Gyan Captaincy Saga; “Kwesi Appiah solely took the decision” – Tanko

Former assistant coach of the Black Stars, Ibrahim Tanko has revealed the decision to strip Asamoah Gyan off the Black Stars Captaincy was solely down to then Head Coach, Kwesi Appiah.

Gyan, who led the national team for more than five years, was axed as Captain of the Black Stars by Coach Kwesi Appiah prior to the start of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations competition in Egypt.

Although Gyan was relieved of his captaincy duties, he was still named as part of the squad for the tournament and also handed the role of “General Captain”, later on.

Many thought stripping Gyan off the captaincy was a collective decision by the technical team but Tanko who deputized Appiah at the Black Stars thinks otherwise.

The former assistant coach of Cameroon claims no one knew what influenced the decision.

Speaking to JoySports, he said, “I don’t know what happened before the tournament, honestly,’

“It was his [Kwasi Appiah] decision. I don’t know what happened that took the captain from him [Asamoah Gyan] because no one within the technical team except Kwasi Appiah knew the reason why,” Tanko said.

“When we went to the tournament, you could see that there’s not too much involvement of him because of what happened before the tournament.

“He decided not to go before the President [Nana Addo] intervened on his behalf and we took him there. So, as to whether it was right or wrong, I can’t tell but we went with him and that resulted in us having the worst AFCON in a long time,” he reckoned.

According to him, the happenings before the tournament affected the team’s performance, and is hopeful lessons have been learned.

“…because of what happened before we even left, there was no unity, but I am sure we have learned our lessons so going forward we will do things better.”

He said a conversation on the future of Gyan at the national team should have been done aftermath of the AFCON 2019 tournament.

“I am sure this is how it is supposed to be because when you qualify for a tournament, you need all the players and the nation behind you.

“Of course, Gyan has a lot of people who admire him, he has a lot of fan base, so when these things happen, you have divided the country and this was what happened before we went for the tournament, it doesn’t help us,” he opined.