The plight of Ghanaian football coaches has been the subject for public discussion over the years and it seems it would continue for a long time. The issue of emoluments and contracts has been the moot point and there is every indication that the debate would continue for a long time to come.

The recent hullabaloo over the salary and contract of Kwasi Appiah the deputy national coach for the Black Stars is a case in point. Appiah had asked for a contract and politely put in a proposal for a monthly salary of $6000 dollars. His Serbian boss Milovan Rajevac takes home $46,000 dollars a month and many Ghanaian football enthusiasts felt that the request by Appiah was modest enough. Unfortunately, the Football Association could not back the local coach and after a see-saw battle, Appiah had to agree to the original proposal of $3000 dollars on a one-year contract.

Knowing Appiah as I do, I was not surprised that he did not drag the issue and settled for what the sports authorities claim they could afford. This unnecessary controversy over the salary of the assistant coach came on the eve of the Black Stars preparation for the crucial World Cup/Africa Cup qualifier against Lesotho. It was a match the Stars had to win by a comfortable margin to top the group, and absolute peace and harmony was needed in camp. It would have been an indelible scar on Appiah’s reputation if he had walked out of the Stars camp and, touch wood, Ghana had lost the match. All his credentials as former captain of both the junior team, the Black Meteors and the seniors the Black Stars, and Asante Kotoko would have counted for nothing.

It is a welcome relief that Kwasi Appiah put the interest of the nation first and wholeheartedly accepted to contribute his quota to make another World Cup appearance for Ghana a reality. Many people are however not too comfortable with the short contract of one year and I would like to suggest that it should be extended to at least two years. No matter how you look at it, Kwasi Appiah has scored a first by being the first Ghanaian to be appointed assistant national coach on contract and who will be paid in dollars.

I believe it was Appiah’s gesture that inspired Coach Sellas Tetteh to brave all the odds to qualify Ghana’s Under 20 team, the Black Satellites for the Africa Youth Championships in Rwanda in 2009. This was at the expense of Gambia and the execution was perfect. Ghana won both the home and away fixtures. Gambia had scared the Satellites with an early goal in the first match in Accra, but the Satellites struck fiercely and scored twice to carry the day.

With the tonic of an away goal the Gambians were expecting an oracle to be fulfilled with a foregone home win but Sellas Tetteh’s rejuvenated Black Satellites featuring rising international star Dede Ayew, performed a miraculous away win. And now Coach Sellas Tetteh can walk in the streets of Accra with chests out whether he has a contract or not.

Unfortunately, the same thing cannot be said for another brilliant local coach Bashiru Hayford of Asante Kotoko who will be absent in Sudan this weekend when his club faces Merreikh in the last group match of the Confederation Cup. The coach was suspended on the eve of the team’s departure to Sudan, for “showing gross disrespect to the club”.

Hayford is said to have deserted the club, following death threats he received from some irate fans after the club’s ill fated 2-2 draw with Etoile Sahel of Tunisia in Kumasi.

The Coach maintains that his life was in danger, so he followed the adage that “he who runs away lives to fight another day”. The puzzling question is why management did not search for the coach as it was public knowledge that supporters were openly threatening his life. Some of us are prepared to hazard a guess that the coach has no contract with Asante Kotoko, otherwise he would not have gone AWOL – (Absent Without Leave). In other words, one may say that Kotoko are not bound by any contract to be chasing absentee coaches.

The plight of Ghanaian football coaches is a very interesting subject indeed and I am sure it will continue to dominate the media so long as the coaches and administrators are on different wavelengths.