Why Avram Grant’s contract with Black Stars should not be renewed

I know some of you might be wondering why I am going down this path but I have seen enough to believe that Avram Grant will not add anything new to the Black Stars. Some will come at me with the counter argument that I am calling for him to leave the job because Ghana has failed to win any of its last four games, but for me, the issues run far deeper.

The Israeli tactician seemed to have earned kudos when he guided Ghana to the 2015 African Nations Cup final and I suppose you could argue that penalties are a lottery, which any team could win and so he was unfortunate against Cote d’Ivoire in Equatorial Guinea.

That said; I have been taken aback by Grant’s seeming indifference to the job that nets him at least $50,000 a month. After every qualifier, he rushes back to his base in the United Kingdom and stays there under the pretext of monitoring players outside Ghana. When it is time for qualifiers, he quickly jets down to Ghana and after the game is done, he goes back to the UK.

I will come back to touch more on this point but I am more concerned by the fact that he does not have a discernable Plan B during games. This is because he relies on a certain group of players, even in friendly matches. For example, the final 2017 African Nations Cup qualifier against Rwanda could have been used to, in his own words, observe some new players in preparation for the World Cup qualifying campaign. Let me give you an example.

Geoffrey Walusimbi is normally the first choice left back for the Cranes of Uganda, but in the game against Ghana in Tamale, Joseph Ochaya was chosen to start in that position. This is because Ochaya has played in Ghana before; for Asante Kotoko and so he would have some inside knowledge into how the Black Stars will play; not to mention speaking the Akan language fluently.

So, what stopped Grant from calling the likes of Emmanuel Osei Banahene and John Antwi for ‘observation purposes’ during the Rwanda game? Osei Banahene and Antwi would then have been gradually integrated into the Black Stars ahead of the game against Egypt in Alexandria on November 13. As you know, that didn’t happen. Again, Samuel Tetteh scored against Rwanda but he wasn’t given a look in at all when the going got tough against Uganda in Tamale.

All I am saying is that Grant failed miserably in deepening the squad and that has severely limited the Black Stars in terms of alternative formations and options.

The game against Egypt has now assumed massive importance for a couple of reasons. If Ghana loses that game, the Black Stars’ World Cup campaign will effectively be over and a spill over effect will be lack of motivation to go and do well at the 2017 AFCON in Gabon. Because of this, one would have expected Grant to have stayed in Ghana and together with his assistants, carefully plan towards at least avoiding defeat in Alexandria.

Do not forget that the Pharaohs are still smarting from the 6-1 thrashing suffered at the hands of Ghana during the 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. But, typically, Grant only stayed in Ghana long enough to have discussions with the Black Stars Management Committee and ended up describing each member as ‘wanna be coaches’ when questioned on some of his decisions.

He is now back in the UK and it would appear that he is not taking the Egypt assignment seriously at all. At this rate I wouldn’t be surprised if scouting was done on the Cranes during Uganda’s friendly against Togo prior to the Tamale game and the report handed over to Grant, but he failed to do anything with it during the game itself.

Clearly it has been a marriage of convenience between the Ghana Football Association and Avram Grant and Grant’s behavior seems to suggest that he wants a divorce. Perhaps it is to enable him to go to China to enjoy a massive wage packet, but whatever the reason may be, the Black Stars will be better off without him and at the very least. His contract should not be renewed after expiry during the 2017 AFCON.

It is time for the GFA to think about empowering indigenous coaches again, instead of spending millions on foreign coaches who do not really have the nation’s interest at heart. Indigenous coaches need to upgrade themselves to do well on the continent.

For example, I am delighted that Aliou Cisse, who captained Senegal at the 2002 World Cup, has been given the opportunity to coach the Teranga Lions and hopefully we should see more of such appointments in the near future on the African continent. That is not to say that all foreign coaches are bad, but I wonder whether the GFA can afford a really good one. Your guess is as good as mine, especially with the Sports Ministry complaining of lack of funds.

Only time will tell if the continued marriage of convenience will last long, but at the moment Grant is doing very little to show that he is adding anything to the Black Stars.