GFA must sit up

The decision of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) not to apologise to Ghanaians after the Black Stars' failure in major international competitions is becoming one too many. 

More than a week after Ghana's ignominious first round exit from the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cote d'Ivoire, the GFA is yet to officially apologise to the nation, which is highly unacceptable.

Paradoxically, the same GFA saw the need to immediately dissolve the Black Stars technical team headed by Chris Hughton following the team’s dismal performance at the tournament.

That move was followed by the announcement of a five-member search committee to find Coach Hughton's replacement within three weeks.

But the question is, if the GFA Executive Council (ExCo) could take those drastic measures within 72 hours in a bid to fill the void created by the absence of Hughton and his backroom staff, what stopped it from simply apologising to Ghanaians whose national team they are managing?

The FA's attitude smacks of disrespect to the whole nation and it is high time the association was called to order!

Come to think of it, a similar thing happened when the Black Stars suffered that humiliating first round elimination at the 2021 AFCON in Cameroun two years ago.

And when disappointed Ghanaians expected an official apology for that failure, the FA president, Kurt Okraku, cheekily asked Ghanaians to produce any Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo they knew of who could change the fortunes of the senior national team.

As the GFA leadership struggles to render an apology for Ghana's disgraceful outing in Cote d'Ivoire, it is refreshing to note that some Black Stars players have shown maturity by apologising for letting Ghanaians down on their respective social media handles.

We strongly believe that is the way to go, especially where the national team is run with the taxpayer's money.

The Daily Graphic takes a strong exception to the GFA's show of disrespect to the entire nation anytime the national team fails at tournaments and states categorically that the football association can no longer take Ghanaians for granted.

The previous GFA administration under whose tenure the Black Stars performed far better with three successive FIFA World Cup appearances, back-to-back AFCON semi-final records and two finals in 2010 and 2015, always apologised to Ghanaians anytime they fell below expectation.

We urge the current administration to take a cue from that administration to avoid any unnecessary backlash in future.

It is in that same spirit that we admonish the GFA to be circumspect in its effort to appoint a new coach for the Black Stars.

This is against the backdrop of the fact that this administration has hired four coaches in five years, which does not augur well for a soccer-loving nation such as Ghana.

For the records, Charles Kwabla Akonnor was the first to be appointed following the expiry of Kwasi Appiah's contract, followed by Milovan Rajevac, Otto Addo and Chris Hughton.

Obviously, the high turnover of coaches within this short period has not helped our cause.

That is why we urge the GFA to tread cautiously in order to secure a competent coach who can restore the Black Stars’ fortunes over a long period of time.

This should be backed by the right investments.

Though a section of Ghanaians are not in favour of the search committee headed by the chairman of the Black Stars Management Committee, Mark Addo, we entreat the entire nation to support the process in diverse ways to help achieve the common goal of finding a results-oriented coach we can all be proud of in years to come.

Of course, time is not on our side as we have the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers awaiting us in June.