Black Stars head coach, Chris Hughton, says his focus will be to build a team with the potential of winning matches.
Even though he stopped short of guaranteeing Ghana trophies during his 21-month contract, Hughton said his ultimate ambition was to build a competitive and winning team from his talented youngsters with whom he previously worked as the technical advisor of the national team last year, during the tenure of his predecessor, Otto Addo.
At his unveiling ceremony at the SG Mall in Kumasi yesterday, the 64-year-old ex-Tottenham Hotspur boss said his ambition to build a formidable side could only be achieved with the right preparation and the selection of the right players that would suit the style of play.
“We want to see a winning team because there can be and will be a lot of questions on the style of football the players are playing, ‘why is this player not playing and why is this player playing, are you too defensive, are you too offensive’.
“Ultimately, what we want to see is winning football and that starts with correct preparation of the team using the players to the best of their abilities, and picking the team that suits the type of players that we have,” he said.
Coach Hughton asserted that his backroom staff had bought into this vision and were on the same level as far as his philosophy was concerned, ready to put together a formidable team capable of winning matches.
He will be assisted by coaches Mas-Ud Didi Dramani and George Boateng, with Richard Kingson as the goalkeepers’ coach – all members of Otto Addo’s technical team last year.
“So, I think we all as coaches stand on the same level, the same starting point which is to put together a group of players to play as a team and to win football matches,” he said in response to a question about his coaching philosophy for the team.
Touting his capability for the role, Coach Hughton said he previously worked with three teams in the English Premier League and other clubs in the English Championship [second-tier of English football system].
Before then, he worked as an assistant coach for 14 years, including the role of assistant coach of the Irish national team between 2003 and 2005, before becoming a substantive coach, hence he was very experienced and competent to handle Ghana’s national team.
“The football association asked whether I’d be interested in being the next coach. It’s a role that I didn’t hesitate to accept. I’ve been in football for a long time not only as a head coach, but also as an assistant coach for some 14 and half years before I became a head coach”.
Coach Hughton, who previously worked as the technical advisor of the national team from March last year until Ghana crashed out of the 20202 FIFA world Cup in Qatar last December, however admitted that it was a different experience altogether coaching a club side and that of a national team.
He explained that unlike club coaches who had players at their beck and call, the national team coach had very limited time for preparation but said he was ready to deploy his rich experience to help the team.
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