Why Nyantakyi must go

IT has always been said that when water lasts long in a bottle, it gives out a bad scent and that is clearly the case of the embattled Ghana Football Association (GFA) chairman, Kwasi Nyantakyi, who has over-stayed his welcome as head of Ghana football. Announcing his presence unto the scene some eight years ago as an acting chairman and later as the substantive, the lawyer cum football administrator, we believe have played his part and hence it is now time for him to bow and leave the stage for others to come and play their part.

Mr. Nyantakyi must desist from listening to cronies whose bread is buttered from proceeds from Ghana football and bow out at a time when the applaud is loudest before everyone stops clapping and stare at his performance unmoved. He ought to exit as recent happenings in Ghana point to the direction that his ship is fast sinking and the life boats built to sail along with his ‘titanic’ seem to be more weaker than the actual vessel.

EVENTS leading to, during and after Ghana’s participation in the just ended soccer Mundial in Brazil have had enough depreciation on the country’s international image. The last straw that broke the camel’s back is the insistence of about two hundred Ghanaian soccer fans that there are religious conflicts in Ghana for which reason they have appealed to the government of the South American country that hosted the soccer fiesta to grant them asylum.

ENOUGH have been written and said about the misconduct of the players on the field and also in the dressing rooms and training grounds. Sulley Muntari and Kelvin Prince Boateng have been put in the bad light for a long time with a press conference organized by the Football Association after Ghana’s exit and shameful arrival at the Kotoka International Airport (KIA) pointing accusing fingers at the two “stubborn cats”.

SO everything balls down to the misconduct of these once celebrated stars whose future in the national side, Coach Kwasi Appiah has insisted is not certain. Blame the players, blame the players, have been the chorus song on major news platforms, thus making everyone forget about the fact that officials who accompanied the team to the tournament were more than the playing body.

IF we had enough administrators to man the ‘stubborn’ cats, then we should ask ourselves what went wrong that the West African representative which once carried high the flag and hope of Africa travelled along the path of shame in Brazil. One (1) point out of possible nine (9) points was all we could amass. And it is in view of this that Today calls for a careful scrutiny and analysis of the part played by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) led by its President, Kwasi Nyantakyi.

THE whole journey of Mr. Nyantakyi began eight years ago when after serving as acting GFA chairman he won an election to become the substantive. And following the footsteps of his continental and internationally recognized heads of the football association, Issah Hayatou and Sepp Blatter, he started engineering plans to make him last on the throne and rule Ghana football.

INDEED, his plans worked out completely when Ghana for the first time qualified to partake in the World Cup in 2006. The debutants once described as under dogs in World Cup football surprised the whole continent and the world in general when we made it to the quarter final meeting almighty Brazil who knocked Ghana out of the competition in circumstances we are yet to come to terms with.

THE golden period of his reign was when Ghana hosted the African Cup of Nations (CAN) 2008 where like Germany did in 2006 World Cup, we placed third thanks to Cameroon whose lone goal was enough to push the stars to fix a date with Ivory Coast in a third place match which we won. This feat was achieved due to our ability to maintain the core of the 2006 Black Stars’ generation.

WITH the World Cup being hosted on African soil, it was only proper for the Black Stars to try as much as possible to participate in South Africa. And yet again, by the kindest courtesy of the ‘hand of God’ of Suarez, we had to lose to the Uruguayans on penalties and head home. Asamoah Gyan will never ever forget the golden opportunity he missed to put Ghana through to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time.

BETWEEN South Africa and Brazil, Ghana has also participated in two CAN tournaments and the team has as usual always been close to lifting the trophy. Nigeria, really taught us how to do it when at the last CAN tournament in South Africa, they lifted the trophy to become the reigning African champions.

THE above is enough testimony of how successful our FA President for the past eight years has been with the national team. Surprisingly, his claim to fame which is the Senior National Team has never won any trophy to mark his days as FA President. What they have done is always coming home to report that ‘we nearly hit the target.

BUT who cares about the word ‘nearly’? What Ghanaians are interested in is the empirical which is the trophies they contest for, not what Nyantakyi and his guys at the FA report upon their return from each trip. We want cup and it is cup we want and nothing else.

THE above analysis clearly points to the fact Nyantakyi’s claim to fame has not made him that proud and hasn’t also been a solid rock to clinch unto in this low time of his reign. Apart from continuing with the country’s trophy drought, it has also been bedeviled by all forms of allegations about winning bonuses and other monetary issues which all point to the direction that the GFA President and his cronies have made Ghana football a milking cow from which they get their daily supply of cash.

INTERSTINGLY, it is the same crop of management officials who pay sports journalists who should know better to defend the indefensible actions of the GFA chairman and his bunch of cronies including politics soaked, Randy Abbey who would chase the Black Stars for any tournament. The National team is not enough to save you, Mr. Nyantakyi.

DESPITE ‘achieving’ all this feat with the national side, it is a notorious fact that the local league is standing at a knife’s edge with the various traditional clubs and other league clubs collapsing. Ghana Premier League is fast sinking and our poor performance in African competition in recent time tells it all. Not even Kototo or Hearts is saving us the disgrace at the continental level of African club football.

AND knowing very well that the league which is supposed to groom the young ones for the national side has collapsed, Mr. Nyantakyi and the rest of the GFA team have now resorted to ‘burgar’ players whom they can’t even control. Our Coaches have had to take uncountable trips to watch these players who reluctantly accept to come to play for the senior side.

LET the Olympics and the Okwawus work again and Ghana football will be better. And since the GFA President has failed to do so, we believe it is time for Mr. Nyantakyi to say a forever good bye to Ghana football to save his name. An adieu to Ghana football is the panacea.