Many Ghanaians woke up last Thursday to the news of Milovan Rajevac’s exit. They were shocked. I am too. But the FA is not. They are in delusion. Milovan had raised their hopes and expectation so high. He had conned them into believing he will stay. Like what a play boy does to a greenish babe, Milo led the FA, Ghanaians to a near orgasm and presto! drove a dagger through our hearts. Too many coaches, foreign coaches have come and left but the dodgy, despicable circumstances surrounding Milo’s exit is what makes me want to throw up. Only last week, Milo was all over, dismissive and uncharitable to reports that linked him to Ahly. That is nonsense, he said. But just a few days after, it all made sense to him. He has signed for Saudi’s Ahly of Jeddah and there is no doubt what his motivation is. He had pledged his unalloyed allegiance to his employers, his players and to Ghanaians but deep within his inner heart, he had other ideas. He has got what he wanted and you can’t begrudge him for taking such a decision. He came to Ghana in August 2008 with no pedigree. In fact I had no difficulty at all in running through his profile. His coaching career spanning 21 years (1989-2010) was very poor on international experience but rich with local experience. He had coached a number of local clubs in Serbia and was quite successful, but not enough though to attract the attention of the Serbs national team. Somehow, he attracted us. Whilst in Ghana, it will be an understatement to say he was successful with the Black Stars. He defied all odds and the many critics, including myself, and chalked an enviable second place in the Nations Cup, the first since 1992 and a record quarter final place in the World Cup for Ghana. But he, like his two predecessors, Ratormir Dujkovic and Claude LeRoy thought he has had enough of what he could only dream of - prestige, fame and a colourful CV. He needs new challenge; big bugs. At least, of the three recent past foreign coaches, Ghana had its reputation bolstered but same cannot be said of the 20 under performing foreign coaches who at one time or another coached the Black Stars. Two scenarios emerge here. The 20 other foreign coaches clearly were a drain on our scarce resources. They were paid big sums but achieved little; in fact nothing. It is the reason why Ghana has not won a trophy since 1982 at the highest level. It was easy to dispense with their services. The three others between them managed two consecutive World Cup outings and a bronze medal for Ghana in the Nations Cup between 2006 and 2010. And what happened next? They treated the country like a piece of rag; used and damped us at will. I don’t blame them but the FA. Ghana is back to square one. In search for a coach. Another foreign coach if I may add. FA spokesperson, Randy Abbey says the association is looking for competence and not colour. That has always been the mantra. And always competence has been shy of our Ghanaian coaches. I have always been an advocate for a local coach and I am convinced beyond every shadow of doubt that given the same support foreign coaches get from the FA, the players, government and Ghanaians in general, a local coach can do even better. It has become pedestrian these days to pontificate about our local coaches because the fact is, minds have already been made up. Our local coaches are inferior. They are inexperienced. They will be disrespected by the players. There will be interference by the FA officials and the list goes on. But never, not once, since 1982 has our local coaches been given an equal playing field to compete. I use 1982 as the cut off point because it was the last time Ghana won a trophy at the highest level. And it was a local coach, CK Gyamfi who achieved that feat. The three other Nations Cup trophies were all won by local coaches. They are the reason why Ghana is still a power house in African football. From Herbert Addo in 1984 to Sellas Tetteh in 2008, eight other local coaches were appointed. They were all interim, sorry 'caretaker' coaches. Not once was a permanent contract agreed. Interestingly, all of them had not more than a year to justify themselves. They were given peanuts because there were no contracts. They were at the mercy of the all powerful FA officials. They were vulnerable because their jobs were not secured. When players, professional players show signs of disrespect, we gang up against the poor local coach and accuse him of not stamping his authority. The local media were impatient. They made all sorts of ridiculous accusation against the coaches. The coaches crumble under extreme pressure and in the end get fired. That is the sad story of our local coaches. The situation is different from the foreign coaches. And I use Milo as an example. His contract sum is worth around $45,000. His interpreter earns a little over $5,000, $2000 more than the wages of our local assistant coach Kwasi Appiah who earns $3000. He had a two year contract. When the local media questioned his tactics and some of his results at the beginning, the FA vehemently came to his defence. When some of the players showed signs of disrespect, Milo had the full backing of the FA to cut them off from the Black Stars. He had the free hand to pick and damp players at will because he is a foreign coach. It is all clear. Ghanaians set huge traps of failure for our local coaches and when they do finally fail we open our mouths wide to hurl insults at them. Whilst the FA takes delight in glorifying the supposed incompetence of the local coaches, they have forgotten that they owe the country a duty to groom one of our own to take over the mantle. The Nyantakyis, the Butlers, the Tamakloes and the many chairmen who headed the Ghana Football Association did so not because they were very competent. They were not. Otherwise the state of our league, women football, juvenile football, our failure to qualify for the World Cup until 2006, failure to win the nations cup over 20 years are enough justification for the country to opt for a foreign administrator if we believe they are always superior and more competent. But we have stuck to our local administrators in spite of all their failures because they are first Ghanaians. I hear, always, the argument that the coaching issue must be devoid of nationalist sentiments. They easily cite examples of how Almighty England has appointed a foreign coach but always forget that the likes of Brazil, Italy, Germany, and many other football countries in the world have a policy that it is either an indigene or there is no coach. Of the 23 foreign coaches Ghana has had, just four have something to show for - 1992, 2006, 2008, 2010. The fact is Ghana has not enough money to recruit the best of the best in Europe. Everybody knows that. We opt for substandard coaches only to enrich their CVs. I ask the FA and all Ghanaians who are interested in finding out to mention how many of those coaches - the failed and underperformed ones as well as the fairly successful ones - have achieved anything substantial after leaving Ghana. They have failed outside. One thing is clear. Ghana abounds in great talents, talents who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any player in the world. They are committed to the national cause and with LITTLE technical direction they can achieve success for the country. Of course, some of the local coaches are also to blame for the circumstances they are in, but it is not one I will delve into for now. Ghana needs the crème de la crème of coaches in Europe. But we can’t have them. We can’t pay for them. We surely don't need a 'Standard 7' foreign coach. So lets groom our local coaches to take up the mantle. Credit: Nathan Gadugah