After missing out on the position of head coach, former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton has settled for the position of technical advisor for the Ghana Black Stars. The former Magpies boss’s ambition of coaching his ancestors’ country did not come true, as he was instead granted an advisory role ahead of the crunch World Cup qualifiers against Nigeria.
Hughton has been in Africa for about two weeks and spoke with Ghana’s president, Nana Akufo-Addo, to discuss the possibility of becoming the Black Stars’ head coach. He, however, has passed up the opportunity and will instead work closely with Otto Addo, the assistant coach of Borussia Dortmund, who was chosen the new head coach of Ghana by the Football Association on Wednesday.
Hughton will collaborate with former Middlesbrough captain George Boateng and Didi Dramani, who is presently the director of football at WAFA Academy.
A statement from the Ghana FA said the 63-year old Hughton has been appointed as Technical Advisor to the newly put-together Black Stars Technical team to be led by Otto Addo, who was until now the assistant manager of Bundesliga giants, Borussia Dortmund.
Ex-Dutch international and Middlesbrough captain George Boateng as well as Mas-Ud Didi Dramani complete the think-tank to prosecute next month’s World Cup play-off against arch-rivals Nigeria.
The decision to set up the technical crew was arrived at and the GFA settled for 46-year old Otto Addo, a former Ghanaian footballer who has 13 years of coaching experience, beginning in 2009 when he was hired as an Assistant Coach at Hamburger SV as head coach.
It is Addo’s second stint with the national team after he previously worked as a scout for Ghana in 2013 in the run-up to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil as well as the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in Equatorial Guinea. The first leg of the play-off comes up at the Cape Coast stadium on March 24 before the return leg in Abuja four days later March 27, 2022.
