Football administrator calls for division of labour with the GFA

Mr. Kwadwo Takyi-Arhin, a football administrator has called for all inclusiveness in the administration of football in Ghana to ensure effective and efficient management of the national teams.

He said “division of labour" type of administration within Ghana Football Association (GFA) would not only ensure proper and effective management of the teams but also help improve on the performance of the players.

Mr Takyi-Arhin, popularly known in soccer circle as “Thunder”, complained that the current administrative system of the GFA whereby Mr. Kwasi Nyantakyi, holds many additional football positions including internationally-affiliated ones was not helping Ghana football.

“The situation has made it difficult for Mr Nyantakyi to concentrate on matters affecting football in Ghana”, the football administrator noted.

Mr Takyi-Arhin was speaking with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) Sports in Sunyani on Thursday, after the Black Stars shocked the whole nation by succumbing 2-3 to Burkina-Faso after 120 minutes of play on penalties.

Mr Takyi Arhin noted that “currently, beside his position as GFA President, Mr. Nyantakyi is a CAF Executive member, Chairman of GFA executive committee, a member of the Black Stars Management Committee and a member of West Africa Football Union (WAFU)”.

He added that all those positions Mr. Nyantakyi “allocated to himself naturally made him too busy to concentrate on matters concerning the Black Stars”.

Black Stars is a national asset and its operations must interest the entire population instead of a few selected people, he stated.

“Ghanaians must therefore have a say on issues concerning the Black Stars even right from day one when preparation was being made towards an international competition to the end in the supreme interest of the nation”, he added.

On the defeat, Mr. Takyi-Arhin blamed it on the doorsteps of Ghana’s coach James Kwesi Appiah and other members of the technical committee of the team.

“The defeat of the Stars is due to technical bankruptcy”.

Mr Takyi-Arhin recalled the earlier complain made by a member of the management committee concerning the park rebuking that “was a defeatist statement”.

He also blamed those behind coach Appiah's decision to exclude the Ayew brothers, especially Andre Dede Ayew from the final squad and was equally not happy about changes made in the game which saw Clottey coming in for Mubarak Wakaso, penalty expert of the team.

“Those who took the decision should have known that the match was heading to a draw and there will be a mandatory penalty shoot outs, and that was really what happened in the course of the match,” he noted.

Mr. Takyi-Arhin noted that the technical committee of the Black Stars “deceived” themselves with the victories the team chalked during their earlier friendly matches, forgetting there was difference in friendly matches and highly competitive games like AFCON 2013.

He did not subscribe to the suggestion by some Ghanaian soccer fans that coach Appiah should be “fired” but advised the national coach to take a cue from “whatever interference given him by any member of the management committee and stand firm on his decisions as a coach in future".