Maxwell Konadu is tactically bankrupt, he's clueless, his calls ups were questionable ... and on the other hand, the Ghana Premier League is poor, it's not competitive, it's not attractive, it lacks quality and many unwarranted comments have been thrown by many critics of Maxwell Konadu and the Ghana Premier League. But for a religious follower of the Ghana Premier League like myself and a few others, we knew the opportunity was surely coming for us to be vindicated.
Following Ghana's triumph in the WAFU Championship, thumping Nigeria in a humiliating 4-1 final, I asked myself - So did the tactically bankrupt Maxwell Konadu win the WAFU Championship with players from the poor, tattered, unattractive, uncompetitive Ghana Premier League?
Ghana did not just beat Nigeria in the final but showed class and character in the game. Maxwell's line up and substitutions were just apt as Patrick Razak came from the bench to create three goals in what ended as a great humiliation for the Nigeria Professional Football League.
Yes it was a straight combat between the poor Ghana Premier League and the best Nigerian Professional Football League - and the poor GHPL run over the best NPFL like an articulator truck over a tico.
In all fairness, the GHPL is not the best in Africa and cannot be - but it's not the worst either, and can't be.
Even on the West Africa sub region, the Nigerian Professional Football League is ranked ahead of the Ghana Premier League as well as the Cameroonian and Malian leagues but Ghana stands tall in West Africa now.
Ironically, critics of the Ghana Premier League will laud the stupendous performance of the players but will still run down the league and Maxwell Konadu, and give them all the bad descriptions they can identify forgetting the players they hail are products of the same poor league.
Ghana's rise to the top in defending the WAFU Nations Cup and being the first country to win the tournament under the sponsorship of Fox Sports is a demonstration that it is not the worst as many want us to believe and can only get better.
Seventeen of the 18 players selected by Maxwell Konadu for the competition were Premier League players with only one from the Division One League and for them to conquer West Africa means we have quality in our league and must only have to package it well and make it what we want it to become. The other leagues critics admire did not just become what they are today. There was a starting point for those leagues.
Yes we have serious administrative challenges with our local game but they don't make the league the worst in the world.
If the Ghana FA, the Premier League Board (PLB) and the Ghana League Clubs Association (GHALCA) are to put in place proper structures for our game and ensure that we have good pitches, proper administrators, well-motivated referees and adequate security to check hooliganism at our match venues, the quality of our players will surely be demonstrated and the results will be next to perfect.
But, let me ask - is Maxwell Konadu still the tactically bankrupt coach we knew earlier?
It was quite fascinating and mind-blowing to see football enthusiasts describing the former Kotoko manager as tactically bankrupt simply because he had his tactics wrong at a point. Even Jose Mourinho gets it wrong sometimes but he's arguably the best football manager of our generation.
One can only deduce that many people get emotional when talking about Maxwell Konadu, hence the negative accolades ascribed him. But truth be told, the dude is not as deficient as others want us to believe.
Either than that, how can a coach who saw it necessary to switch Thomas Abbey from an attacking role to a left back role, know when and how to use Kwame Kizito, Stephen Sarfo and Felix Addo interchangeably, make Patrick Razak a super-sub and Ahmed Adams a technical definition of his success, be described as tactically bankrupt?
Well, I wouldn't talk much but if people will continue to describe the Ghana Premier League as the worst and will not join in the attempt to make it the best, and will also continue to tag Maxwell Konadu as a tactless coach, then all will have to understand that such persons are emotion-driven.
Congrats to Maxwell and his team for making the Ghana Premier League proud. Our league can only be better.
God bless our homeland Ghana.
By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter