Ghana’s FA denies threatening ex-coach

THE Ghana Football Association (GFA) has said it will continue to engage former coach of the senior national male soccer team Goran Stevanovic to reach an amicable deal over his compensation package despite his claims of insecurity in Ghana.Stevanovic and his lawyer Zoran Andjic were scheduled to meet the GFA on Friday to continue the discussion over his compensation package but the lawyer requested for the meeting to be brought forward. However, Andjic issued a press statement copied to the football governing body FIFA, claiming his client was told by the FA vice-president Jordan Anagbla that his safety could not be guaranteed during the meeting in Accra last Monday. “Coach Stevanovic and Andjic were never threatened by anybody in the course of our meeting and even thereafter,” GFA general secretary Emmanuel Gyimah said in a letter copied to FIFA. “Stevanovic is even on record after the meeting as informing the whole world via the media that the said meeting was fruitful and friendly,” the letter added.The GFA on Monday sacked Stevanovic as the trainer of the senior national men’s soccer team the Black Stars, after three weeks of extensive meetings. The Serbian, who has less than a year left on his current deal, has been under incessant pressure after Ghana failed to win the 2012 Nations Cup co-hosted by Gabon and Equatorial Guinea. TheGFA said in a statement issued last Monday that the decision was taken in the best interest of the nation.Assistant coach of the Black Stars, Kwesi Appiah, has been asked to take temporary charge of the team until a substantive trainer is named. The search for Stevanovic’s replacement has begun with Marcel Desaily, a member of France’s 1998 World Cup winning team, being in pole position to become the next Black Stars head coach.

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Ghana’s FA denies threatening ex-coach