By: Sylvester Tamba
Liberia’s Most Celebrated Soccer Star and former National Team Coach James Salinsa Debbah, says the appointment of Ansu Keita as head coach of the senior national football team is a recipe for disaster and a scandal of gigantic proportion.
Mr. Debbah said appointment of a national team coach is not politics, it is football and it should be realistic.
He said even former World Best now President of Liberia George Weah did not endorsed Keita appointment because they had discussions regarding the appointment of an experienced and technical coach with the requisite credentials to manage the senior team.
According to him, coach Keita is a youth developmental coach who has never been tested at senior national team level, and as such, no individual who has played the game of football at the highest level will endorse Keita’s appointment.
The former PSG forward added that three members on the vetting committee including: former national team players Boy Charles Sewgbe, Frank Jericho Nagbe and Anthony Tokpa refused to endorse Keita appointment due to their technical experiences as former professional footballers because they know that Keita’s appointment is a farce, a treachery that was already preempted.
Debbah also frowned on the decision to have a football administrator, Madam Roseline Konneh on the vetting committee to hire a coach something according to him, she does not understand the technicalities and complexities surrounding the coaching profession.
The former PSG and Galatasary player made his position statement on his facebook page on Monday.
Meanwhile, report says Ansu Keita has a two year contract worth almost 150, 000 United States dollars and hosts of other benefits.
The benefits according to sources include: USD 500 monthly for feeding allowance, USD 100 for laundry, USD 150 for wifi package, USD 200 for gasoline, USD 50 for car washing, one round trip ticket per year for economic class for Coach Keita to visit his family in Canada, travel allowance every time Lone Star plays an away match to be determined by the government and a win bonus of USD 1,500 amongst other.
