‘Akwasi Appiah deserves more than paltry $20,000’

Almost 18 months ago when Coach Kwasi Appiah was first appointed the job of being the Head Coach of the Ghana Black Stars, many of us raised the issue about his salary not being commensurate with the post. The same was true, in fact, of when Akwasi Appiah was also the Assistant Coach of the Ghana Black Stars serving under Coach Ratomir Dujkovic, and following on from that, Coach Milovan Rajevac and Coach Goran Stevanovic.

It all started badly when, as the Assistant Coach of the Ghana Black Stars, Akwasi Appiah was reportedly receiving the paltry sum of $3,000. Meanwhile his immediate boss, Coach Milovan Rajevac, was receiving $45,000. That was a whopping 15 times the difference in salary considering that Akwasi Appiah would be required to carry out the exact same functions of the coach should the coach be absent due to sickness or any other unforeseen circumstances.

After the departure of Rajevac and the engagement of another expatriate coach namely Goran Stevanic, nothing changed for Akwasi Appiah despite the fact that his new boss was set to receive approximately a whopping $55,000. And when Akwasi Appiah dared to ask for more in recognition of his responsibilities as the “Deputy Head Coach” he was told in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t get a penny more and that if he was not grateful for that he might as well go and another assistant would be found to replace him!

What he had asked for was an increase of $3000 dollars which is 100% increase but the tone and manner in which he was told to take a walk via the media was disrespectful and disconcerting to say the least. If there was ever any doubt at the time that as a nation, we respected white coaches more than we respected our own, it became more than apparent that this was the case not only at the Ghana Football Association level but also at the Ministry of Youth and Sports too.

When Rajevac unceremoniously walked out on the Black Stars leaving behind his “one goal” project, his GFA handlers were left stunned and dumbfounded and instead of looking to their able lieutenant, they quickly dismissed his potential and went in search of another expatriate coach.

We didn’t win anything from any of these expatriate coaches except for laurels and sympathy from the rest of the world for having done well at the Africa Cup of Nations competitions or at World Cups in Germany and South Africa, yet we invested so heavily in them and were equally over confident that they could deliver the World cup for Ghanaians too. What naivety!!

Anyway with that now behind us, it is equally important now that we view Akwasi Appiah in a greater light than we viewed the past expats that have given us so little value for money. Having already made unprecedented history, why is it that we cannot offer him what was being offered to the expatriates?

When Goran succeeded in qualifying Ghana to the World Cup, his contract looked more like a winning lottery ticket but as it stands now, Akwasi Appiah’s contract will end once the World Cup in Brazil has ended irrespective of how well the Ghana Black Stars may perform.

No local coach deserves to be treated this contemptuously, working on such a lowly $20,000 a month salary with no current discussions to increase it or even to extend the contract beyond the World Cup considering how well the Black Stars have out-performed all other World Cup qualifying Black Stars squads before the current squad.

Stevanovic was given a peach of a contract, which included so many different bonuses for the Africa Cup of Nations and the World Cup; all net packages exclusive of any taxes. $250,000 for qualification to the World Cup and $500,000 for taking the Ghana black Stars to the finals. And can you believe we are still discussing whether or not there will be a package for the feat that has been attained by Akwasi Appiah!

Nothing has been determined as yet and / or made known, besides round tables, but yet, with the expatriate coach, it was already written into the contract agreement, signed sealed and delivered! Why couldn’t we have done the same for Akwasi Appiah and Maxwell Konado?

Well from my viewpoint, I think Kwasi Appiah and Maxwell Konado have achieved far more than the expatriates that qualified Ghana for the World Cup before them. This squad has been the most productive in front of the opposition’s goal and has one of the best defensive records in the World Cup qualifiers too.

Akwasi Appiah has been the only coach who has managed to secure the services of all those players that had prematurely quit the Black Stars and as a result will have a coaches’ nightmare when it comes for selecting his final 23-man squad.

And to top it all he is Ghanaian and that’s where the history being made is so meaningful.

$20,000 is not enough for the job that is and has been done so far. If the GFA really values the contribution of our very own Ghanaian coach, then the least he should receive is $60,000! And of course, as I’ve often said before, lest we make the same mistake as we made with Sellas Tetteh when he won the FIFA U’20 Cup, we must ensure that his contract is extended so that it takes us into 2016 as a bare minimum.

The last thing we want is another report like this….. “Coach Milovan Rajevac has signed the four-year deal and sent it to the GFA. Both sides are fully satisfied,” a source within the Ghana FA told Ghanasoccernet.com. Which eventually turns out not to be true!

Let’s just stop the professional posturing, pontificating, procrastinating and pay him more!