Let FIFA help in the search for world class coach

Kumasi, Nov 2, GNA - A football administrator has suggested to the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports and the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to seek the assistance of FIFA in the search for a competent and world-class foreign coach for the Black Stars.

Mr J. Abbey Pobee, Chairman of Neoplan Stars Football Club who made the suggestion said Ghana needed a coach who will be worth 100,000 dollars as his signing on fees and 30,000 dollars as his monthly salary. The suggestion which was contained in a statement issued in Kumasi on Monday said such a coach should be contracted for only the remaining five World Cup qualifying matches.

"We can go into agreement with the coach to be paid 50,000 dollars out of the 100,000 dollars signing on fees for him to start the job and to receive the remaining 50,000 dollars if he qualifies the Black Stars to the 2006 World Cup tournament.

Mr Pobee assigned his reasons for the suggestion to information he received from a reliable source that all the teams that will qualify for the 2006 World Cup finals will receive 8.21 million dollars each as appearance fees.

He said if such money will be available why can't the authorities spend about 500,000 dollars on a world class coach for the remaining five matches to get the Black Stars to qualify and appear at the World Cup, he queried.

Mr Pobee drew attention to a statement issued by the foreign-based members of the Black Stars in Accra sometime ago when the debate as to whether to engage a foreign coach or a local coach was raging on to the effect that for the sake of continuity and modern techniques in football, they preferred a foreign coach to handle the team.

He said the players also said that since first class coaches were coaching them in their respective clubs in Europe, they did not want their style of play to be altered by any local coach.

Mr Pobee said, however, that the lower national teams comprising the Under-17, 20 and 23 sides should rather be given to local coaches to handle and stop the practice of adding the coaching of these categories to the work of the foreign coach of the senior national team.

He said other responsibilities of the coach should include organising seminars and coaching clinics for the local coaches and more importantly visiting the league centres to scout for players to form the nucleus of the local Black Stars team who can represent the nation in future tournaments when the foreign based players were not available at short notice.