An Accra based football administrator, Mr Daniel Asare, has urged football fans and members of the senior national team, the Black Stars not to fear change but rather embrace it.
He was speaking in relation to recent happenings in the Black Stars regarding the change and appointment of a new captain for the Black Stars that led to an earlier decision of Captain Asamoah Gyan to retire from international duty.
Although Gyan rescinded the decision after a presidential intervention, Mr Asare, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Sportnet Ghana expressed surprise at the response Coach Akwesi Appiah’s decision attracted.
In his view, a captain of a team can be changed at anytime at the coach’s behest, adding that, ‘This is something our players, especially Asamoah Gyan must know and accept.”
He said in some instances, coaches give players the chance to select or nominate a few players they believe can lead them but coaches have the final say.
And as Ghana prepares for the next AFCON, Mr Asare noted that it was important issues over captaincy and player selection do not derail Ghana’s preparation for the continental showpiece.
“A captain of a team is not an ordinary player. He must be somebody the players trust and have absolute faith in. He must also be somebody the coach can trust and take decisions with; so if Appiah says he wants a new captain, that decision would surely not have come from a vacuum.”
“As fans, we must be thinking about encouraging all to leave the coach to do his work independently and free from any form of interference. If the coach decides to make Gyan a General Captain and appoint a new captain, then so be it,” he said.
He condemned the earlier decision of the Stars skipper to call it quit on his international career on the basis of being made a General Captain instead of the Captain of the team, insisting that, it was a wrong move by the leading Stars striker.
“Coach Kwesi Appiah has a vision and in achieving it, he must plan towards it. Gyan must accept that there are other players who are equally good as him to captain the Black Stars so if the coach calls for a change, he (Gyan) must embrace it.”
Mr Asare urged Coach Appiah to be firm and fair in naming a formidable team capable of winning the AFCON in Egypt.
BY ANDREW NORTEY
