Does Tetteh deserve a new deal?

Football is such a cruel sport, and because it’s so unkind at times, it’s a shame that we’re discussing Sellas Tetteh’s future as Amavubi Stars head coach with almost a year still remaining on his existing two-year deal. Tetteh, who reportedly earns about Rwf9m a month, plus Rwf1.2m for a win and Rwf0.6m for a draw isn’t the most expensive coach Rwanda has ever had, but he’s certainly the most high profile to date. A Fifa U-20 World Cup winning medal and a couple of other major junior titles on his CV with his native Ghana, it was a real scoop on the side of Rwanda to lure him on such a meager contract. I say meager in comparison to some of his predecessors who were earning almost double his salary for doing almost nothing. “It’s too early to start discussing the matter [Tetteh’s contract]. We will cross the bridge when we get there,” Jules Kalisa said. Kalisa is the national football federation powerful Chief Executive Officer. Kalisa, ever so powerful in matters concerning Rwandan football, was reacting to a question put to him by Times Sport reporter Ostine Arinaitwe regarding the future of the Ghanaian tactician. Tetteh’s two-year contract expires next June, but with very little or nothing to show off from the first 12 months of his tenure, it will be interesting to see what decision the appointing authorities will take when the time to review his work in a couple of months’ time comes. The Ghanaian arrived as a high profile coach, who had just led his country to the Fifa youth World Cup, an achievement that made him the first African coach to accomplish. It also made him a highly sought after name across the continent but he, for whatever reason, chose Rwanda. You have to give the man credit for making such an audacious decision of choosing Rwanda over other suitors—he could have taken the easier route and stayed on as his country’s youth team coach, after all he’s such a well-respected man there. His most loyal fans back in Ghana even suggested [others still suggest] his name to take over as the Black Stars head coach, but that was always going to be a task too tough to ask of him. So when he opted to take the Amavubi job, maybe he didn’t know much about the task he was taking on, he didn’t expect to be under enormous pressure right from the onset but most importantly, he didn’t expect to be sitting at the bottom of the qualifying group with just two rounds of matches remaining. Rwanda’s chances of qualifying for next year’s Africa Nations Cup are all but over with a very poor record of three defeats in four qualifying matches. When he signed on the dotted lines, I was among the first people to back him not to do well instantly, because he doesn’t have the right players to achieve that, but to at least leave his mark on Rwandan football. I wrote about him not being under too much pressure to deliver instantly, especially from his bosses, unlike his predecessors and to me nothing has changed but the pressure of not winning enough matches could change the tide in not so distant a future. And because football is such an unforgiving sport, Tetteh may even leave before his current deal expires next June. Does he deserve a new deal? What do you think? nku78@yahoo.com