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Avram continues to take us for Granted as stinking attitude takes root

Black Stars coach Avram Grant stinking attitude towards his job is taking roots, writes Michael Oti Adjei

As the media in Ghana hailed a superb start to the season, praised the quality of play and goals and suggested this could be the start of a major revolution for the domestic game, our national boss was sitting in the studios of SkySports in England, discussing everything from Antonio Conte’s potential appointment as Chelsea coach and issues relating to the English Premier League.

The media has long been accused of having a disproportionate taste and affection for everything foreign when it comes to football but there was our national boss, rubbing it in, reminding us what mattered to him when for once our despised selves as media had rallied around a product whose quality we have questioned on a regular basis with justifiable cause.

Grant’s whirlwind media appearances in England were a reminder to us that he could not be bothered. He clearly seems to think that it is best to live in Europe and earn his fat $50,000 a month salary in the same environment and country he refuses to live in.

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It is an irony. It is his way of saying ‘I am worth the money but you are not worth my time’. And for a long while his bosses had backed him. The rhetoric in the last few days has changed but it wasn’t long ago that everyone at the Ghana Football Association queued up to defend him.  We had been told in the past that the travels outside was an essential part of Grant’s work and that the job of keeping the tabs on local talent was something his assistant Maxwell Konadu could easily take care of.

Late last year, GFA president Kwesi Nyantekyie said : "He [Avram Grant] is the head coach of the Black Stars and is also to assist in the technical direction of all the national teams, in other words as a technical director for the FA,” GFA boss Kwesi Nyantakyi said.

"His duties span within and outside the jurisdiction of Ghana and always travel with the permission of the GFA."

There is nothing to suggest that has changed but the football association has been irritated by the recent travels and weeks of tensed exchanges over his long stays abroad has been laid bare by the exposure of letters that the GFA sent to the Israel over a three day period spanning 26th-29th February.

The letters underline the growing anger and frustration of the GFA but also just how powerless they have become in controlling the Israeli boss despite claims by the GFA’s communications director that “we control what he does.”

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The first letter that was handed out to Grant reminds him that his leave days are over, that he had only been granted a seven day extension to attend a League Managers Association conference. Then in an almost apologetic manner the letter says: “we would be grateful if you COULD return to Accra to resume work.”

Grant was due to  return in ‘early January’ per the GFA’s own letter that was dispatched on the 26th February which works up to more than a month after. Imagine this wherever you work.  Imagine that one of you overstay during your leave period and gets this rather nice reminder about your stinking work attitude. You will walk back to work wearing a smile and fully aware that in the end it will be forgotten.

After Grant’s response, the GFA goes in a bit harder the second time. “The position of the Emergency Committee is that you have not been given any permission or approval to perform any monitoring work in Europe for the month of January, February and March, 2016.

“In light of the above, we kindly ask you to return to Accra as soon as possible to monitor some of the players in the national league.”

Grant is said to be unhappy about all this and claims media hounding over the issue. In his mind, the best way to do this job is to roam around Europe with the convenient excuse of monitoring Ghanaian players.

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The whole sorry episode begs a few questions about supervision and about Grant the man himself.  What does his contract say and does it spell out basics like when and how often he can travel around? Should it not have been possible for all the movement to be controlled by a more centralised office rather than at the beck and call of a man who is eternally finding convenient excuses to avoid staying in Accra for whatever reason?

And how many times must Grant visit players to monitor them? It made sense when Grant spoke the last time about the convenience of travelling around in Europe. But keeping an eye on Ghana football as Ibrahim Sannie said does not only involve watching matches. It could be turning up at training, popping in once in a while. At this stage it will serve us better because it could be the moment that sparks the career of one home based player to life the way Burkhard Ziese influenced the career of Sam Johnson or how Milovan Rajevac propped up Samuel Inkoom. It will be much better than discussing Antonio Conte as a potential Chelsea boss. How many times will Grant run around Europe meeting players?

Monitoring has become a convenient and meaningless excuse for Grant. In any other profession, staying away from post some thirty days after your leave while claiming to do duties not approved by your bosses is a sackable offence. For Grant it is not. He is begged to come back because as we have often been told he saved our football from peril and lifted us up again. His attitude simply reflects that stinking, bogus and unwholesome verdict.

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