Talents alone don’t make a good league

The First Capital Plus Premier League

The self-adulation that characterizes the talk by Ghana Football Association (GFA) officials anytime they speak on the Ghana Premier League (GPL) is one that always fascinates me.

That the GPL is ranked third best in Africa and that it is better than South Africa’s Premier League Soccer (PSL) is a submission that has strongly been forced on us.

On Monday, May 19, 2014 GFA President Kwesi Nyantakyi, speaking in an insightful interview on Joy FM’s Brazil 2014 show said without any equivocation that, in terms of talent and by extension, player quality, the GPL’s is streets ahead of most African leagues including South Africa’s PSL. The FA President made valid points regarding his take on how some people gloss over Ghana’s poor economy to compare our club football to what pertains in England for example.

That comparison (references from England to compare with events in Ghana) has no basis because the English Premier League for example runs in an economy which is significantly stable and more developed than the economy of Ghana, said the FA President.

Factors contributing to the underdevelopment of our football clubs and the GPL can’t be disengaged from the bad state of Ghana’s economy. That, coming from the FA President was important. In developed economies and countries, football clubs aren’t only well-structured, they are also truly professional. They attract best of players and pay them very well.

League bodies in those countries formulate policies which accelerate the development of their leagues. They have adequate resources to support their development. In that case, we cannot overlook economic issues when discussing the development of the GPL. That is why the FA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi was right to say that, until our economy grows to the extent that, clubs can pay their players well, it will always be wrong to compare things here to Europe.

Having made this point, the FA President, thus surprised me when he said that because our league has many good talents, it is in fact, better than the PSL. How is that possible, Mr. President? Do talents alone make a league better? By virtue of his status at CAF, Kwesi Nyantakyi said he was well-informed on the state most African leagues.

The FA President is right but we are all witnesses to what goes on or what exists in other African countries in terms of league football. We can tell that, the GPL is behind in many respects. We ought to focus on improving the standards in organization and stop the self-adulation.

Whatever group that ranked the GPL third best in Africa recently had their own basis but we who closely follow events in the league know better. Let’s stop deceiving ourselves. Yes, we may have the player quality but what else does the GPL has to beat others on the continent?  

Infrastructure-wise, many GPL clubs still play on some terrible pitches. What has been the performance of our clubs in Africa in the last decade or more? What about the marketing and sponsorship issues of the GPL? How much money do our clubs earn from the marketing of the GPL? Does it compare favourably with what clubs in Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Algeria, etc. earn?

Despite being close to the end of the current season, the GFA/PLB have not rewarded last season’s league winner. Is that what happens in a professional Premier League? Isn’t it embarrassing that the FA still haven’t found something to give to the league champion? Where does this happen? I hate to make comparisons but will this be seen in the Tunisian, Moroccan, the Egyptian or South African Premier League which we think we are better than?
 
The GPL has talents but talents are nothing if the right conditions are not there to harness them. Talents add up to nothing if proper structures and resources are not in place to develop them. Talents amount to nothing if after exhibiting them in a whole season, no recognition is given to you like we have seen in the case of Kotoko since last season. Talents alone don’t make a league better, Mr GFA President.

Clubs in Ghana are poorly structured. They are badly managed. They have little or no resources to speed their development. They indeed have no serious plan for growth. I will not actually blame the FA for the poor administrative standards at our clubs but all that go to affect standards in the GPL and why should we be celebrating the poor standards, Mr. President?

13 years after May 9th Stadium Tragedy: Any lessons?

On a radio programme last year to discuss whether or not football fans and indeed the entire country have learnt any lesson, more than a decade after the May 9, 2001 Stadium Disaster; the conclusion was true yet pathetic. Panelists on the radio show – some very good ones – were unanimous in their opinion, that, Ghanaian football fans had learnt nothing from the horrific disaster that claimed 127 lives at the Accra Sports Stadium.

Today, as the country marks 13 years of what was easily the darkest day in Ghana football history, the same question will be asked again. Have we learnt anything worthy from that tragic event? With the litany of football-related violence, that have been seen at our stadiums from the last May 9 anniversary and throughout the last decade, my answer is no.

Our football authorities can talk so much about how well they have been committed to fighting the shameful acts of hooliganism. Numerous examples of how clubs including their officials have been sanctioned or punished for various acts of violence can be cited to back claims stemming hooliganism but to most critical and keen local football enthusiasts like me, again, the answer to that question will still be negative.

In my opinion, nothing has changed in our thoughts and attitudes; commitment and indeed the country’s resolve to shun the very acts that led to the needless deaths on May 9, 2001. It may be too harsh and unfair to describe league centres in Ghana as unsafe. Yet the fact that, the Ghana Football Association (GFA)’s Executive Committee, have in recent times been forced to close stadiums citing insecurity fully convinces me that our league centres are insecure.

