Chris Hughton returns to his roots

On Thursday, when Chris Hughton walks onto the turf of the Baba Yara cathedral as the man whose heart and soul assembled 11 men to fight for mother Ghana in an African Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier against Angola, he would look back and wear a grin.

“Feels good to be home,” he would murmur to himself.

Chris is home. It’s been nine years since the quest to have the 64-year-old return to his roots began.

It was right after the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil where Kwame Nkrumah’s Black Stars wore the smock shame and sold it to the world, a moment considered the lowest ebb of Ghana football and the country is still reeling from the impact of that murky situation.

Former GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, would later describe it as “the worst World Cup that blighted our achievements and took away the goodwill of the FA; it was not a good time for us.”

It was not just the goodwill of the football governing body, but also the spirit of the senior national team.

For the first time, the Black Stars lost the undiluted love they have always had from Ghanaians. When the players lined up against Uganda post-world cup for the 2015 AFCON qualifiers, they looked up and there were many empty seats; the few who were around displayed an atmosphere of rejection.

It was contrasting from what they witnessed on this very ground in their journey to Brazil.

Against Zambia and Egypt just a year before, they cheered with all their might, this time, they sneered with equal passion.

The rejection was so palpable. Kwasi Appiah, who supervised the country’s participation in the Mundial was censured for what they say was a lack of charisma.

The FA began frantic efforts to strengthen the technical team. Appiah stated in his book, leaders don’t have to yell that, former President, John Dramani got him sacked, while sources told me it was rather Mahama Ayariga who suggested to the FA to part company with him if he was reluctant to have his backroom staff augmented.

The dismissal of the former Black Stars skipper created a vacancy, and Chris Hughton’s name came up as a potential successor. In fact, even before that, Prime Minister had recommended that he be hired to stabilise the atmosphere within the team.

“He’s got the tag of being the nicest man in football,” says Steve Sidwell, a man who has worked with Chris.

GFA needed his niceness, but the association was hesitant to have a coach who has got what many say is ‘political power’.

They chose to open up for interested coaches to apply for the job, but Mr Hughton never did.

“If Chris had applied, maybe we would have given him the job.”

With Avram Grant in the mix, they found man Nyantakyi glowed about.

“Avram Grant is a motivator and an organiser. We needed someone with a certain stature or pedigree who can manage the egos of our players as well as their expectations and those of Ghanaians in general.

“He has managed a lot of top-class players, and [coping with high-profile players] has been the bane of many African coaches. We believe his quality will turn things around for us. We believe he is the right man for the job.”

Chris Hughton will surface again seven years later, but sources claim the state did not have the resources to hire his calibre.

Then, in January 2022, he flew to town for two things: a holiday and the Black Stars job.

GFA was in denial, but eventually hired him as a Technical Advisor to Otto Addo who accepted the job in the interim.

Finally, he is here. Chris waited for his time, and nine years on, his ideas and vision are what is required to drive Thomas Partey’s generation of Black Stars to success.

He would have wished his father would be here to watch him on the touchline and deliver him a text after the game to say, congratulations for making my countrymen and women, your countrymen and women happy on March 23, 2023.

A man can only travel as far as he can, but his roots will always remain a part of him.

Hello, Chris, be nice.

story by Muftau Nabiri