The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has refuted reports suggesting they have appointed Chris Hughton as the new Black Stars head coach.
The Black Stars coaching job has been vacant following the sacking of Milovan Rajevac last month after Ghana’s abysmal outing in the just ended 2021 Africa Cup of Nations [AFCON] in Cameroon.
Otto Addo and Hughton have been linked to the job after the past weeks but on Friday, reports emerged that Hughton, who is a former Newcastle United and West Ham boss has been named as the coach for the Black Stars after a meeting with the Sports Ministry.
But in an interview on Accra basedJoy FM, Henry Asante Twum, the Communications Director of the GFA said the Association is still searching for a competent coach to lead the Black Stars.
My last conversation with the [GFA] President was that the talks [with Otto Addo] have been positive, but it comes with certain conditions as well. Yes, the FA appoints, but government takes care of the expenses and what have you, so you need to come back and engage government and see if you would be at par in terms of decision making. From then you can progress”, he said.
“You wake up to stories in the press that government is trying to impose a coach on the FA. I don’t remember sitting in any such meeting since our last meeting with the honourable Minister of Sports, which called for the dismissal of the technical team and also the dismissal of the management committee. That has been our last engagement as a body,” he explained.
“I cannot say he [Chris Houghton] is not on the table because once a job becomes vacant, it’s open to all. Personally I’ve received 17 calls from agents and representatives of coaches.”
“My WhatsApp platform has been bombarded with messages from unknown people and then also the official email address of the FA has as well received loads of messages and they come in on a daily basis. So once a job becomes vacant, there are a number of people who’d express interest in coming in. So I cannot say Chris is not on the table. He is a coach who’s available, and who may be would like to come in as the next coach of the Black Stars,” he stated.