Who leaked Goran's report?

The inquest and blame game with regards to Ghana’s failed attempt to win the 2012 Nations cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea doesn’t seem to go away.
The latest twist to this running story is a leaked document purported to be Coach Goran Stevanovic’s tournament report which sought to outline the factors that denied the Black Stars from winning the trophy.
In that leaked report, Stevanovic made a damning revelation about how some members of the Black Stars allegedly used ‘black magic ‘or juju as we say in our local parlance against each other thereby resulting in our poor performance at the Nations Cup.
This scathing allegation has dominated the airways the last few days and some prominent sports writers, analysts, commentators and fans say the allegation is embarrassing to say the least.
But the big question which has surprisingly been ignored or so it seems is, who leaked the report? And what was the motive of whoever leaked the report? If Goran’s technical report had remained confidential as it is supposed to be, would we be talking about ‘juju’ in our football at this material moment?
If anybody is to blame for tarnishing the image of Ghana with this ‘juju’ or witchcraft claims, like the BBC prefers to label it, then it is not Goran but that person or group of person’s who for whatever reason leaked the report to journalists.
In any case, the Serb did not conjure the claims. In fact the juju claims actually came to the fore during Stevanovic’s meeting with the players after the Zambia defeat where some players are alleged to have made the revelations amidst brawls. Some of my friends say the exchanges of the players after the Zambia defeat were in our local languages so it is possible the coach did not fully understand it. That is a genuine possibility but even with that, someone who understands the local language might have explained the exchanges to Stevanovic the way he captured it in his report.
If indeed you are a student of the Black Stars and Ghana football in general, you would not need a soothsayer to tell you that there are deep cracks and divisions within the GFA executive committee- the highest decision making body of the FA.
The divisions have reached a crescendo with some members of the executive committee committed to ensuring that Goran Stevanovic is sacked while the other half is backing the Serb to stay on as coach of the national team.
Whether Goran Stevanovic stays or is sacked as Ghana coach, there is no guarantee that the Black Stars will win the next African cup of Nations or the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. What must be done is to deal with the major issues head on, with no emotions and no prejudices.
First of all, let it be told to those GFA officials who have climbed the moral high horses and think they are without blame for Ghana’s failed attempt at the 2012 AFCON that none of them is without blame because if all the things we have heard, many of which remain allegations and gossips are true, then Kwesi Nyantakyi must do a major house cleaning exercise and it must not start from the coaching department but rather the executive committee of the FA.
Is it true that Ghana’s entire participation at the tournament was premised on the use of black magic/’juju?
Is it true that the decision for Kwadwo Asamoah to drop the number ten (10) jersey so that Andre Ayew gets to wear it was on the orders of a fetish priest consulted by some members of the GFA executive committee? Is it true that the stories about Kwadwo Asamoah feeling pressured in the number 10 jersey were all concocted right in the boardroom of the FA executive committee?
Is it true that at some point during the tournament, this same fetish priest or juju man that some members of the executive committee had consulted prior to the competition instructed that Andre Ayew wore the captain’s armband if Ghana was to win the tournament?
These may be just allegations yes, but for them to come from deep throat sources and journalists who were at the tournament, it is hard to say there is NO iota of truth in them at all. If major issues like the above questions/scenarios really happened, how is that only Goran Stevanovic is to blame for Ghana's inability to win the tournament?
How is Goran solely to blame when the FA has not had the decency to explain to the Ghanaian football fan how a publicized friendly against Kazier Chiefs of South Africa failed to come on in the build up to the Nations Cup?
In truth, the issues that led to Ghana’s failure to win the 2012 Nations cup are multi faceted(technical ineptitude included i must say) and a pragmatic approach must be outlined to arrest the problems.
If we continue to deal with the tangential issues like we are doing now then in the end we will only give a wrong diagnosis to the problems of the Black Stars, which will lead to a wrong prescription for the already wrong diagnosis and in the end the team will inevitably ‘die’.
If we continue to go in circles, not even coach Mourinho, arguable the best coach in recent time, would be a perfect replacement for Stevanovic.
Juju has always been a part of our football and anybody who pretends not to know it would only be living in denial. What we have not known is players using it against each other/team mates.
Some sports commentators have said that because Stevanovic revealed the juju claims in his tournament report, he would not have the trust of the players anymore hence the reason he must be sacked.
That argument beats me by any stretch of my imagination. Why? If members of the Black Stars indeed feel they are being bewitched by their colleagues, how do you move forward with such a mindset granted you have a new coach? In the end the players are the main actors on the field of play and if they can not trust each other at this point then we must as well disband the entire team and build a new one since the players cannot trust each other ever again going forward.
Kwesi Nyantakyi may be debatably the most successful president of the football association. He has qualified the country to two successive FIFA World Cups-in 2006 and 2010; it was also under his presidency that Ghana hosted the 2008 Nations Cup plus the Satellite’s victory at the world youth championship in Egypt 2009. Kwesi’s presidency has seen Ghana win gold at the All African Games (men’s football) but all these achievements would count for nothing to Ghanaians if the Black Stars fail to qualify for the 2013 Nations cup in South Africa and the 2014 world cup in Brazil.
Nyantakyi should look within for the faceless persons determined to ruin his administration. There are moles in the FA executive committee with most of them only lingering in there for their parochial interests.
Goran’s future is set to be decided later this week after members of the FA failed to reach a decision at the last press meeting. Whatever the outcome, the road to recovery for the Black Stars is long and demands an ‘all hands on deck attitude’ to get there.
