GFA - Jones Smoke Peace Pipe

The uneasy relationship that existed between officials of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) on one hand, and the coach of the Black Stars, Jones Attuquayefio on the other, has given way to that of cordiality.

At a meeting held behind closed doors at the FA's secretariat last Tuesday between the chairman of the three-man Management Board of the FA, Mr. Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Mr. Attuquayefio and the team's Welfare Officer, Mr. Cudjoe Fianoo, both parties according to Mr. Owusu-Ansah decided to let bygones be bygones and put up a united front to ensure that the Black Stars whose pride has been badly punctured in recent times, win all their remaining matches.

Speaking to the Asante Kotoko Express after the meeting, Mr. Owusu-Ansah said the decision to work in unison was reached after the coach had rendered an apology for lashing out at the GFA for not supporting him and the team in the run-up to the Black Stars' crucial World Cup qualifier against the Super Eagles of Nigeria last Sunday. He noted that contrary to remarks made by the coach before and after the match to the effect that the GFA left him and the team in the lurch by failing to grant his request for a clip on the Super Eagles, the football federation made efforts to get him the clip.

According to him, when Attuquayefio made the request, it was referred to the Technical Directorate of the association, which made contacts with the Nigerian High Commission in Ghana with the view to getting a more recent clip on the Nigerians. He intimated that when that proved futile and Mr. Fred Osam-Duodu, the Technical Director of the GFA found a 1992 clip on the Nigerians, an alternative arrangement was made to send Mr. Oti Akenteng to Lome on a spying mission to give the coach a feedback on the Nigerians. Mr. Owusu-Ansah therefore wondered why after receiving the information from Oti Akenteng, Attuquayefio cried wolf over the unavailability of a clip after the match.