By Ken Bediako
I have read volumes of tributes paid to the memory of Queen Elizabeth II and listened on the airwaves testimonies from those lucky enough to have had personal interactions with her.
The unanimous verdict is the Queen was an extraordinarily humble lady and family woman with a huge sense of humour. I am however baffled that nothing has been said about the exemplary courage she showed in the face of imminent threat to her personal safety at the Buckingham Palace 40 years ago (1982 to be precise). This huge security goof seems to have been “lost in transit”.
I was in London from April to June 1982 attending a journalism course at The Thomson Foundation, incidentally during the Falklands War involving Britain and Argentina, when news broke out one day that an intruder had mysteriously scaled the almighty Buckingham Palace Wall and entered the bedroom of the Queen in the night. Can you imagine.?
The story in all the major electronic news bulletins and the tabloids said instead of panicking the Queen remained calm, and with enormous courage chatted with the apparently harmless intruder for sometime before the Palace guards knew what was happening.
I have really lost track of how the drama ended but I do remember there was a whole lot of security issues involved.
Social media was at its infancy then but the conventional print media, Radio and TV had a field day generating a huge debate about the whereabouts of Prince Phillip at the time the intruder entered the Queen’s bedroom.
I recall the lengthy public debate about whether couples should necessarily share a bedroom or not.
My interest in the whole incredible saga is the fantastic courage the Queen showed in that sticky scenario with the intruder.
It is the sort of courage you need to possess to be a good national football coach, especially for a team like the problematic Black Stars of Ghana. And I am happy to pronounce that Otto Addo has that courage to handle the Black Stars. His decision to sacrifice his rather safe assignment at Dortmund to manage a hitherto shaky Black Stars under an equally shaky Football Association to qualify for Qatar 2022shows his steely courage.
Otto’s controversial decision to include, in the Qatar squad, a number of foreign based players, who did not feature in the qualifiers, makes him a man of courage.
There were a lot of murmurs from the usual armchair critics who described the decision as unfair deal but he courageously stood his grounds. “The World Cup is not a picnic but an assembly of the world’s top 32 football nations”, he told his critics.
In my estimation, the greatest sign of his courage is to agree with the FA for the Black Stars to meet Brazil, arguably the world’s best football nation, in the very first of his major World Cup trial matches. What a big gamble. Brazil could have easily shattered into smithereens the confidence of the renascent Black Stars.
And it nearly did happen in that one sided first half featuring almost the original squad that won the Qatar qualifier.
A few changes in the second half brought some sanity into the Black Stars game and they admirably contained the amazing forays of the “Samba Senors”.
Otto admirably admitted his errors in the Brazilian match and pointed out the essence of trial matches.
He confidently promised a different approach to the next trial match against Nicaragua, which he did.
We all saw the marked improvement in tactics and systems. I am convinced Coach Otto knows what he is about and he should be trusted to deliver the goods with a well-knit team in Qatar.
He noticed the Black Stars weakness regarding set pieces in the match against Brazil and found a remedy in the encounter against Nicaragua.
As expected, the usual arm chair critics continue to express doubts about his selection. His explanation that trial matches are used to try a lot of things not only on the players but on his side so that together a strong team is built, should be acknowledged by all football fans who genuinely wish the Black Stars success in Qatar.
The snag is football is such an emotional game that attracts millions of self-acclaimed experts who know it all.
The emergence of the so called social media have worsened matters and you can find loud mouthed analysts all over the place preaching amusing football formations and tactics. It all makes life interesting though even if they usually shut the gate after the animal had bolted away. I heard a remark on radio accusing Otto of being a part -time Black Stars coach since he is still attached to German club Dortmund. The gaffer wants Otto to take the Black Stars on a training tour even though he admits the existence of heavy domestic league schedules around the globe in October. I believe the upcoming third trial match against Switzerland in November should be enough for Otto to pick his final squad for Qatar.
Meanwhile, the FA should try to sanitise the domestic league to unearth all the lurking Stars yearning to come into the limelight.
Some of us want to see once again a domestic league that can unearth talented ball jugglers like those produced by the Gyandu Park school of dribblers. Those were the days fans enjoyed slogans like “OFUN”, “REAL” at the closing stages of a well-attended football entertainment at certain league centres.
I am convinced the future still looks bright for the game here and it is up to the “football people” to be fair and sincere in all their undertakings. All will be well.
Cheers everybody and keep loving sports.
