Former vice president of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and Ex black stars management committee member Fred Pappoe has urged Ghanaians not to put undue pressure on black stars head coach Chris Hughton to win trophy after amassing four points out of six in his first two matches against Angola.
The black stars of Ghana played the first leg of the AFCON qualifier at the Baba Yara Sports stadium and won by a goal to nil kind courtesy a late goal from AFC Bournemouth attacker Antoine Semenyo to secure three points for the former New Castle manager.
The second game was played in Luanda, Angola where the black stars were dominated for most aspect of the game and conceded the first goal via a penalty.
Strategic substitutions from Chris Hughton in the dying embers of the game Saw Ghana snatching a late equalizer through Osman Bukari to maintain their top spot in the group.
In an exclusive interview with Univers Sports on the sports express show, Fred Pappoe revealed that the performance of Chris Hughton was laudable but urged Ghanaians to support him fully and he is optimistic Hughton will do well with the team.
“I will say so far so good, taking four points out of six is a good score. I think he started very well am not surprised knowing Chris the way I know him. I think he will put in his very best and I am sure we will go places with him. He only needs the support we can all give from whatever quarter we find ourselves and the star will surely be our limit” he told Univers Sports.
He went ahead to urge Ghanaians not to put pressure on Chris Hughton to win trophies because the team has not won trophy for over fourty years but give him time to build a formidable side that will yield the desired outcome[ winning trophy] for the nation.
“If my memory serves me right, he made it very clear that he doesn’t want to promise lifting trophies but what he said was he promised a bunch of dedicated footballers and technical team. People who kept to their word doing everything very well to keep winning matches and in the process of winning matches we may get to the ultimate. what he said quite clearly was that he wasn’t going to promise winning any trophy and sometimes I think that is the pressure we put on our coaches and our teams.
“Things have to be organic and developmental. We move from one step to the other. We do not get up and expect that because we’ve not won any trophy in forty-two years means we should go and win it tomorrow. There are things you have to put in place and then you keep going and going if in the process you are lucky enough to win it early that is fine but otherwise if things are moving progressively and you are getting the results in a marginal way you keep winning matches and moving forward. You’re not going back and progressing at the right time. We will hit the jackpot but if we don’t do that and we put a burden on him how is he going to deliver? I believe in incremental and then slow and progressive development that can be sustained over a period of time” he opined.
