One of Ghana�s most decorated coaches at club level, Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, appears to have been totally forgotten by the entire nation.
Now rendered frail by throat cancer, the former coach, who was once a highly celebrated hero across the length and breadth of the country and beyond, now virtually scrounges to get by.
The crippling grip of throat cancer oozes health out of him with each passing day.
His legendary achievements include winning the CAF Champions League and the CAF Super Cup in the year 2000. The former Liberty Professionals coach was a member of the Black Stars team that won the African Cup in Tunisia in 1965. �Air� Cecil Jones Attuquayefio, as he is affectionately called, also managed the Benin National team to the 2004 African nations Cup.
But he is now a direly sick man. He has been battling throat cancer for the past two years and has so far undergone three medical operations. The authorities appear to have turned a blind eye to his plight, virtually ignoring the man who returned Ghana to the African soccer heights after a long absence.
Jones Attuquayefio told �The Globe� newspaper in an interview at his residence in Accra that he got no support from the nation in battling his ailment. He thought the situation is the opposite for some of his contemporaries who are also battling cancer. For example, former England and Newcastle manager, Sir Bobby Robson battled cancer for several years and was not forgotten by both club and country. He received support from all sectors due to his good work and commitment to the sport.
Now a pale shadow of himself, a rather frail Attuquayefio welcomed The Globe into his Kaneshie residence and could only manage a feeble handshake with the Reporter. The former coach looked weak and spoke with difficulty. He kept shifting about in his chair to ease the pangs that strucks his nerves. Virtually every sentence he spoke was accompanied by a painful cough.
�It is unfortunate that in football, we do not have any future�, he said plaintively, adding that �My main source of surviving is my own personal savings which I was able to save during my coaching career.
�Liberty Professionals Football Club have been very instrumental in paying for my hospital bills, but the majority of the bill is borne by me. If anybody will offer me support, I will receive it wholeheartedly but I wouldn�t ask anybody for anything because I think that I served my country, I served clubs and if they deem it fit or necessary to offer me any support I will be willing to have it but for now there hasn�t been anything�.
He praised the late Alhaji Sly Tetteh, describing him as �one man who showed so much care. �
�Alhaji Tetteh aided me consistently with my hospital bills. He was here with me on the Friday before he died on Saturday. He visited me more than anybody else I can think of and was more concerned with my problem than anybody I can think of.
�He invested so much in my hospital bills and it came as a great shock when I heard about his death,� a sad Attuquayefio said with his head bowed down.
�Sly was a man of vision and I know his spirit will live with the team and provoke the interest of the team. �
Cecil Jones Attuquayefio Profile
PLAYING CAREER:
1962 - 65 - A member of Ghana's students international football team and at the same time a member of the Ghana Academicals team.
1962 --63 - Played for Accra Standfast F/C, a first division team
1963 --65 - Ghana Republicans F/C
1966 --74 - Accra Great Olympics F/C
INTERNATIONAL CAREER:
1965 --74 - A member of the team that won the African Cup of Nations in 1965 and was also among in the squads that participated in the finals of the African Cup in 1968 and 1970.
ADMINISTRATION:
1982 --84 - Rose through the ranks of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to the position of Vice Chairman of the Association.
1995 --97 - Deputy General Secretary GFA
COACHING CAREER:
1974 --84 - Started with Accra Great Olympics where he was the head coach.
1985 --87 - Assistant coach of the senior national team, the Black Stars
1988 --90 - Coached Okwawu United then later moved to Cote d' Ivoire to handle Stade Abidjan.
1990 --95 - Returned to manage Goldfields Football club and Academy, and during his tenure the Obuasi team dominated the local scene winning the Premier League three times on the run.
1996 - Assisted coach Sam Arday to take the National Under-23 soccer team, the Black Meteors to the Atlanta Olympic Games where they won bronze medal.
1998 --99 - Coached the National Under-17 team, the Black Starlets to win the African Under-17 Cup in Guinea and followed it up to win bronze at the World Under-17 tournament in New Zealand in 1999.
1998 --2001 - Engaged by Hearts of Oak and assisted the team to win four League championships and two Knockout trophies.
2000 -- Won the CAF Champions League to give Hearts its first and only continental title in their 93 years existence. In the same year, he was given an additional responsibility of coaching the senior national team, the Black Stars through the Japan/Korea 2002 World Cup qualifying series.
2001 -- He again chalked another first in the annals of Ghana soccer when he led Hearts to beat Zamalek to win the CAF Super Cup at the Kumasi Sports Stadium. The same year he was fired as coach of the Black Stars after a string of poor results.
2002 -- Left Hearts of Oak and joined Dansoman-based Liberty Professionals briefly.
2003 -- He was named coach of the Benin National team, the Squirrels and in that same year qualified them to their first Africa Nation's Cup finals.
2004 -- Led Benin to their first Africa Nations Cup appearance in Tunisia. After the tournament, he left Benin for Ghana claiming that the Benin FA had failed to fulfil its financial obligations to him as stipulated the contract. He has since resigned from the position as the head coach of Benin.
AWARDS:
1973 - MOV. Member of the Order of Volta (Civil Division Ghana)
2001 - Was named the African Coach of the year for 2000 for leading Hearts to win their fist Continental trophy and also won the SWAG Coach of the year award.
He was again awarded the Nana Kumi Gyamfi's Best Coach Award for guiding Hearts to win the league for the fifth time on the trot at the "Star/GFA Gala Awards Night, 2001".
Source: Nana Afrane Asante/The Globe
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