Olympics fire coach Afranie

Accra, Nov 2 - GNA - Accra Great Olympics have fired Emmanuel Kwesi Afranie hours before their important league match against leaders, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, thus confirming the ever growing notion that coaches are hired to be fired.

Afranie who assumed duties at the beginning of the season with a promise to challenge for the title got the boot due to incompetence. Dr Albert Arthur, a member of the management committee of Olympics confirmed the sack of the coach to GNA Sports in an interview on Sunday morning.

He said management was dissatisfied with the level of performance of the team since Afrnie took over and hopes and expectations that things would change for the better are gradually fading, compelling management to take the decision.

The management committee member said, try as they did to live with the poor results that the team has been achieving under Afranie, they were pushed to the wall by the unprofessional attitude of the coach before their match against Bofoakwa in Sunyani on Wednesday. He said reports they received on the match revealed that the coach asked every member of the team to make his own selection for the match and when some senior players failed to comply because they did not understand the rationale behind the order, Afranie refused to use them in the match.

Dr Arthur said in the opinion of the management committee, when a coach is hired, he assumes technical responsibility and any coach who fails to do that does not merit his position.

He said assistant coach Abdul Aziz will be in charge of the team until management decides otherwise and appealed to supporters of the team to remain calm as the decision is in the best interest of the club. Coach Afrnie who prefers to be called "coach hene," meaning, king of the coaches, was a former coach of the Black Stars. He was replaced at the senior national team level after winning 4-2 at home against Rwanda with Bikhard Ziese, who failed to qualify Ghana for the 2004 Nations Cup in Tunisia.

Afranie who is the technical director at the ministry of Youth, Education and Sports was one time coach of the Black Satellites, the national under 21 side, which he guided to a silver medal at the World Youth Championship in Argentina in 2001.

When he assumed duty at Olympics, he made the headlines by announcing that he was on national service at Accra club even though Olympics officials said he was on a full contract.

Last season, Olympics placed fourth and played in the GHALCA Top Four Tournament but with six matches to the end of the current season, the "Ghanaian Blues" are on 28 points and perched at the ninth position on the 16-team standings, with very little or no chance at all of participating in the lucrative Top Four Competition.