The Ghana Football Association (GFA) Communications Director Mr. Ibrahim Saani Daara has refuted assertions that the Coach of the Black Stars Avram Grant is a lazy coach.
According to the Communication Director, even though his outfit would prefer Grant to spend most of his time in the Country, his absence does not mean he was a lazy coach.
He said, the coach had invited talented players like Baba Rahman, Kwesi Appiah and Daniel Amartey and gave them the opportunity to exhibit their skills under his tutelage and wondered why he was being tagged as "lazy".
Last month, Welbeck Abra-Appiah, Chairman of the Premier League Board (PLB) criticized the Black Stars trainer for being lazy for not scouting local talents to beef up his squad.
However, Saani Daara disagreed with the claims, saying that, no lazy Coach can achieve results and mentioned his impressive showing at the last Africa Cup of Nations campaign in Equatorial Guinea, where Ghana emerged second after losing to Ivory Coast on penalties.
He said ‘‘we don’t think Grant is a lazy coach. Laziness doesn’t breed success. Grant took over the national team a month to Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and reached the finals when the team was at its lowest ebb with no much support from Ghanaians and he went through a difficult campaign.
"We had talents that we did not know before, talents who previously were not given the chance like Baba Rahman, Daniel Amartey, Kwesi Appiah and others, but they are now household names.
"Just a few days ago, he was named as the best international manager of the year, at the 2015 Best of Africa ceremony in London. That won’t happen to a lazy coach. We might have differences about his absence, but the GFA wants Avram to stay in the country most of the time. But that doesn’t mean he is a lazy coach’’. He stated.
He noted that ‘‘when it comes to player selections, we cannot all select one common team. Everyone will have different views. Avram is the head coach of the team and if the team succeeds we will hold him high and praise him and if it doesn’t go well for him, we are at liberty to question him’’.
Mr. Saani Daara believes that, the coach would want to do his best and not spoil his own record, adding that ‘‘Avram is committed to his job and would focus and ensure that we qualify for the world cup’’.
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