Ghana Football Association (GFA) has reportedly reached a compromise with the Sports Ministry for manager Chris Hughton to handle the senior national team, Black Stars.
According to several reports, there was a meeting on Friday, February 4 between the GFA and the Sports Ministry in which they reached an agreement to settle on Hughton as the new coach of the Black Stars.
Hughton will be announced as Milovan Rajevac’s successor in the coming days and will be in charge of next month’s World Cup play-off against Nigeria.
3news.com understands that there have been a lot of movements in the last 24 hours concerning who becomes the coach.
As reported earlier, Otto Addo was GFA’s choice while the government were keen on Hughton.
Otto Addo was set to be named interim coach for the Nigeria game.
This followed a meeting in Germany between the former Ghana international and GFA officials, including president Kurt Okraku.
The GFA also met Dortmund who agreed to allow their assistant coach, Otto Addo, to travel to Ghana and lead the Black Stars against West African rivals in late March.
However, the GFA have backed down and accepted the government’s choice.
Hughton arrived in Ghana last week for the holidays but was immediately linked with the job.
3news.com sources claim Hughton has friends in high positions in government, and they took him to meet President Nana Akufo-Addo at the Jubilee House in Accra early this week.
The president reportedly assured Hughton of the job.
GFA Vice President Mark Addo is mentioned as the Association’s rep, in the absence of Kurt who is still in Germany, as authorities negotiated with Hughton in Accra over the top job.
Addo spoke with Hughton even before Friday’s meeting, according to reports.
The GFA did not push through their will because they fear the repercussions if Otto Addo does not succeed in qualifying the team to the World Cup.
Already, the GFA know they are currently not in the good books of Ghanaians after their choice of Rajevac backfired.
Rajevac supervised Ghana’s worst Afcon campaign, and the GFA was forced to sack him.
Hughton, born in London to a Ghanaian father and an Irish mother, has a wealth of experience in top-level football management.
Hughton has coached Newcastle United, Norwich City and Brighton, all in the Premier League, after starting his coaching career as a caretaker at Tottenham Hotspur in 1997. He once served as assistant coach of the Republic of Ireland.
As a former footballer, Hughton represented the Republic of Ireland. He made 53 appearances and scored one goal.
Source: 3news.com|Ghana