Remove Appiah As Ghana Head Coach - Sports Callers Association Scream Out

By Nana Bentsi Oduro

THE Sports Callers of Ghana (SCA) has called for the removal of Black Stars head coach Kwesi Appiah, describing him as 'incompetent ' and incapableof managing the team after the Stars' shock Round of 16 exit at the just-ended Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) competition in Egypt.

The group believed that the second coming of Appiah has been a disaster to the senior side and therefore called on the Normalisation Committee to re-assign him to the role of a technical director until he exhausts his binding contract, reported to end in December 2019.

They cited prominent decisions such as the removal of former Assistant Maxwell Konadu, the switch of the captain's armband from Asamoah Gyan to Andre Dede Ayew, the call-up of over 60 players during the AFCON qualifiers and also his failure to find an antidote to Ghana's long-standing deficiency in penalty kicks as some of the factors why the former Asante Kotoko coach should be replaced.

The group contended that Appiah had the opportunity to work under ex-coaches of the side and therefore had no excuse not to end the nation's 37 years AFCON trophy drought when constant assurances were given that he had groomed the best team over his two years tenure for that task.

A call on Normalisation Committee Chair Dr Kofi Amoah to make good on his promise of relieving Appiah of his post if he failed to deliver the ultimate.

Addressing a Press Conference in Accra yesterday, the National Chairman of the group, Nkoo Joseph, also touched on issues of the NC and the Sports Ministry.

He said the Normalisation Committee had failed drastically on their mandate and warned that his outfit was planning to hit the streets in protest against the NC if they fail to pay in full monies allotted the NC Tier 1competition winners Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Tier 2 competition winners, Ashantigold.

The national president also entreated the NC to quickly provide road-map and timelines for the Ghana Football Association (GFA) elections to serve as a guideline to aspirants eyeing the seat.

The sports pressure group also opined that the Black Stars players, per their constant demands for increase of bonuses, were using the team for business and therefore called on the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA) to tax their bonuses as well as the bonuses of the technical team and the management.

There was also a call on the Sports Ministry to disclose the expenditure of the team for the tournament on the back of the Sports Minister - Isaac Asiamah's promise of transparency and accountability of his outfit, during his tenure in office.

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