<<Print>>

The President of the Ghana Football Association, Kwesi Nyantakyi has said that the GFA Management members suffered more as a result of the delay in the payment of appearance fees to players than any other group, noting that it was as a result of the delay that a Management Member, Moses Armah Parker, was physically attacked. The GFA President made this point to dismiss the suggestions that the Management could have been behind the player agitations. He stated that the GFA persisted in trying to get the players to accept the $82,500 and then to get them to be patient when the money was delaying. The GFA Boss was in agreement with former Ghana Coach, Kwasi Appiah that the delay in the payment of appearance fees to Black Stars players during the Brazil 2014 World Cup caused management members of the team and the team itself so much difficulties at the tournament and was one of the major issues that caused the disappointing performance of the team at the tournament. Ghana made negative headlines during the World Cup due to the non-payment of the appearance fees and many analysts have attributed the poor performance of the Black Stars to the non-payment of the money on time. Making his second appearance before the Brazil 2014 World Cup Commission of Inquiry, Nyantakyi said the brouhaha over the non-payment of the appearance fees even transcended beyond what many imagine. "The issues over the appearance fees were really problematic and it caused so much stress to us. Trainings were being boycotted and management members were being physically attacked. Who knows, the President (GFA) would've been the next to be physically attacked.", Nyantakyi said The GFA President said management members of the team kept assuring the players that the money would be played based on assurances they also got from officials - a situation he said turned the players against the management at some point. "We knew that the money was coming based on representation made to us by officials which we communicated to the players. Based on that, they also believed that the money was coming," Nyantakyi said. He described the behavior of the players as arising out of a pent-up feeling. �We were subjected to all forms of abuse by the players but we kept our cool because we had to manage the situation," he said. The GFA President said if he had known the money would delay he could have told the players that they would be paid after they returned and that it was highly possible that the players would have accepted those terms.