As a keen follower and writer on the just ended Ghana Premier League, it will be highly unacceptable for me to shut my mouth with regards to the awards ceremony of the Premier League Board which comes off on Friday, December 16, 2016.
Many people have called me for my opinion on the nominees for the various categories and I highly appreciate that respect but I think many are also waiting for this write-up since they can't have direct access to me.
Although I disagree with the absence of certain names that appeared in the list of nominees, I have to respect the decision of the team that put the list together and share my opinion on that.
However, I strongly think that Asante Kotoko captain Amos Frimpong deserved to be named in the Footballer of the Year category while Wa All Stars' Abdul Ganiyu should have also been nominated for Best Defender category. Ganiyu made 27 starts for Wa All Stars and won five man-of-the-match awards. Remember that he guided Wa All Stars to concede the least number of goals in the league and subsequently won the title. I'll explain why Amos Frimpong deserved to be in the nominees for the Footballer of the Year as you keep reading.
Let's now take a quick look at the various nominees and their associated categories.
First is the Footballer of the Year, obviously the biggest accolade any footballer in the country needs. But the sad thing is that, anyone who wins it will not play in the Ghana Premier League next season. Maybe Allah will change that this time. That's my hope.
The nominees for the Footballer of the Year award are Latif Blessing of Liberty Professionals, Kwasi Donsu of Medeama SC and Abdul Bashiru of Dreams FC.
All three players made more than 20 starts for their sides; Latif played 25 matches, Kwasi Donsu played 24 matches while Abdul Bashiru played 28 matches.
Among the three, two are outstanding; Kwasi Donsu and Latif Blessing. Abdul Bashiru was the lifeblood of Dreams FC, emerging man-of-the-match on nine occasions out of the 28 games played. But Kwasi Donsu scored fifteen goals from his 24 games and uncharacteristic of Ghanaian players, ten of Donsu's goals were all from free kicks. He ended up pushing Medeama to finish third on the league table. Latif Blessing scored 17 goals from the 25 starts for Liberty Professionals to win the goal king. He emerged man-of-the-match on 18 occasions and had to fetch a hat trick in their last game with Bechem United to save Liberty from relegation. It's a difficult decision for the PLB but in my opinion Latif Blessing is better placed for the award than Kwasi Donsu.
Now let's look at the goalkeeper of the season.
As someone who followed the game closely with keen interest from one center to the other, I appreciate the impressive performance of Joseph Addo and Razak Abalora for Aduana Stars and WAFA respectively but I think Richard Ofori of Wa All Stars is a runaway winner of the award. Ofori made 27 starts for Wa All Stars and kept 15 clean sheets conceding just 14 goals. Addo kept the post 23 times for Aduana Stars while Abalora kept the post 28 times for WAFA. However, Ofori conceded the least number of goals, kept the highest number of clean sheets and above all won the league title.
Defender of the season
In my honest opinion, Inusah Musah of Hearts of Oak did not deserve to be nominated for the defender of the season when he only showed up half way in the season. Inusah played less than four matches in the first round and played 13 matches in the second round winning five man-of-the-match awards with two goals. So how can a player who played less than 20 matches in the season be nominated ahead of another who played 27 matches with five man-of-the-match awards and the league title be ignored? Abdul Ganiyu of Wa All Stars deserved at least a nomination.
Away from that, the fight here is also a straight fight between two of the players; Amos Frimpong and Abdul Bashiru. Abdul Bashiru played 28 games for Dreams FC and won man-of-the-match on nine occasions, the highest by a defender in the season. However, Amos Frimpong was the highest scoring defender of the season. Amos played 26 times for Kotoko, scored 8 goals and emerged man-of-the-match on just two occasions. However, his versatility ensured that he played all the positions at the back for Kotoko when Ahmed Adams, Tuffour Frimpong and Osei Agyemang suffered injuries and suspensions. This is the reason why Amos should have been nominated for the footballer of the season category ahead of Abdul Bashiru who could only play as a left back and a winger, and did not score just a single goal. Amos Frimpong is undoubtedly the defender of the season and should have replaced Bashiru in the footballer of the year category as well. If Amos is denied the defender of the season award, I'll be shocked.
