Zumdick is On His Way Out

Ralf Zumdick is on his way out as Ghana's coach, leaving the country which has been at its lowest ebb in football for sometime now reeling.

Zumdick's decision to opt for the relative comfort and more money of German Bundsliga side SV Hamburg means the Black Stars would be coached by another man soon.

It's a situation bad enough to make Ghana football a laughing stock, especially when the high turnover of coaches has come in many ways, as a result of Ghana's inefficiencies in drawing out long term contracts.

The alarm bells were raised by some of the most knowledgeable followers of the game once that three month deal was made public. Tony Yeboah, goal scorer supreme wondered at the time how much a coach could do. It didn't offer security and peace of mind, he argued.

His mate at the Black Stars level, but certainly not his friend, Abedi Pele for once agreed with him saying offering a coach a three month contract was a bad deal.

Abedi of course was speaking as a hurt man after the FA literally ignored him to hire Zumdick when he was still supposed to be scouting for a coach for Ghana. But that does not in any way reduce the potency of his argument.

Zumdick's reasons for opting for Hamburg instead of Ghana are varied. He says the opportunity to work at home is a good one. That way, he could be close to his family. In purely sporting terms too, Zumdick considered Hamburg a better opportunity than Ghana. He says Hamburg is big at least by German standards. As the assistant manager to the accomplished Klaus Topmoeller, Zumdick would be directly involved in the coaching of the first team and in total control of the youth structure of the club. That to Zumdick's mind was too good to reject.

That does not in any way mean walking away from Ghana is easy. He has grown to love the country and justifiably so. Ghana in many ways offered Zumdick an opportunity to prove he could still work at the top level after he was fired by VFL Bochum following a poor start in the Bundesliga some few years back.

He was hired by Herbert Mensah to replace Ian Porterfield at Kotoko and by the time the club's African Cup Winners Cup campaign was over, they had finished as finalists and restored Kotoko's place as one of Africa's best sides even in defeat.

Then not long after he was back in Kumasi, taking charge of King Faisal where he laid a solid foundation for their best-ever finish - third place in the past season.

But he didn't stay long there because he wanted, as he said at the time, to be close to his wife and children.

But once the Ghana Football Association got Bukhard Ziese out of the way, and with international assignments close by, he was the first choice for the FA because of how well he knew Ghanaian football.

And even though the three-month contract was said to be inappropriate by many at the time, he defended it on the grounds that Ghana's relationship with foreign coaches made the short term deal the best for both parties.

In the end, it appears that short term deal benefited him more than Ghana. He surely couldn't have walked off if he had a contract that said we have you for one year, sealed.

As it stands now, he is gone. I reckon that would be distressing news for the players who were getting so used to him. Ghanaian players have professed love for many coaches with Ziese the notable exception but when after one game, Stephen Appiah and Samuel Osei Kuffour clamoured for a coach's retention, then he must have something good.

No wonder, before making the decision known public, he said he wanted to speak to the players first. He has also informed the Ghana Football Association, whose chairman Ben Koufie also on his way out has already described the decision as a major disappointment.

It sure is not good news. As Sam Arday says, no team thrives on a porous foundation. That foundation, he also says is built over a four-five year period, not over three months.

In Ghana's case, that sound principle on which many great sides like Manchester United, Bayern Munich and others have thrived on has counted for very little. Since June 2002, players of the senior national team have had to take instructions from three different men.

Milan Zivadinovic preached his own brand of football that many argue contributed significantly to Ghana's failure to qualify for the 2004 African nations cup after that loss in Uganda on match day one. Bukhard Ziese took over from him and managed somehow to alienate almost all his players many of whom were celebrating when he was told to pack bag and leave.

He is still arguing his case for wrongful dismissal at Fifa but while all that was going on, Zumdick was steering Ghana through the preliminary stage of the world cup qualifiers against Somalia.

Now with South Africa, Congo DR, Uganda, Burkina Faso and Cape Verde to come, the players have to brace up for a change of coach. Football's wise men would tell you this isn't a good omen for Ghana because in this game, consistency counts.

But this game can be defiant at times. For those of us desperate to see the Black Stars at the World Cup and Nations Cup in 2006 Zumdick's departure we hope would clear the way for a man who would steer Ghana football to greater heights.

But only if he is not tied down to another "probation contract."