Former Sports Minister Edwin Nii Lante Vanderpuye contends that decision-makers at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) “should have been gone by now” following the Black Stars’ disappointing performance at the AFCON 2023 in Ivory Coast, where they crashed out at the group stage.
Ghana finished third in Group B with just two points, showing a marginal improvement compared to the previous edition in Cameroon, where they managed only one point.
Following the elimination, Chris Hughton was dismissed, and the technical team disbanded. However, Vanderpuye, like many others, doubts that a change in technical direction is the ultimate solution.
Speaking on Hot Issues on TV3, Vanderpuye criticised the association for not addressing the root cause of the team’s recent struggles, opting instead to focus on finding a new coach.
The former sports commentator, now a Member of Parliament for the Odododiodio constituency, called for substantial changes and insisted that difficult decisions must be made to reform the structure of Ghanaian football.
He believes that without such changes, the country will continue to falter in major tournaments, and even the appointment of renowned world coaches like Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp, and Carlo Ancelotti won’t rescue the West African nation.
“The GFA cannot sit there and tell me today they formed a committee to find us a new coach. They have already fired five, but they are still sitting there. They should’ve gone by now. 45 matches, they have won 16; they’ve lost 17 and drawn 12, isn’t it a failure? Is below average below average. They’ve lost more than they won,” he asserted.
“So in other jurisdictions, people should be chasing the GFA now. Why should the GFA always be sitting there and always push the coaches out? Look at me, I know that there were so many deficiencies with the way Chris Hughton handled the team. But let me tell you point blank, even if we bring Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp, Jose Mourinho, and [Carlo] Ancelotti, and we don’t change the way our football has been structured, we don’t take difficult decisions to deal with people who are benefiting at the expense of our national football. They will fail just as Chris Hughton has failed.”