Deposed skipper of the national football team, the Black Star, has been urged to decline a new position created for him within the team he has led for seven years.
Veteran journalist Kweku Baako Jnr has described the post of ‘General Captain’ as “an animal of no value” and has shared an expectation that the 2010 BBC African Footballer would reject the position.
Already the decision to name Ghana’s most lethal goal scorer as a General Captain has been met with derision from wide sections of social media.
Coach Kwesi Appiah gave him the post after stripping Gyan of the captaincy, handing it over to former U-20 World Cup winner, 29-year old Dede Ayew.
The General Captaincy position was first created for John Mensah when Asamoah Gyan was set to take over from Black Stars defender John Mensah.
But persisting with the position in 2019 has been seen as an attempt to placate Gyan after he announced pulling out of the squad as the decision to strip him of the captaincy loomed. Asamoah Gyan once carved his image on the captain’s band.
“Asamoah Gyan should have rejected it….I expect him to reject it,” Baako said on JoyNews analysis show Newsfile Saturday.
The controversy over captaincy has cast a shadow over Ghana’s readiness to win the 2019 African Cup of Nations(AFCON) in Egypt, breaking a 37-year jinx.
“The truth is that I am not seeing too many prospects,” Baako struggled to believe the Black Stars can conquer Africa.
He blamed Asamoah Gyan for ‘sowing the seed for the mess’, setting off an “avoidable dramatization” with his announcement pulling out of the squad.
It took the intervention by the President, Nana Akufo-Addo, to get Gyan to rescind his decision. The President’s action adds to the list of presidential interventions in the management of the Black Stars.
Kweku Baako, however, indicated he would he wished the President had not intervened and expressed fears Nana Akufo-Addo’s involvement could create problems.
“Honestly it’s a mess…this thing is a mess”, the Editor-In-Chief of the New Crusading Guide newspaper weighed up the saga of the captain’s band.
Footballer insider and former Ghana Football Association spokesperson Randy Abbey also believes the position of General Captain is unnecessary.
He compared it to being a member of the Council of State and explained in football such positions can be patronising.
Source: Myjoyonline.com