Expectations of Chris Hughton’s tenure

Chris Hughton ticked all the boxes, hit the right buttons and gave the appropriate responses, with sound bites that will be music to the ears of many a fan and the media.

 At his unveiling yesterday as the head coach of the Black Stars, the 64-year-old coach was very clear on his mandate and the high expectation of Ghanaians as he gave insights into how he hoped to steer affairs during his 21-month contract period, with a promise to turn around the national team’s fortunes.

He was confident that he had the right support from the Ghana Football Association (GFA), his employers, to ensure a successful tenure.

As the technical advisor to the Black Stars technical team from March to December last year, Ghanaians had long expected the experienced coach to take over the national team. So there was a mix of excitement and cautious optimism when he was confirmed as successor to Otto Addo, with his appointment seen as a smooth transition and a determined effort by the FA to build on the positives of the World Cup squad.

Yesterday, Hughton sounded very optimistic about his tenure and looked unruffled by the weight of expectation of Ghanaians, who have a high regard of him as an elite coach with a wealth of experience at the highest level of football to take the right decisions and also have the boldness to ward off external influences in order to succeed.

Next Thursday, when he leads the Black Stars against Angola at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi in the first of back-to-back African Cup of Nations qualifiers, Hughton knows that Ghanaians not only expect Ghana to qualify for the tournament as a matter of course but also win the competition in Cote d’Ivoire to banish a 42-year continental title drought.

Qualifying for and winning the next AFCON are prime targets set for the coach, including a successful 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign.

These are also realistic expectations of Ghanaians, who now expect Hughton to put his words into action and get off to a winning start on Thursday.

Expectedly, Hughton said his aim was to build a competitive side capable of competing for trophies in future competitions, but added that inasmuch as he was determined to work to the best of his ability to get the best out of his players, he could not guarantee a trophy for Ghana.

Surely, no coach can guarantee a trophy, particularly the AFCON, but for a country whose last continental success dates back to 1982 as Africa’s first four-time champion, and having seen other countries overtake her on the table of most successful sides, there is no doubt that Ghanaians expect nothing short of success at the 2024 AFCON, perhaps, even more than qualifying for the next FIFA World Cup.

After missing the trophy three times in 1992, 2010 and 2015, the 2024 AFCON must be a major priority of the FA and the new head coach, and together they must fashion a strategy to ensure success in Cote d’Ivoire next year.

Anything short of that will be seen as a monumental failure on the part of any coach, not least Hughton, whose credentials as a former coach of three English Premier League sides and one-time assistant coach of the Irish national team will be on the line.

With his rich experience, knowledge of the terrain and familiarity with the players, the Daily Graphic expects the coach of Irish and Ghanaian heritage to succeed where his predecessors had failed to justify the huge sacrifices taxpayers will be making to ensure a successful tenure.

Top talents have never been in short supply in the Black Stars and Hughton has at his disposal a pool of gifted young and experienced players plying their trade in the top leagues of Europe around whom to build a solid team hungry for success.

It is also welcome news the assurance by the coach that he would spend a lot of time in Ghana to watch the local leagues and help develop top talents, instead of junketing round the world under the guise of monitoring his foreign-based legion, as was the case with expatriate coaches in the past. It is important that the coach shows a lot of interest in local competitions for those competitions to also benefit from his rich experience in the game.

While the Daily Graphic calls on Ghanaians to exercise patience and support Hughton to build a winsome side over time, it is our expectation that he takes bold and impartial decisions on player selection and team harmony devoid of personal or other third-party interests that can undermine overall team success. He cannot afford to drop the ball.

We wish him a very successful tenure.