That is sad commentary for a country like Ghana – a country that is known for many good things including football and in fact, a country that proudly sees football as its passion. This is the time for every stakeholder of the game in Ghana to wake up to the reality that, not much has been done to fight football-related violence.

No sane Ghanaian would wish that an incident of the magnitude of the May 9 Stadium disaster or even less recurs. However, the plain truth is that, the possibility of a recurrence is high, if the Police look on as brazen miscreants (I don’t call them football fans) but rather social misfits, invade league centres and unleash violence on state property and precious human lives.

It is depressing to recall that, from the last time the May 9 2001 tragedy was commemorated, not only have we seen coaches and players threatened with violence; police vehicles, team buses and sadly, police personnel including referees have additionally been assaulted. Properties running into thousands of Ghana cedis have equally been destroyed.

It is on record that, Referee Kwame Kyei who was mercilessly beaten at the Bordie Park in March this year (and died later) did not die as a result of the assault on him. But the mere fact that a referee can be subjected to such heartless assault does no good to the talk about whether any lesson has been learnt from the May 9 Stadium Tragedy.

The preceding assertion totally indicts the image of Ghana football and all who have the country’s football at heart must be sad! Today, government officials, FA authorities, Hearts and Kotoko representatives, supporters’ leaders, families of the 127 victims, the media, etc. will gather around the May 9 statute at the Accra stadium to commemorate the terrible event.

Sermons will be preached; admonitions will be given on why hooliganism ought to be eschewed; there will be donations for families of the victims and that will be the end. It will end there because, from the first May 9 anniversary till date, that is what the country has been doing.

We haven’t done enough to fight football violence. We have allowed football fans to continue to visiting their violence on state properties and precious human lives. That must end now. My appeal to the FA and the Police is that, proactive measures should be taken at identifying; arresting, prosecuting and where appropriate jailing football hooligans. Otherwise, Ghana will not make any headway in stemming football-related violence.

CHANGE: What Kotoko needs to excel

This is not about personalities. Neither is it about the people nor the individuals managing Kotoko. I know people manage Kotoko but I insist that it is not about them. It is about the systems at Kotoko. It is about the way things are done. It is about our management practices which is isn’t up to scratch yet we expect the club to compete well especially in Africa.

It is about the need for a new and strong leadership to effect the kind of changes millions of Kotoko supporters across the world expect. It is about change. It is about doing the right thing. There is absolutely no doubt that, Kotoko by its history, pedigree and massive following have the potential to be the best in Africa again but certainly not now and not until there are drastic changes in management practices, player and coaching quality as well as the club’s finances.

We shouldn’t deceive ourselves. Kotoko doesn’t have what it takes to win anything in Africa currently until there is a drastic change in the club’s leadership. I am not calling for the change of personalities. I am essentially and strongly asking for a new direction. A total overhaul of the way things have been done at Kotoko and I stress that, until that is done, we may be forced to be content with domestic achievements and not anything significant in Africa.

Football has changed. It is even trite to say it has become scientific. African football clubs that have been successful on the continent in recent times, employed and also resorted to modern, and practical managerial methods which not only yielded results on the pitch but additionally fattened their bank accounts and enhanced their image both home and abroad. That is the lesson we at Kotoko have not yet learned and that is why there must be changes.

I am afraid this is a club that doesn’t have a clear-cut policy direction. The Kotoko Board has since August 2013 not appointed a substantive CEO despite the incontrovertible directive they were given by the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II on the day of their inauguration. It is easy to ask what at all the appointment of a substantive CEO will change at Kotoko and perhaps you will even dismiss the relevance of all the talk about a management structure.

But the truth, which we ignore at our own peril, is that, excellence in Africa doesn’t come anyhow. It comes by dint of hard work, which is determined not by a coach and eleven players on the field alone but also by excellent management practices, substantial money, massive supporters backing and so on.

These have been missing elements in Kotoko’s bid to excel in Africa in recent years. Kotoko are on the verge of winning another Premier League title. The easy feeling is that, Kotoko will be in Africa next year but can we say without any shivering that, Kotoko have the player quality, the money and the appropriate plan to be really competitive in the CAF Champions League?

In recent times, Kotoko’s performance in Africa has been abysmal. From experience, the Africa committees have not helped. I insist that those committees will not help unless the whole view to managing Kotoko is changed. On the domestic scene, the evidence is that our competitors don’t do anything extraordinary to challenge us. Some of them even expect Kotoko to take the lead so when Kotoko stays behind, there is no movement, no growth and no development.

That is why Kotoko need a new leadership. A leadership that understands football; a leadership that has time for the game, a leadership that sees football as a big business and are therefore more than willing to manage the club professionally by identifying effective and sustainable means of finance; re-position our brand while winning local and international laurels.

That new leadership doesn’t necessarily have to be new people. What matters most are not the people who manage the club but the kind of ideas those people bring on board; the kind of systems those people build and of course how functional those systems will be. This is the truth. Clubs that are performing in Africa are working for their success.  

We are not doing that. How can we excel?