LeRoy in alleged illegal transfer deals

« Prev

Comments (0)

Listen to Article

... Did GFA Fail To Do A Background Check?
The recently appointed head coach of the Ghana national team coach, Claude Le Roy, is under investigations, in France, for potentially suspect player transfer deals, when he was a coach at RC Strasbourg.

The 58-year-old Frenchman, who last month signed a two-year contract to coach the Black Stars, face charges of false abuse, forgery and use of forged documents in player transfer deals.

About ten player transfer deals are been investigated involving the new Black Stars coach.

Le Roy and the then President of RC Strasbourg, Patrick Proisy, last week met French prosecutors to give evidence for their roles in player transfers from 1998 to 2001.

Both were put in police custody on Tuesday evening, before being heard by the public prosecutor of Strasbourg, Thursday.

They were later set free but remain under investigation. Prosecutors are examining the evidence against both men. Two other administration executives of RC Strasbourg, at the time, are also under investigation.

Le Roy, who has a good coaching experience in Africa, succeeded the Serbian Ratomir Dujkovic, who resigned after leading Ghana to the second round of the World Cup in July. He is tasked with guiding Ghana to the hosting of the African Nations Cup in 2008.

He recently gave a firm assurance that he would resist the temptation of finding himself in a conflict of interest situation by managing players and acting as their agent with a view to securing them foreign clubs.

"Since the investigation [of the coach] was in progress, during the search for the [national team] coach, it will be fair to ask: Did the [Ghana Football Association] GFA fail to do a background check, before inviting him for the interview?" asked a soccer enthusiast

It must be recalled that, the GFA setup a nine-member search committee to scout for a new coach. Le Roy was shortlisted and eventually appointed, although, according to some sources, he failed to apply for the job. He beat off competition from compatriot Philippe Troussier (who failed to turn-up for the interview) and local coach Jones Attuquayefio.