Ex-player and former Black Meteors Coach, Malik Jabir
Ex-player and former Black Meteors Coach, Malik Jabir, has called on the Ghana Football Association to hand over the vacant Black Stars Head Coach role to former Aston Villa U-23 gaffer George Boateng.
The 47-year-old was part of the technical team that led the country to its 4th World Cup in Qatar but failed to make a mark at the World’s biggest football competition in the Middle East.
The former Netherlands international stated he was honoured after being appointed as part of the Black Stars technical team for Ghana’s qualification series against the Super Eagles of Nigeria.
On the back of Ghana’s exit at the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Head Coach Otto Addo announced he was stepping down, a decision he initially mentioned prior to the start of the tournament regardless of the performance from the Black Stars.
The Ghana Football Association is yet to name a substantive Coach to lead the team to its next assignment, with the immediate coming against the Giant Sable Antelopes of Angola later next March, a continuation of the 2023 Afcon qualifiers.
Asked about his preferred candidate for the Black Stars job, Malik Jabir tipped George Boateng to take over as Otto Addo’s successor.
“We don’t want “ma try ma kw3” anymore, we are tired of that.
“The one who assisted Otto Addo at the World Cup, let’s give him the job, he has not resigned, let him take over and let’s find an assistant for him.
“We should look at our finances as well and other things into consideration, if he’s there and then we train our players who ply their trade in the European leagues, one day, in about a year or two, we will not be needing expatriate coaches to lead our national team,” he said.
Ghana’s best outing at the Mundial came under the tutelage of Serbian Gaffer Milovan Rajevac at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, where the Black Stars failed to make it to the semi-final of the competition losing to South Americans Uruguay on penalties.
In the African Cup of Nations, the last time the Black Stars won the trophy dates as far back as 1982 under a certain local coach named “Charles Kumi Gyamfi”, the Late, who clinched it three times for the Black Stars in 1963, 1965 and 1982.
Fred Osman Duodu won the third title for the Black Stars in 1978.
Ever since Ghana is nearing its 42-year trophy drought with the African Cup of Nations commencing later in January 2024 in Cote D’Ivoire.
Speaking to Class Sports, Malik Jabir further alluded to the fact that, the Black Stars have thrived under local coaches.
“After all, since the inception of Ghana football, no expatriate coach has won any trophy for Ghana, whether in the local league or the national team.
“All trophies won were done by Ghanaian Coaches.”
The group stage exit at the Mundial brings it to back-to-back exits at major tournaments this year for the national team.
Ghana leads the table with four points at the 2023 AFCON qualifiers in Group E, after picking up an all-important win against Madagascar at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium and a draw against the Central African Republic in Luanda [Angola].
Next up is back-to-back fixtures against Angola later in March.
