Herbert Addo, an albatross of the Ghanaian coach

By Prince Dornu-Leiku

So Herbert Addo has managed to take up the subject matter of this article? It has been a long time waiting to scribble down this piece when the focus was to be on erstwhile Asante Kotoko and Hearts of Oak coach, Paa Kwasi Fabin. Mr. Fabin had done so well when he held the helm at Kpando Heart of Lions, achieving the unthinkable of beating both Kotoko and Hearts home and away in their successful Top 4 triumph of less than two years ago.

Naturally, the gong went about town beating that Paa Kwasi who had also done an averagely good job during his days with Berekum Arsenal, was up and ready for the big stage. And being ready for the big occasion in Ghanaian football mean you have to hold the helm at either of the two titans of the national passion called soccer. Kotoko where he was once the U-20 coach was first of the giants to call on Paa Kwasi Fabin who wasted no time in abandoning the project he had started at Lions.

But we all know the disaster of a spell he endured at the Kumasi based club until they couldn’t take it no more. Hearts of Oak, the other sleeping giant failed to see reason in Kotoko’s judgement, so it seems, duly appointing Fabin as their coach for the beginning of 2010/11 season. Despite beating Kotoko away from home in what is undoubtedly the most crucial match on the domestic league calendar, Paa Kwasi’s Hearts of Oak were consistently inconsistent. Losses at home were frequent and embarrassing as one less fancied team after another left the capital with 3 points safely secured. The once dreaded Accra Sports Stadium home grounds had become free-for-all venue for dishing out points on a silver platter. Leaders Berekum Chelsea and their town rivals Arsenal all left Accra this season with their first ever away victories over Hearts. Worst of all, not only did Real Tamale United secure their first win in Accra since their entry into Ghana’s top flight league way back in 1978, they also for the first time ever did the double over Hearts of Oak.

Paa Kwasi had no choice than to give up but not until he had reduced the once revered Hearts of Oak into shreds of disgrace ironically at the beginning of their centenary year. A year that should have began in celebration with a league diadem to mark the great occasion of 100 years since 11/11/11, has been reduced to one of anguish and a give-up on any league title ambitions with over ten matches to go. UNEBELIEVABLE.

But after three defeats in three games at the 2011 Championship of African Nations (CHAN) in Sudan, Herbert Addo not only ensured he supervised arguably the nation’s worst ever display at any soccer tournament, but the Aduana Stars coach revised the notes on Paa Kwasi Fabin, not just focusing the huge lenses on himself but Ghanaian coaches as a whole. Are they ready for the big stage, the big question asks.

The answer can’t be more than obvious when our coaches continue to so fantastically do their jobs in their mouths whilst failing so spectacularly on the field. There is no need focusing on the record of Herbert Addo at the CHAN, neither is it of any use to centre the spotlight on Paa Kwasi Fabin and his failings at both Hearts and Kotoko. What is essential is to realise, sadly, that this nation is very far from appointing an indigene coach for the Black Stars especially when Serbians appear to be so good to us. Aside the Black Stars who have just started work with a 3rd straight tactician from the Eastern European country, both of Hearts and Kotoko have recently turned to men from the same country in the bids to curtail the mess which currently engulf them both.

It was sweet and encouraging to hear FA capo Kwesi Nyantakyi declare on Acccra-based radio station Joy FM’s revered Sports Link programme barely a month ago that his administration have trained many coaches including refresher courses both here in Ghana and abroad. Mr. Nyantakyi was very optimistic that within the pool of the coaches they are training, he believes they should be able to find at least one to take over as Ghana coach at the end of the tenure of Goran Stevanovic.

We are tempted to take the word of Nyantakyi because his FA have been very effective at achieving results, especially concerning the national team that has seen us play at the FIFA World Cup twice already, when we had previously never been there at all. But the continuous slump by Ghanaian coaches certainly should be of concern to those of us who continue to yearn for the day when the local man is given the mantle and is able to deliver and surpass the achievements of the Ratomir Dujkovics and Milovan Rajevacs of this world.

We were all here when rasta-haired Nana Kwaku Agyemang came bragging that he was the answer to Ghana’s coaching problems. The UEFA-licensed Nana Agyemang earned his quest when then Premiership side Okwahu United gave him the nod but we all know today that Mr. Agyemang has metamorphosed into a soccer journalist after spectacularly failing at Okwahu who have since deteriorated into an almost oblivion having long been relegated from the top flight.

Nana Agyemang may be the clearest example but same is the story of Isaac Opeele Aboagye who is also a football analyst and commentator today after failing to make any headway in the coaching worlds at among them Asante Kotoko, King Faisal, Kessben and Tema Youth. You may have by now also taken notice of coach Degraft Johnson whose introduction as a tactician has been through TV punditry, not on the soccer field. So you ask yourself, do these coaches get their certificates to do the job on the technical bench or is it to re-christen themselves as experts and pundits?

Well, Nana Agyemang happens to be my good friend and I know that he has never wavered in his criticism that the white boys do get and are getting the coaching jobs here just because of the colour of their skins, but dare we side with him when the white coaches clearly are getting the results these days?

And who says local men have not had their chances to prove themselves? Kwasi Appiah springs to mind as he so abysmally failed to grab his opportunity when he was give the mantle to handle the Black Stars in their Nations’ Cup qualifier last year. Even Sellas Tetteh who is now coach of Rwanda could not be trusted by the bigwigs of Ghana football in the run-up to the appointment of Milovan Rajevac.

Jones Attuquayefio could have easily won any vote for the greatest Ghana coach ever for his exploits with Hearts of Oak had he not been tested with a national team job. The Black Stars were flying high, top of their group in the run-up to the 2002 World Cup qualifiers but he could not beat even Liberia right here in Accra in his first game in charge. His failure to command control over the players meant he abandoned ship and paraded an entirely Hearts of Oak XI against Nigeria to save his face, same thing allegedly done by Herbert Addo who supposedly selected majority of his team from league leaders Berekum Chelsea and his own Aduana Stars. Attuquayefio of course also failed to qualify the Meteors to the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, underlining the failure to shine with a national side.

Personally, I can’t wait for the day when we shall say goodbye to the white man and appoint a Ghanaian to coach the Black Stars. Kwesi Nyantakyi has promised that Goran Stevanovic could be that last foreign helmsman for the Ghana national team. I want to believe him but sorry I can’t because the Paa Kwasi Fabins, Herbert Addos, Jones Attuquayefios, Nana Agyemangs and Opeeles of this world do not give me confidence.

Former national team stars certainly can be the best bet to do the job even though former Black Stars captain Kwasi Appiah has failed to set the pace for his colleagues. We welcome the recent appointment of Yaw Preko to the Black Satellites among other former national heroes’ recruitments. But one is tempted to ask where Abedi Pele is in all these if we claim he was our greatest ever player? We are busy pushing for executive posts for the man when we should be weighing what technical nous the Maestro can bring on board.

Well if we want a former national team star to coach after Brazil 2014, hopefully, then we need no look further than Stephen Appiah. A captain of dedication, commitment, discipline, sacrifice, hardwork and success, not many can argue against him in the technical area for the Black Stars. So if I were Kwesi Nyantakyi, Stephen Appiah should be one of the names on the list of the coaches the FA is training. He must start taking his coaching badges now that we all know his playing days are at an almost end. Come on Stephen Tornado Appiah.