Paintsil: Appiah’s expertise needed in Black Stars

Ex-Black Stars player, John Paintsil, is rooting for the inclusion of Coach Kwasi Appiah in the technical team of the senior national team to help the Head Coach, Chris Hughton, understand the local football culture.

While lauding the appointment of Chris Hughton as the national team coach, Paintsil was of the view that the rich experience gathered by Coach Appiah with the national team over the years would be crucial to Hughton’s success.

Local experience

The 41-year-old Paintsil, who made 89 appearances for the senior national team as a right-back, said with Hughton's limited knowledge of the local players, he would need the experience of Appiah to help shepherd him through this unfamiliar terrain.

''What I am suggesting is for them to add Kwasi Appiah so that he can help them going forward because all of them don’t know Ghana football culture. We have a football culture,” stated Paintsil, who played under Appiah during his time with the national team both as the assistance coach and the head coach.

Appiah was the only local coach to have applied for the vacant coaching job until the appointment of 64-year-old Hughton who was Technical Advisor to the national team during the six-month reign of Otto Addo. For Paintsil, having discovered the likes of Mohammed Kudus and others in the current Black Stars squad, Appiah would be well-placed to be part of the team’s backroom staff.

Appointing Hughton as head coach, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) announced George Boateng and Mas-Ud Didi Dramani as assistants to ensure the continuity of the same architecture Addo was in charge of in the lead-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

Right choice

Paintsil described the appointment as good since Hughton had acquired so much experience coaching in the English Premier League.

''Hughton is a very strict coach but he is also a very nice man and he is more experienced as well. For me, he just needs Kwasi Appiah to help him because when you look at the national team now, it was Appiah who brought Kudus and the others into the team.

''Kwasi Appiah has been with the team for more than 10 years, so if you are a coach and you want to make it and you think you don’t know much about Ghanaian football culture, then I think it will be wise to stretch a hand of invitation to him to come and help,” Paintsil reiterated.