Ghana executive committee member Wilfred Osei made headlines recently when he accused Avram Grant of being a failure during his tenure with the Black Stars.
The Israeli coach left his post as national team chief at the end of February, after it was revealed after the Nations Cup that he would not be extending his stay with the national side.
Few mourned the manager’s departure, and while he certainly left a bad taste in the mouth after an underwhelming showing in Gabon at the 2017 Nations Cup, there were still some positives to take from his reign.
The ex-Chelsea chief helped the Black Stars continue their record of reaching the Afcon final four in two tournaments, while he deserves immense credit for advancing to the final in 2015 only months after taking the reins with the West Africans.
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On that occasion, Ghana overcame an opening Afcon defeat by Senegal to escape from their group before ousting Guinea and Equatorial Guinea during the knockout stages and running soon-to-be-champions the Cote d’Ivoire close in the final.
In Grant’s defence, he had to deal with injuries to some of his key players—Asamoah Gyan missed big chunks of both Afcons—while he also was deprived of the services of Kwadwo Asamoah for the entirety of his tenure.
Yet despite these caveats, exec committee member Osei didn’t hold back when criticising the 62-year-old, accusing him of failing to leave a legacy or meet his targets.
He also accused Grant of approaching his brief in an uninspiring way and, tacitly, for not dedicating himself to his work.
However, is Osei’s criticism of Grant fair, or does the ex-coach deserve more credit for reaching two Afcon semi-finals, overcoming difficult circumstances to take silver in 2015 and battling with a series of fitness problems to key players?
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