The race for the Black Stars coaching role is getting intense as Ghana Football Association (GFA) and government keep pushing their preferred candidates for the top job, which became vacant recently.
According to recent media sources, during a high-profile meeting on Tuesday, former Premier League coach Chris Hughton was certain of becoming Ghana’s next coach.
President Nana Akufo-Addo is claimed to have met with the former Republic of Ireland full-back at Jubilee House in Accra, where the Ghanaian leader threw his weight behind him to manage a team in need of reorganization after an awful showing at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Cameroon.
Hughton is the government’s favored choice, and he appears to have the support of the majority of Ghanaians, thanks to his expertise as a top-level football manager.
Hughton has coached Newcastle United, Norwich City and Brighton, all in the Premier League, after starting his coaching career as a caretaker at Tottenham Hotspur in 1997. He once served as assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland.
Meanwhile, GFA’s preferred candidate, Otto Addo, is said to have accepted to coach the team.
This follows a meeting between him and GFA officials including President Kurt Okraku in Germany.
Reports have suggested that Otto Addo has the backing of Dortmund, meaning he will step down as assistant coach at the German club.
The former Ghana international who featured at the 2006 World Cup ventured into coaching in 2009.
Before becoming Dortmund assistant coach, Addo, who played at the 2006 World Cup, held similar position at Hamburger SV, Nordsjaelland and Borussia Monchengladbach.
It appears a lot of Ghanaians do not trust GFA to appoint a good coach for the senior national team after their last choice failed woefully.
The GFA brought back Milovan Rajevac when Charles Akonnor was fired in September last year.
The Serbian’s second stint ended a week after Ghana crashed out of the Afcon after picking up just one point from a single game and losing to Comoros, who are 80 places below the four-time African champions in the world rankings.
For a coach to be appointed, GFA and the government must be on the same page. Currently, they are not. This is likely to delay the appointment of a new coach and affect the team’s preparation for the crucial World Cup play-off against Nigeria.
Whoever takes charge may have little time to prepare for the crucial play-off tie scheduled for late March.
