The Ghana Football Association would be receiving a guest tomorrow but contrary to the usual Ghanaian hospitality, that man is unlikely to get too many courtesies from certain quarters.

Mariano Barreto and his agents would be accommodated and fed by the Ghana Football Association but it is certain he would face some tough questions when he meets the FA, tune in to radio stations, check out newspaper columns or agree to press interviews.

Barreto is the FA’s choice for Ghana coach. He has already signed a memorandum of understanding committing him to the job. The trip to Ghana, therefore would be to thrash out the fine details of the contract and get him to sign a two year contract that will run until August 31 2006.

But what looked like a done deal is looking somewhat unlikely after journalists decided to do some more checks on the man whose CV linked him to clubs like 1997 European champion Borussia Dortmund, Russian champions Locomotive Moscow and Sporting Lisbon.

The findings according to media reports do not support the view of GFA boss and Minister of Youth, Education and Sports Rashid Bawa, who struck the Barreto deal that Barreto has what it takes to turn Ghana football around.

The Soccer Express newspaper who blew the lid on the Portuguese said Ghana was hiring a physical instructor as coach. It went on to allege that Barreto had made claims in his CV, particularly his Dortmund connections that were not entirely true.

It said, quoting Dortmund officials that Barreto had never been an assistant to the famous Ottmar Hitzfield as he claimed but that he was the personal trainer of Portuguese star Paulo Sousa when he stared for Dortmund during their 1997 European Cup triumph.

Though enquiries by the same paper at the Portuguese FA said Barreto is “qualified, competent and honest to perform the duties of a coach“, many remain unconvinced.

All that has left FA boss Ben Koufie greatly confused. In his time as FA chairman, a lot of issues he has touched with respect to coaches have turned bad and worsened Ghana football rather than enhance it.

The FA signed Milan Zivadinovic when the Yugoslav had walked out on his two previous jobs in his homeland and Saudi Arabia without informing his employees. When that was pointed out at the press briefing introducing Zivadinovic, the journalists who asked the question were called detractors.

The latest questions about Mariano Barreto has shocked Koufie and outraged him. “What do Ghanaians want?, he asked. “Is anybody suggesting that I would travel with the Minister of state and deliberately do a bad deal for Ghana?”

Nothing like that has been suggested yet. But its been said in various circles even before Barreto comes into town that he is not the sort of person who can provide the leadership Ghana wants in her search for a place at the 2006 African Nations Cup and the World Cup.

Koufie and his men at the FA obviously disagree. A statement from the FA said it would be glad to receive any information about the coach and a marketing agency Foot Elite-Intercontract Marketing, which will be helpful to the Association before the final contracts are signed before the end of this month.

But it appears the FA is settled on the nature of information it wants. In the same statement, it says “the public and for that matter the media is kindly advised to desist from publications and utterances which will disturb the smooth transaction.”

The FA’s thinking is that people are up to some mischief because their favourites didn’t get a look. But that clearly is ignoring the fundamental issue in this whole Barreto deal.

That core issue is that Ben Koufie and his men are handing Ghana Football over to a man without the required experience at the highest level to handle the Black Stars. Barreto might be an assistant at Locomotive Moscow who were Russian champions but the fact that he has spent nearly twenty years in coaching and has never been deemed fit to be the main man makes his choice weird.

The worry therefore for many is that the Black Stars would become something of a guinea pig for Barreto. He would, if he gets the job be taking his first bite as the substantive manager of any team.

But those for Barreto insist he can do a decent job. He himself has described the opportunity as a dream come true. “I always dream of becoming head coach . I have been invited to Ghana where they have a good national side which can achieve a lot”, he said.

To back his case in the face mounting evidence against his employment, Alex Ribero, part of his management group has thrown up an interesting dimension to the argument. It is one that weakens his case or strengthens it depending on where you stand.

He points out that even Carlos Queiroz of almighty Real Madrid comes from a similar background to Barreto’s. They’ve all got this solid background in physical instruction. There is even one example that is closer home. E. K Afranie is astute in physical training. But Afranie has had so much to do with being the substantive coach of so many teams, many even forget his physical education background. The Queiroz that Ribero gladly mentions is famed in Portugal for his part in Portugal’s dominance of youth football in the late 80’s and early nineties and then his role as the coach of Sporting Lisbon afterwards.

Before taking over at Real, he had been in charge of South Africa, qualifying then for the world cup before a fall out with SAFA forced him out. So yes a physical education background does not disqualify anyone from becoming a coach but how many serious countries would let their national teams become the first point of call for anyone wanting to take the first step into serious coaching?

The next few days would determine if Ghana wants to be known as such.

It’s been a while since Africa shed its image as the continent where foreign coaches cut their teeth in big time management. Now many African countries including high rising Mali, Burkina Faso and Senegal all sign coaches who have some really good experience from such places as the French first division.

And while Ghana cannot claim a status so glamorous, this country’s football deserves a coach who wouldn’t be learning on the job. At least when we call up our players, we call up names who play some of Europe’s best clubs and under some of the finest coaches.

We might be down but Ghana deserves better than a coach who has no idea what being the main man in terms of coaching is like.