GHALCA Boss Blasts Osam

...Coach’s demand for higher salary

MR J.Y Appiah, Chairman of the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) has damned Black Stars coach, Fred Osam-Duodu, for the vexed demand for equal remuneration as that of white coaches. “The demand is not only in bad taste, but also a deliberate attempt to sabotage the nation,” the GHALCA mogul charged.

According to Mr Appiah, the timing is as wrong as the forum was grossly inappropriate.

" If anything happens to the psyche of the team at the Nations Cup, nobody but Osam Duodu should be blamed because his demands could certainly lead to that. And I see that as holding the nation to ransom because now the nation which is desirous to see the Black Stars do well at the tournament would be compelled to give in to the coach's demand," he explained.

Mr Appiah was reacting to Mr Osam-Duodu's request to be treated as a "white coach" and paid salaries that are normally paid foreign coaches in an interview he granted AFP, an international media covering the on-going 2002 Nations Cup in Mali and which has been widely publicised in other local and foreign media.

The GHALCA Chairman who is also a member of the GFA Executive Council said since Mr Osam Duodu is a full-time employee of the GFA, it was wrong for him to ask for remuneration and a contractual agreement like other coaches hired would do.

"The coaching he is doing now is an added responsibility as head of the GFA technical team. What he should have done was to talk the issue over to be given some additional incentive for the extra job he's doing.

"Under this circumstance, it is totally wrong for him to ask that he be paid the salary of a foreign coach. If he wants more salary, he should resign from the job as Technical Director of GFA and apply for the job just as any other coach contracted from outside would do," Mr Appiah stressed.

He said rather than ask to be treated like a "white coach," Osam Duodu should ask to be treated like a senior national team coach, and that would have been appreciable.

"In any case, if he had genuine concerns, why couldn't he sort it out with the GFA before leaving for Mali and why didn't he complain, but waited till the eleventh hour? He decided to wash our dirty linen in public by not even conferring with the GFA but going straight on to complain to a foreign media," Mr Appiah lamented.

Asked what action the Executive Council was going to take, Mr Appiah who said he was expressing similar sentiments felt by other members of the council, hinted that the body was waiting for a report from the GFA officials in Mali to take appropriate action.

Meanwhile, reactions from the general public to Osam-Duodu's demand have not been complimentary.

Several people who called the Graphic Sports offices to comment on the issue said though he may have genuine concerns, it was wrong for him to have made those demands just a day before their opening match against Morocco yesterday.

While some saw it as bad timing, others felt he could be using it as a cover up for his own inadequacies.

have genuine concerns, it was wrong for him to have made those demands just a day before their opening match against Morocco yesterday.

While some saw it as bad timing, others felt he could be using it as a cover up for his own inadequacies.

"It is an attempt to find an excuse if he fails to impress at the tournament as is expected of him. Otherwise, why would he even not talk to the Ghanaian media who could have articulated his concerns more and better than the channel he chose," one person querried.

Another person said he was disappointed by the coach's behaviour because the trend has been that of players making such demands, "so if the coach is leading the way, then we can all imagine what the players would want to do and God help us if that happens," he opined.

No top official of the GFA could be contacted immediately to comment on the issue. Four members, the Chairman Ben Koufie, General Secretary, Kofi Nsiah, and two other members, Abedi Pele and Slyvester Mensah are all in Segou with the team while vice-chairman, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah is also leading the Black Meteors to the four-nation tournament in South Africa.

Mr Yaw La Danso, the only member back home could not be reached before going to press.

"It is an attempt to find an excuse if he fails to impress at the tournament as is expected of him. Otherwise, why would he even not talk to the Ghanaian media who could have articulated his concerns more and better than the channel he chose," one person querried.

Another person said he was disappointed by the coach's behaviour because the trend has been that of players making such demands, "so if the coach is leading the way, then we can all imagine what the players would want to do and God help us if that happens," he opined.

No top official of the GFA could be contacted immediately to comment on the issue. Four members, the Chairman Ben Koufie, General Secretary, Kofi Nsiah, and two other members, Abedi Pele and Slyvester Mensah are all in Segou with the team while vice-chairman, Emmanuel Owusu-Ansah is also leading the Black Meteors to the four-nation tournament in South Africa.

Mr Yaw La Danso, the only member back home could not be reached before going to press.