Ghana FA chief reveals management not behind 'excessive' demands of Black Stars

By Kwabena Boadu
Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi has refuted rumours that management members were behind the incessant demands by players of the Black Stars for $100, 000 as appearance fee.

Though the GFA management team has insisted that it tried all it could to convince the players to be quite considerate, some members of the public were of the view that they could have hidden behind the players to make such demands since they will also receive part of the appearance fees.

But GFA president Kwesi Nyantakyi, who appeared before the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the 2014 World Cup on Wednesday, denied such rumours and reiterated that indeed they supported the state's stance on issues relating to appearance fees and questioned the suggestions since it was not only management negotiating with the players as the government was directly involved in the negotiations.

“There are rumours to the effect that management members are behind  the players demands but what people do not know is that the negotiations  were not only  done by the GFA but by the government.

“We met the players together and presented the offer that the state was ready to pay but they were not ready to accept the $ 82, 500”, the GFA president told the Justice Dzamefe-led commission.

The GFA President mentioned the two government representatives Kojo Adu Asare and Minister of State at the Presidency, Mustapha Ahmed, who together with GFA officials met the players in Montenegro to communicate the amount government had decided on to the players but noted that despite all efforts, the Stars' refused to back down on their earlier demands.

“Indeed, at that meeting with the players, Hon. Adu Asare even went out of his way to propose $90,000 and said he would convince the Chief of Staff to agree to it, but the players still rejected it,” he said.

The President of the GFA indicated that it was indeed unfortunate for people to think the FA pushed the players to make demands since it was FA members who suffered the most from the delay in the delivering the demands of the players, citing the attack on Moses Armah Parker and the constant abuses they suffered from players.