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Player managers are killing Ghana soccer – Bahner
Accra, Feb. 3, Ghandot/GNA –
Siegfried Bahner General Manager of Red Bull Soccer Academy,
Sogakope in the Volta Region, has said the failure of
Ghanaian players on the international market was due to the
activities of local player managers.
He said most Ghanaian players have been unsuccessful in
trials outside the country because they were not given the
needed guidance by the local managers who sent them on such
trips.
“In most cases, the players are only given visas and tickets
to travel and get stranded on arrival on a strange land and
this will definitely affects their performance on the pitch.
“Most of the players have failed to excel on the numerous
trials they have undertaken because, they had no idea of the
cultural background of the country and this affects their
psychological make-up, hence the failure,” Banher told the
GNA Sports in an interview.
According to Banher, a large number of players who go on
trials would have succeeded if the local managers had
accompanied them to the trials and provided them with the
needed guidance.
He said the local managers seemed to be interested in
profits and care less about the welfare and progress of the
players.
Bahner said until this trend changed, Ghanaian players will
continue to fail on the international market and this would
affect the nation’s performance in international matches.
He called on the Ghana Football Association (GFA) to
initiate measures to regulate the activities of local player
managers in the country to remedy the situation as the
nation had already lost some talented players as a result of
the activities of the local managers.
Bahner cautioned that failure to act will see the nation’s
progress in football declining, adding that, Ghana cannot
afford to miss the next World Cup in South Africa, in 2010.
He said his outfit is in Ghana to provide players with the
best of training to meet international standards.
The former King Faisal and Accra Hearts of Oak coach said,
his Academy is not only interested in grooming players for
the international market but to serve as a feeding ground
for the various national teams.
He predicted that, players from the Academy will soon
dominate the local and international scene because they were
being given the best of technical guidance.
GNA
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