Odurodaniel75@yahoo.com Twitter @ Daniel_oduro

The inquest and blame game with regards to Ghana’s failed attempt to win the 2012 Nations cup in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea doesn’t seem to go away.
The latest twist to this running story is a leaked document purported to be Coach Goran Stevanovic’s tournament report which sought to outline the factors that denied the Black Stars from winning the trophy.
In that leaked report, Stevanovic made a damning revelation about how some members of the Black Stars allegedly used ‘black magic ‘or juju as we say in our local parlance against each other thereby resulting in our poor performance at the Nations Cup.
This scathing allegation has dominated the airways the last few days and some prominent sports writers, analysts, commentators and fans say the allegation is embarrassing to say the least.
But the big question which has surprisingly been ignored or so it seems is, who leaked the report? And what was the motive of whoever leaked the report? If Goran’s technical report had remained confidential as it is supposed to be, would we be talking about ‘juju’ in our football at this material moment?
If anybody is to blame for tarnishing the image of Ghana with this ‘juju’ or witchcraft claims, like the BBC prefers to label it, then it is not Goran but that person or group of person’s who for whatever reason leaked the report to journalists.
In any case, the Serb did not conjure the claims. In fact the juju claims actually came to the fore during Stevanovic’s meeting with the players after the Zambia defeat where some players are alleged to have made the revelations amidst brawls. Some of my friends say the exchanges of the players after the Zambia defeat were in our local languages so it is possible the coach did not fully understand it. That is a genuine possibility but even with that, someone who understands the local language might have explained the exchanges to Stevanovic the way he captured it in his report.
If indeed you are a student of the Black Stars and Ghana football in general, you would not need a soothsayer to tell you that there are deep cracks and divisions within the GFA executive committee- the highest decision making body of the FA.
The divisions have reached a crescendo with some members of the executive committee committed to ensuring that Goran Stevanovic is sacked while the other half is backing the Serb to stay on as coach of the national team.
Whether Goran Stevanovic stays or is sacked as Ghana coach, there is no guarantee that the Black Stars will win the next African cup of Nations or the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. What must be done is to deal with the major issues head on, with no emotions and no prejudices.
First of all, let it be told to those GFA officials who have climbed the moral high horses and think they are without blame for Ghana’s failed attempt at the 2012 AFCON that none of them is without blame because if all the things we have heard, many of which remain allegations and gossips are true, then Kwesi Nyantakyi must do a major house cleaning exercise and it must not start from the coaching department but rather the executive committee of the FA.
Is it true that Ghana’s entire participation at the tournament was premised on the use of black magic/’juju?
Is it true that the decision for Kwadwo Asamoah to drop the number ten (10) jersey so that Andre Ayew gets to wear it was on the orders of a fetish priest consulted by some members of the GFA executive committee? Is it true that the stories about Kwadwo Asamoah feeling pressured in the number 10 jersey were all concocted right in the boardroom of the FA executive committee?
Is it true that at some point during the tournament, this same fetish priest or juju man that some members of the executive committee had consulted prior to the competition instructed that Andre Ayew wore the captain’s armband if Ghana was to win the tournament?
These may be just allegations yes, but for them to come from deep throat sources and journalists who were at the tournament, it is hard to say there is NO iota of truth in them at all. If major issues like the above questions/scenarios really happened, how is that only Goran Stevanovic is to blame for Ghana's inability to win the tournament?
How is Goran solely to blame when the FA has not had the decency to explain to the Ghanaian football fan how a publicized friendly against Kazier Chiefs of South Africa failed to come on in the build up to the Nations Cup?
In truth, the issues that led to Ghana’s failure to win the 2012 Nations cup are multi faceted(technical ineptitude included i must say) and a pragmatic approach must be outlined to arrest the problems.
If we continue to deal with the tangential issues like we are doing now then in the end we will only give a wrong diagnosis to the problems of the Black Stars, which will lead to a wrong prescription for the already wrong diagnosis and in the end the team will inevitably ‘die’.
If we continue to go in circles, not even coach Mourinho, arguable the best coach in recent time, would be a perfect replacement for Stevanovic.
Juju has always been a part of our football and anybody who pretends not to know it would only be living in denial. What we have not known is players using it against each other/team mates.
Some sports commentators have said that because Stevanovic revealed the juju claims in his tournament report, he would not have the trust of the players anymore hence the reason he must be sacked.
That argument beats me by any stretch of my imagination. Why? If members of the Black Stars indeed feel they are being bewitched by their colleagues, how do you move forward with such a mindset granted you have a new coach? In the end the players are the main actors on the field of play and if they can not trust each other at this point then we must as well disband the entire team and build a new one since the players cannot trust each other ever again going forward.
Kwesi Nyantakyi may be debatably the most successful president of the football association. He has qualified the country to two successive FIFA World Cups-in 2006 and 2010; it was also under his presidency that Ghana hosted the 2008 Nations Cup plus the Satellite’s victory at the world youth championship in Egypt 2009. Kwesi’s presidency has seen Ghana win gold at the All African Games (men’s football) but all these achievements would count for nothing to Ghanaians if the Black Stars fail to qualify for the 2013 Nations cup in South Africa and the 2014 world cup in Brazil.
Nyantakyi should look within for the faceless persons determined to ruin his administration. There are moles in the FA executive committee with most of them only lingering in there for their parochial interests.
Goran’s future is set to be decided later this week after members of the FA failed to reach a decision at the last press meeting. Whatever the outcome, the road to recovery for the Black Stars is long and demands an ‘all hands on deck attitude’ to get there.
Odurodaniel75@yahoo.com Twitter @ Daniel_oduro