Ghana FA won't rush new coach Avram Grant into winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations title

Published on: 25 November 2014
Ghana FA won't rush new coach Avram Grant into winning the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations title
Avram Grant must be given the time to rebuild the Black Stars after the shambolic World Cup

The Ghana FA says the Black Stars is under a rebuilding process and expecting in-coming coach Avram Grant to win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations title would be expecting too much from the former Chelsea manager.

The Israeli manager is expected to officially take over the side on Thursday with the main aim of rebuilding the side following their shambolic showing at the 2014 World Cup.

Several experienced players like Michael Essien, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Sulley Muntari have been excluded from the squad since the tournament in Brazil in June while youngsters like Baba Rahman and Solomon Asante have been given the chance to impress.

There have been calls for the winning of the 2015 Nations Cup trophy to be the first clause inserted in Mr Grant’s contract by the GFA who are expected to hand him a two-year deal to replace Kwesi Appiah.

However, Ghana FA spokesman Ibrahim Sannie Daara says setting a target for Grant to win the 2015 AFCON is completely unrealistic insisting he must be given the opportunity to build the Black Stars team gradually.

“We have targets but it would be far-fetched to say that go and win the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. Let’s all agree that after the World Cup, lots of things went wrong and we are in a sort of rebuilding process," Sannie Daara told Starr FM on Tuesday morning.

"So to immediately tell him that: ‘Come, hit the ground running and win the Africa Cup of Nations would be too much.

"There are benchmarks: for every coach that we appoint, there are targets and the targets are remuneration-based. ‘If you reach this stage, you get this; if you reach that stage, you get that,’ so all of these things would be embedded in his contract.

“So in essence we are giving him a target, but practically speaking, to expect him to go and win the Africa Cup of Nations immediately he takes over [is not possible],” SannieDaara said.

Sannie Daara added that Grant’s intelligence about the job and his ability to work under very strenuous conditions placed him ahead of the other contenders for the Stars job.

He also dismissed rumours that Grant would be paid US$600,000 a year, describing them as mere “media speculations”.

“These are just media speculations and I would not dwell too much on them until the official announcement”.

He added that unlike previous foreign coaches who spent most of their time outside the West African country, Grant would spend 70 percent of his time in Ghana and use the remaining 30 percent to monitor Ghanaian players outside the country.

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