Coach of the season
With the coaches category, I am sure it's already an open secret that Wa All Stars' Enos Kwame Adepa is the obvious winner. He won the league for Wa All Stars, an achievement by a club from the north for the first time in Ghana's football history. Adepa, an unknown coach put together equally unknown players, some of whom were colts and Division One players to win the title in a remarkable style. He deserves it. Cioaba Aristica of Aduana Stars did well to turn around the fortunes of the sinking Dormaa-based side to place second after the club suffered a downward trend in their initial three matches. Manuel Zaccharias, one coach whose nominations keeps surprising me will come after Cioaba who will even surrender it to Adepa. Someone must convince me as to why Zaccharias was nominated. Is it because he won the FA Cup? Well, that is a different competition.
Most promising player
Looking at the category of the most promising player, I think that is where the nominations were evenly done. Abdul Halik Hudu of Inter Allies, Atta Agyei of Medeama and Tawphick Mohammed of New Edubiase are the nominees. Atta Agyei is a great player but he did not see much of the season for Medeama as he usually played second fiddle to Kwasi Donsu and Kwame Boahene in the midfield. Tawphick and Halik are better placed for the award but if Halik wins it, I won't be surprised. Tawphick arrived a little late in the season for New Edubiase as he defined their second round performance winning man-of-the-match on five occasions including the game against Kotoko where he scored a supersonic goal to earn Edubiase all three points. Halik on the side of Inter Allies also saved the side from relegation. I still remember that controversial goal he scored against Dwarfs in Tema which opened the net. I can't stick my neck out here. Each of the two; Tawphick and Halik, will be a deserved winner.
CEO of the year
With the CEO of the Year, I will go for Oduro Nyarko of Wa All Stars ahead of Albert Commey who in my opinion are better placed for the award than James Essilfie of Medeama SC.
Essilfie finished third with Medeama on the table while Commey finished second with Aduana Stars. Commey who experienced some difficulties at the start of the season had to change two coaches after three matches in the season for Cioaba Aristica to redefine the team which gave them a second place slot in the end. But Oduro Nyarko, supervised a completely alien side to the Ghana Premier League. Most of the players were colts and Division One players recruited with a coach who was tasting the Premier League for the first time. Yet he ensured the side finished on top of the table annexing the title eventually. Compared to Wa All Stars, Aduana Stars had experienced and established players in the league. On any day, I'll throw my wait behind Oduro Nyarko.
Finally is the referee of the year. S.B. Bortey, Awal Mohammed and Daniel Laryea are the nominees and I think they deserve the nomination. Daniel Laryea handled ten matches including the dramatic comeback of Heart of Oak against Inter Allies at Tema, the difficult clash between Dwarfs and Wa All Stars at Cape Coast, the stylish clash between Hasaacas and Techiman City which Hasaacas won 4-3 and the drawn game between Techiman City and Asante Kotoko in Techiman. In all the ten matches, he suffered no punishment. That is remarkable isn't it?
For Awal Mohammed, perhaps he did not expect that the season would be historical for him. He handled eight matches all season including the Kotoko/AshGold regional derby, the tough clash between Medeama and Inter Allies, the Hasaacas/Kotoko clash and the epic encounter between Hearts and Kotoko at the Accra Sports Stadium which Kotoko won.
S.B. Bortey on the other hand had a very industrious season, officiating twelve matches in the season including Hearts/Aduana Stars, Liberty/Kotoko, Liberty/AshGold and Dreams FC/Bechem United clashes.
Impressively, none of the three referees suffered any punishment in the season, being it a ban or suspension.
I'll pick my referee of the season between S.B. Bortey and Awal Mohammed by virtue of the fact that both are class one referees with Daniel Laryea being a FIFA referee. Zeroing it down on the two will then give me Awal Mohammed as my referee of the season as he held comparatively tougher matches including Ghana's biggest club clash of the season, Hearts vs Kotoko.
In the nutshell, I'll pick Latif Blessing as my footballer of the season, Amos Frimpong as my defender of the season, Enos Adepa my coach of the season, Richard Ofori as my goalie of the season, Oduro Nyarko and Awal Mohammed as the CEO and Referee of the season respectively.
By: Sheikh Tophic Sienu @desheikh1 on twitter