adminACCRA. — Former Ghana coach says the government’s inconsistent promises to players regarding the payment of the appearance fee is what led to the player agitations at the World Cup soccer finals in Brazil.
Appiah was speaking at the ongoing Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the country’s disgraceful performance at Brazil 2014. The 54-year-old told the commission, led by Justice Senyo Dzamefe, an Appeals Court judge that Ghana’s players had been willing to let the insistence on money go if the authorities had been honest with them. “There was one of the meetings when a player said that ‘why can’t you tell us that the money is not coming now … so that we all put our mind off it, but day in day out, every meeting, they say the money is coming.” The commission has been sitting for just over three weeks and is due to end in November.
The former Ghana national team coach also blamed the agitations on the treatment meted out to the players by the FA and the Ministry.
“ . . . these players are all grown up and they are very intelligent so once you deal with them and you treat them as kids, automatically, they will not take it kindly.”
There were reports from Brazil that the Black Stars were agitating over government’s delay in paying their appearance fees.
This led to a holding up of the senior national team’s departure for Brasilia where they were scheduled to play their final group match against Portugal on June 26.
The agitations forced the government to airlift US$3 million on a chartered flight to Brazil.
The then Deputy Sports Minister, Joseph Yamin, explained that the money delayed due to a dis- agreement over the mode of payment and securing landing rights for the chartered plane carrying the money to the senior national team. – Supersport.com.
Online Reporter