 season and just when it looks like his career could use a national team boost he returns. It may be an interesting coincidence, but once the situation has not been clarified, you leave room for speculation that he is an opportunist and speculation feeds perception which eventually becomes truth for those who hold on to it.

So you see, both schools on the returnees have valid points but I believe at the resolution stage, the opportunity should have been taken to clarify what the real issues were, and the parties involved admit a shared responsibility. It is only then that, both schools of thought; fans, administrators, coaches, and players will accept the resolution in good faith, knowing that all parties have come clean. Then the nation and the team will stand united, bound by the virtues of passion, commitment, patience and honour to bring Ghana a long yearned glory. That said, I sat a bit more comfortably, no more shifting. To capture the moment, I reached for the play list and skipped to a Jimmy Cliff rendition; ‘I can see clearly now”, Indeed I could, hope you can too.

niiayitey29@gmail.com

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(Credit: 90 Minutes Newspaper)