Former Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah says the government’s failure to honour promises it made to players of Black Stars resulted in their decision to boycott training for their last group game at the 2014 World Cup.
Ahead of their last group match against Portugal, the Black Stars players failed to show up for training in protest of their appearance fees which the government had agreed to settle.
The players’ decision and subsequent threat to boycott the match itself forced the government to airlift $3million to Brazil to settle the disgruntled players.
It became the tipping point for what turned out to be a massive humiliation for Ghana.
Addressing the issue in page 117 of his book titled ‘Leaders Don’t Have To Yell’, Appiah said the players decided to revolt due to consistent ‘promise and fail’ by the Mahama-led government.
Appiah disclosed that he had to intervene on countless occasions to prevent the players from boycotting training sessions and matches. The 59-year-old gaffer said that the government disrespected the players with its failure to fulfil the promise it made to them.
“Players are professionals and expect to be respected. Promises made to them about their money should be paid. The coaching staff does not get involved in financial issues between the FA and the players. However, on more than one occasion I had to convince my players to call off their threats not to train or boycott matches in Brazil.Appiah said though he was unhappy with the development, he could not blame the players.
“While I was unhappy with the training boycott ahead of the Portugal game, I could not in good conscience fault my players for their actions, given the many times the promises made by the high-profile government officials had not been kept”
Source: Finder Sports
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This highly incompetent guy called coach because of our gross level Of mediocrity got the job as a black star’s coach and could do nothing but brought total shame and disgrace to this country and now has the guts to blame it on some government officials. Kwesi Appiah was paid all the tax payers money for doing absolutely nothing. I think he should keep quiet and remain where he is and chop the an warranted tax payers money given to him as a so called black stars coach. The more he talks the more he gets us angry.
I believe Akwesi Appiah was not in charge, no doubt he was fired. Could it be government not fulfilling its promises that made the Black Stars also miss out on 2018 World Cup? What about the humiliating exit in Egypt? Government refused to pay as well...I guess. It is well....
the players can never absolve themselves of blame.fine,lets say they were disrespeted by the government,but for Gods sake it was a world cup.how many players,ever get to play at a world cup their whole career?some of the players who were part of that team will never ever get another chance to play at a world cup,they missed an opportunity to be recognised for good reason in history.deep down in know most of them regret that decision.they should have played for pride and for the millions of us who placed our hopes in them.they embarassed the nation and also themselves.that was one of the worst days for us as a country,and they could have walked the higher ground and prevented it.