Former Black Star Coach, CK. Akonnor
• A Sports Analyst believes C.K. Akonnor is not entirely responsible for the non-performance of the Black Stars
• Kojo Addae-Mensah said the GFA is to blame over a lack of proper planning and structure
• C.K. Akonnor’s appointment was terminated on September 13, 2021
Kojo Addae-Mensah, a sports analyst has blamed the Ghana Football Association for the non-performance of the Black Stars.
According to him, the just fired former coach, Charles Akonnor is not the main reason for the non-performance of the national team’s struggles hence [CK] cannot be entirely held responsible.
Making his submission on JoyNews’ NewsFile on Saturday, the sports analyst said the current struggles in the national team is as a result of poor planning, organisation and structure.
“No, I wouldn’t say (C.K. Akonnor) is to blame. I would say it is the lack of planning. After Ben Koufie’s development plan expired, we didn’t put measures in place to put back a similar plan,” Addae Mensah said.
“The 5-year developmental plan by the late Chairman of the GFA, Ben Koufie in 2001 is what “we built on to qualify us for the World Cup and Afcon,” he added.
To address this, Addae-Mensah said the GFA must implement new contingency plans in place instead of practicing the ‘frefre ko bo’ style of approach.
“We didn’t do that and we are where we are. What do we do now? We look for boys in the diaspora, bring them together, three or four days we expect them to deliver. No, it can’t happen. It is a ‘frefre ko bo’ (players called only when needed to play a tournament) because we have players who meet their colleagues for the first time at the Black Star camp. How is that possible?” he quizzed.
“But we all with nostalgia mention the Appiah, Sulley Muntari, Paintsil but these guys started playing way back in their youth. They were not meeting each other for the first time at the Black Star camp,” Addae-Mensah stressed.
He pointed that while coaches are often easy targets for the non-performance of their teams, planning and organisation must always take place first before progress can be seen.
“The coaches are very easy prey. They are the soft target. We can always blame the coach and get away with it. But let’s be frank with ourselves, we have not planned,” he stressed.
On September 13, 2021, the Executive Council of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) terminated the appointment of Black Stars coach, Charles Akonnor and his two Assistants over the poor performance of the team against South Africa and Ethiopia at the 2022 World Cup Qualifiers.