Kwesi Nyantakyi Kicks Against Management Committees Imposing Players On National Team Coaches

Ex-Ghana Football Association president Kwesi Nyantakyi says there's nothing wrong with management committee members recommending players for the national teams but warns it should not be abused.

Nyantakyi who was in-charge of Ghana Football for 13 years recalls how this phenomenon when done properly can help the country's international football.

''For me, it's no excuse for a coach to succumb to any form of pressure,'' Nyantakyi spoke on GTV Sports Plus.

''Coaches are professionals just like any other professional who are employed to do their work just as architects, engineers, surveyors and teachers and their professionalism must be respected by all.

''Their independence of judgements must be respected by all. At the end of the day, if a coach allows the FA president or somebody else-even outside the FA- to influence him to take a decision which is not his, the buck stops with him. He takes responsibility for it

''There's nothing wrong with me either as FA president suggesting to him 'Go and look at this person- I'm not saying that he's the best but go and look at him' and decide yourself whether he's worth coming into the r team.

''I have done that  few times. One time when David Duncan was handling the U17 team, I met him by chance at the GFA and I said: '' Coach I have heard that there's a young man at Heart of Lions called Sadat Bukari. Go and look at him, I learnt he can help you. Later Duncan came to me and said Mr chairman, thank you very much, you got me my No.10.

''At another time, CK Akonnor was playing in Randers, Denmark, he recommended to us that there was a young man called Francis Dickoh who was good and thought we should look at him. We asked our coaches to look at him and then bring him. There's nothing wrong with that.

''But there's everything wrong with a case [I won't mention names] in which the management committee for one of the national teams decided to allot slots to themselves- that each management committee member should bring two players to the camp and the confusion broke out when the coach went to train players and found new faces on the field of play so he abandoned training and took a car straight to the GFA to come and report to the GFA president that this is what has happened at camp.

''We investigated and realized that the management committee members probably had good intentions to augment the strength of the team, however, the way and manner they went about it as if every member had the right to recommend a player.

''I always told coaches if you chose a player because of me and you fail, you will be fired.''