Big issue: How can we fix the Black Stars?

THE senior national team, the Black Stars, are currently struggling to qualify for the next AFCON. Their performance seems to be a reflection of the team's general performance in recent times, with many citizens calling for a total overhaul of the FA together with the team. What is your view on this, and how do we bring back the glory days of the men’s national football team?

George Addo Jnr, Sports Anchor, BBC

I DO not think an overhaul of the FA is the exact answer because per what happened in 2019 with the Anas investigation, we had a big opportunity to overhaul the system and change the face of everything. But now, we are moving to even more difficult challenges so I don’t think it is really about personnel. I think it’s about creating structures.
It is the long-term ideas that I think are lost because all our approaches have been short-term.
I think we have to start taking care of talents right at the base of the football hierarchy and that is the only way to go about it.
When you look around the world, every country doing well today had a 10-year project or a continuous programme where young players were roped into systems where they were taught the technical aspects of the game. They grow with passion and love for the country so it is easy for them to play well whenever they get a call-up.
My point is even if we overhaul the FA today, we do not have structures that will ensure that there is going to be a long-term plan that we will stick to. There is no plan, our youth teams are struggling and juvenile football in the country is still limping and there is no way it will begin to show up there.

Ken Bediako, Retired Sports Journalist

OFFICIALS of the GFA seem to be only interested in making money as their concentration appears to be forming clubs of their own in a bid to sell players abroad for profit.
Instead of seeing to the proper organisation of the Premier league to groom talents, they delight in fishing for birth certificates of foreign-based players of Ghanaian parentage; most of whom were visiting the country for the first time and regarded their invitation as doing a favour to the nation.
Past Stars such as Abedi Pele, Tony Yeboah, Asamoah Gyan, Michael Essien, Sulley Muntari and Stephen Appiah cut their teeth in the domestic league before going abroad to hit international headlines.
The growing number of football academies must be harnessed by the FA without discrimination and true talents will be discovered. 
There should also be a sustained programme to train local coaches to help discover talented players nationwide. We need not overhaul the team.

Charles Osei Assibey, General Secretary, Sports Writers Association of Ghana

THE Black Stars is our flagship national team and it makes every Ghanaian happy when they are playing. Normally when you are experiencing a down or low time and you do not take time to do an intrinsic check to see exactly what is happening and to fix the problem, you make a lot of mistakes and you will never be able to fix the problem. 
Beyond the down cycle I feel that we are also having issues of personal glory, self-interest and arrogance on the part of leadership. Our major problem, if there is, is arrogance on the part of leadership and then self-interest on the part of the playing body.
So it is just about ego and I feel that we must put egos aside and come together and work as a football nation and get things right.
I do not see why minnows in football should be able to beat Ghana. We should check the personal glory and self-interest and we will be able to deal with the situation.
There are people in the team who think that everything should be about them and I think there should be an orientation for the playing body, management and others, but it is not necessary for us to press the panic button yet. 

Muftawu Nabila Abdulai, Sports Anchor, Multimedia Group

THE inconsistency in performance, coupled with the failure to develop and nurture young talent, has left the team without a clear identity or direction.
In my view, while a revamp of the FA is necessary, it must be done strategically. Leadership at the FA has a responsibility to establish long-term plans that focus on grassroots football development. 
Moreover, the technical direction of the Black Stars needs to be examined. We must build a cohesive team that blends experienced players with fresh talent, not rely on short-term fixes or foreign coaches who may lack understanding of the local football landscape. 
Let me not hesitate to add that, we need a psychologist, set-piece coaches, etc to strengthen the team.
A national football identity must be re-established, one that aligns with the country’s rich football history.
To bring back the glory days, we need a collective effort—starting from the grass roots, involving the fans, and ensuring the FA operates with transparency and accountability. It is only through a united, long-term vision that we can restore the Black Stars to their former prominence.

Humul Khrusum Tahiru, Sports Anchor A1 Radio, Tamale
I think there should be a round table discussion regarding the happenings in our Black Stars and our football in general. We need to have every government institution that matters, the Ghana football Association, football administrators and if possible a few supporters to sit down and look at the general performance of the Black Stars over the past six years and what it is that we have not done and what we should do as a nation to get things right.
We have a number of things that have to be looked at and address. If you look at the infrastructure of this country, it is really embarrassing. We call ourselves football nation and well respected out there but it embarrassing when we have to play games and these games are on TV and the field looks so bad. It doesn’t represent us in a good way at all.
We have had some political parties or governments construct a number of astro turfs across the country but they Have not been constructed in a manner that they can be used for competitive games. I know they might have a different motive but how about getting one standard sports stadium where we have everything like fitness centre, hostels, constant internet services, basically a world class stadium like what we have in Morocco, Egypt and the rest.
We should also look at our style of maintenance. Even the few ones that we have how well do we maintain them and what have we turned them into? Venues for events?  So we should look at that as well.
I also feel that there has been a great divide at the Ghana Football Association. Some many people are sitting on the fence now and just watching how things will go. People might deny that it is not true but that is what is happening. People sit behind their TVs waiting for the Black Stars to fail just because of a certain posture that somebody has demonstrated or something that somebody said that they are not happy about. 
We need to as a nation re-look at our style of administration and there should be an inclusive style where everybody feels a part of the football family. It should not be victimization. People should be free to express themselves and when they give constructive criticisms, we take them in good faith rather than victimizing people and tagging people as enemies of progress. So I think that the GFA should re-look at their style and begin to have a united front where everybody will see themselves as members of the football association and administration that they will be willing to suggest ideas which will better the team.
We have not also done well when it comes to transition. I feel that we have been able to identify talented players at various levels but how well did we manage these players transiting from one stage of their career to the other. 
national discourse. There could even be a regional discussion, where every region, through the Regional Football Associations will come out with ideas which they think that when it is implemented will help us address these issues.