Ahead of the 2015 AFCON in
Equatorial Guinea next month, the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and its
Black Stars Management Committee are to embark on some changes in the
travelling plans of the senior national team, the Black Stars.
The changes, which will include
ridding the Stars of individuals whose roles are not deemed crucial to the team
during tournaments, are geared towards creating a pure football ambience for
the players to perform.
Among those to fall casualties are
Joseph Langabell, a known national drummer/entertainer of the team, and some
media persons who have been perching with the national teams by sharing the
same facilities, such as bus, hotel and even dressing rooms, with them.
“Apart from the 23 players and the
technical team comprising, the head coach, his assistant, goalkeepers’ trainer,
psychologist and welfare officer no other persons will be allowed access to the
team at the 2015 AFCON”, a deep throat has told the Graphic Sports.
According to the deep throat: “It is
now imperative to rid the Stars camp of persons whose roles are not clearly
defined in the team, particularly during tournaments. This thing has cost the
team massively in tournaments, particularly the last World Cup.
“The Stars camp was hugely populated
by persons whose roles were not appropriately designated and other hangers-on
whose presence contributed to the confusion in the camp leading to the violent
attack by Sulley Muntari on Moses Armah, a member of the Executive Committee of
the GFA”, he said passionately.
He cited Michael Essien’s testimony
at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) to corroborate the Stars
Management Committee’s plans to get rid of the undesirables ahead of the AFCON.
Michael Essien, a senior member of
the Stars, who is currently suspended, had told the PCI that investigated the
Stars ignoble showing at the last World Cup in Brazil that there were too many
people around the team and that did not give the players the peace of mind to
concentrate on the tournament.
Aside from that, the deep throat
expressed concern about the common allegation that these hangers-on have often
served as conduit to smuggle women into the team at peak moments of the Stars’
run and the reason they must be smoked out.
He said as an alternative plan, if
it became necessary to admit those media persons who often joined the team
under the guise of conducting interviews, special arrangements would be made to
enable them interview the players.
Meanwhile, Langabell stands to be
sorely missed by the radical changes to hit the Stars camp starting with the
AFCON in Equatorial Guinea since from the deep throat sources his role will no
longer be required in the Stars outfit.
But even though he is unlikely to
join the team for the AFCON it is believed that his name has been included in
the budget estimates for the competition with the designated role as an
entertainer.
Langabell became associated with the
Black Stars in 2009 as a national drummer and has remained an integral part of
the team and is profoundly loved by the players, some of who, it is alleged, he
has been running errands for.
Daily Graphic
Daily Graphic
Daily Graphic
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