‘I have no problem with Abedi Pele; we even chill together’ – Kwesi Appiah

According to Appiah, contrary to widespread speculations in the media, he has no issues with Abedi Pele.

The pair are rumoured to be on bad terms, with reports suggesting they fell over a captaincy row some three decades ago.

This was after Appiah was stripped off the Black Stars captaincy prior to the 1992 AFCON, with Abedi succeeding him as the new captain.

Speaking to Accra-based Class FM, Appiah explained that his rumoured fall with Abedi was fuelled by how poorly the management of the national team handled the issue.

“I’ve never had any issue with him (Abedi)…I thought it’s the management who didn’t treat the topic well by sending it out there that we are going to Senegal and Kwesi Appiah doesn’t speak French, meanwhile, before we qualified to Senegal, we had been to Burkina Faso, Togo,” Appiah said.

“But if they had told me earlier, I would have suggested to them to push me to general captain because I had been captain for four years, so push me to the general captain and make him (Abedi) the captain then everybody would have understood.”

He added: “Because of that statement made by the management, there was some kind of division in the team but when we got to Senegal, I said to Abedi, ‘we can’t continue like this otherwise we’ll not be successful, there’s no divided team that can be successful’.

“So, every evening, I invited all the players to my room …and let them know we are not here because of Kwesi Appiah or Abedi, we are here to defend the flag of Ghana so let’s unite and gradually the unity started coming back and we got to the final.”

Appiah is currently promoting his recently launched autobiography, which is titled 'Leaders Don't Have To Yell'.

The book discusses the life, career and experiences of the 59-year-old as a player and as a coach.

The 400-page book is a leadership memoir in which Appiah shares his account of key events during his playing days and his two stints as coach of Ghana.