What went into getting the Ayew Family back to Black Stars?: The Full Story

• Posted on June 12, 2013
• by Nana Kwesi Coomson
• Comment

On Tuesday afternoon, Andre and Jordan Ayew pledged to play for their country again, four months after asking to leave the team for varying reasons. 

Andre Ayew, 23, told the President of Ghana, who they had met at the seat of government: “We are back to do everything we can and let Ghana get to the World Cup.”

It will be recalled that Andre and Jordan were dropped from Ghana’s 2013 African Nations Cup squad for various reasons and both players withdrew their services from the Black Stars before Ghana’s 4-0 win over Sudan back in March. 

So how did the story reach this point?

Before the Presidency got involved, former Black Stars midfielder Tony Baffoe had been pivotal in making this happen, in much the same way as he is understood to be at the forefront of talks with Michael Essien and Kevin-Prince Boateng at the moment.

Baffoe, as well as several former national team players have had private sessions with Ghana FA officials over the past four months to get not only the two brothers back, but also kill the incidence of resignations for good.

French connection

Ghana’s sports minister, Elvis Afriyie Ankrah, on Tuesday gave a cobbled version of how the Ayews finally agreed to make themselves available for selection again.

“When the President went to France he met the Ayew brothers and talked to them,” Ankrah briefly mentioned.

The details of that summary are intriguing.

President John Dramani Mahama had been in France from the night of May 26 till May 29 as part of a multilateral world tour that also took him to Ethiopia and Japan.

He met the Ayew brothers on May 27.

Appiah’s open but firm stance

Following these sessions, Kwesi Appiah is understood to have expressed an open-door policy to every player ready to play for him, with a caveat: they had to adhere to his instructions and play when the technical team deem it fit.

That last bit was clearly a message to Jordan, whose letter of resignation in February had expressed the hope that his potential re-entry into the team would “avoid the situation where I am unsure as to when my services are required for the national team.”

The Ghana coach, Citi Sports understands, was at pains to insist that he needs an air of equality within his team if any of the disgruntled players must return.

To this end, senior players of the current Black Stars team, notably Asamoah Gyan and Sulley Muntari received briefings of the various talks going on.

Fear of reprisals

These briefings were designed to make sure that the imminent return of the Ayews, Kevin-Prince Boateng and Michael Essien in the future will be welcomed by currently serving Black Stars players.

Kwesi Appiah reportedly feared a situation where players who have served diligently in the absence of the ‘sabbatical players’ would feel shortchanged and unappreciated.

“In the case of the Ayews, I can tell you that by the beginning of May all parties had agreed that they will return,” a Ghana FA official told Citi Sports late on Tuesday evening.

“The only thing was that Kwesi Appiah demanded things be done right, so senior players of the national team were told what was going on so that they could impress on all the others of the need for Ghana to have its best players, no matter the circumstances.”

Indeed, by the middle of May, Citi Sports understands that the father of the Ayew brothers, Abedi Pele had uncharacteristically had a brief chat with the FA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi.

Both agreed that Abedi’s sons would definitely return. It was now a question of timing.

Settling for a good time

Considering that by this time the coach was getting ready to name his 25 man squad for Sudan and Lesotho, he made it clear that naming the Ayews – who would, it was hoped, have by then made an announcement – at this time would divert attention from the task at hand.

On May 24, Kwesi Appiah named his team.

A day later, Marseille played a 0-0 league game at home against Reims. Andre played the full game and Jordan got 32 minutes.

Two days later, the duo made the one-hour air trip up north from Marseille to Paris to meet the President. This was shortly after Mahama’s meetings French premier François Hollande and the business community.

The meeting came to fruition only after Ghana Football Association officials had impressed upon the President, through the Sports Minister, to chip in with a word during his visit.

“It was a very short meeting….didn’t take long. The president just wanted a face-to-face to make sure the deal was done,” a member of the President’s communication team told Citi Sports on Tuesday night.

The Ayews then left to rejoin their team, who were preparing for an away trip to Lyon in the league.

Wrapping it up

When the Ligue 1 season ended, it was decided that both will write letters to the FA making themselves available once again.

As such, what happened on Tuesday was simply a culmination of multi-level talks. It was also, obviously, designed to make the process look more official and gain some political capital for both sides.

But what about precedent?

“A lot of people have gone through a lot of trouble to get this to happen. You can be sure that for every single player – whether he has a famous surname or not – who feels aggrieved, no effort will be spared to make sure concerns are heard from all sides,” former FA spokesperson Randy Abbey told Citi Sports .

“The FA cannot give anybody preferential treatment to anybody because all players are the same and receive the same bonuses, but if they come back we will open our arms to them,” he finished.

Citifmonline