Former Black Stars player Laryea Kingston has urged the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to give ex-Black Stars players a bigger role in the national team setup.
“The authorities are trying to make it look like it is happening, but it is not clear yet. It is not deliberate enough. It should be a proper project.
All the names you have mentioned — myself, Essien, John Paintsil — we have played the game and are now moving into coaching.
The federation should sit us down and tell us, ‘This is the project. This is the kind of education and development we want.’ Some of us have already educated ourselves.
I got my UEFA A Licence five years ago. I completed my B Licence, and now I have my CAF B Licence.
I am almost done with my CAF A Licence because I am working in Africa now and I need that qualification to be eligible to work across the continent.
Some of us, like Michael Essien, have also completed European coaching badges, and John Paintsil has collected his badges as well.
But we are financing all of this by ourselves.
Some of us can afford it, but where are the opportunities for us to challenge ourselves further?
I believe the FA is in a position to provide those opportunities, or at least sit us down and help us understand that this is a long-term project.
Build us up so that we can represent the country from the youth systems to the senior national team.
It should become a proper project. Sit down with us and say, ‘We have five years, six years, or 10 years. You four or five coaches are part of this project.’
Then, as we move forward, you assess our strengths because everyone has their own strengths.
Someone can develop to a certain level and then reach their limit.
During that period, you evaluate everyone, and whoever you believe has the ability to handle the first team when the time is right, you give him that opportunity.”
Credit: 3SPORTS
