I'm ready for Ghana - Hans Declares

After being crowned with the Onetouch Premiership Coach of the Season Award, by the Professional League Board (PLB), Kpando based Heart of Lions Dutch trainer, Hans Van De Plyuim has expressed his interest of handling one of the country’s national teams.

In an exclusive interview last Monday, the Lions manager who goes down into the history books of the Professional League Board, as the first expatriate trainer to win the Premiership Coach of the Season Award said the award serves as his second biggest achievement since his arrival in the country almost a decade ago. He mentioned the first being the securing of a Premiership ticket for Heart of Lions in 2002 after a one year stay in the Division One League. According to the Dutch trainer, who is having his second stint with a Ghanaian Premiership side after handling Obuasi Goldfields, now Ashgold, his experience in the Ghanaian terrain and the familiarity with the country’s players coupled with his rich technical competence, he appears a suitable candidate to handle a Ghanaian national side.

“For now, I see myself as an appropriate candidate who needs to handle a national side and I believe it must happen here in Ghana due to my experience with Ghanaian players and their style of play as well as my love for the country” he said.

“It has being my dream of handling a Ghanaian national side ever since I joined Ashgold in 1998, and I strongly believe the appropriate time is now since I am ready to do something for this great nation and will be glad if officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) grant me that opportunity” he added.

Asked whether he will take up a post to join the current technical staff of the Black Stars, he answered in the affirmative saying “I am ready for any post, so far as it’s a national side”.

Touching on his team’s performance in the on-going Onetouch Top 4, Hans, who has been nick-named ‘Aben Wo Ha’ by most of his Ghanaian fans, said, its unfortunate his side cannot clinch the trophy for the second time due to some bad officiating in most of their games.

‘It’s unfortunate that after playing so well, we missed the trophy due to some bad officiating by the centre men. But all the same I think Asante Kotoko has also being fantastic so far as the competition is concerned” he said.

Asked whether he may be joining the Phobia family since speculations in the country has it that he has completed negotiations with officials of Hearts of Oak and is due to head the technical team before the start of the season, Hans shouted a big ‘no’ saying ‘I have also heard on radio and read in the papers and they are all lies since I have never spoken to any Ghanaian club official’.