Feature: Why my admiration for Jordan Ayew has waned
Posted On Tuesday, 19th June 2012
Jordan Ayew at the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations
My admiration for the two sons of the legendary Abedi Pele has become what a mathematician will describe as ‘inversely proportional’ and it saddens my heart.
In other words, as I wake up every day with a growing admiration for the Maestro’s elder son Andrew Dede Ayew, my admiration for the younger one, Jordan Ayew, continues to wane even as I struggle not to allow that to happen.
When in 2008, many were questioning then Stars’ Coach Claude Leroy’s decision to give Dede Ayew a call-up into the Black Stars team in the run-up to the Nations’ Cup. I was one of the few who thought it was a good move.
My conviction, as always, has been that, when you identify a talent, and a good one at that, there is the need to help build him into what you want, hence my stand on the issue.
Many, who at the time, disagreed with me and many others who thought like me, later ate the humble pie the young lad provided them with at the Africa and World Under 20 tournaments held in Rwanda and Egypt respectively.
So sweet was the pie provided by Dede that many forgot he was the provider, let alone remember that his journey started with that first but giant step he was aided by Leroy to take.
Enter Jordan Ayew
Dede, like is expected of all senior brothers, took all the bullets for his brother and to some extent, his father; so when his brother, Jordan Ayew was later called into the senior national team, little or no fuss was made about it.
And even though Jordan has made more mistakes as a young player in the Black Stars, compared to his brother’s early days in the side, many have shied away from genuinely criticising him let alone being hard on him like they were (hard) on Dede.
For the records, I wish to state that I am not calling for any such undue criticisms because as much as I agree with constructive criticisms, I do not subscribe to what, in many cases, are personal attacks that are only grounded on personal scores; the kind I believe was visited on Dede Ayew.
A tale of two Ayews
I am not engaged in praise-singing; far from that! My only little worry (if indeed may not be little) is that the wonderful path that was cleared by Dede for his little brother, Jordan Ayew is being misused.
As a player, I admire Jordan for the innate skills he possesses.
His skills will come to many followers of football as natural, as it is fast becoming clear that indeed there is a nexus between footballing skills and DNA.
But it is also true that skills alone will not make a player successful as has been the case of many failed talents; hence my bellyache with Jordan Ayew.
I am not the type who believes in ‘anything goes’ and for this, you may decide to call me a conservative person and I will not be too worried because there is only a thin line between conservatism and self-discipline.
In that sense, I still struggle to understand why Jordan prefers putting his shorts bellow his wastes, where they are supposed to be, to putting them above them.
I am not, in any way, suggesting that Jordan’s way of dressing is affecting his performance; no, not at all!
As said by Andre Agassi, the famous Tennis Star, “image is everything” and the earlier he begins to dress in a way that is consistent with the ambassadorial role he plays anytime he wears the Ghana jersey, the better it will be for his own image, that of the ‘Ayew Brand’ and most importantly, the father’s image that has brought them this far.
In most cases, Jordan’s way of dressing connotes lack of seriousness and what may add credence to the public opinion that he does not take Ghana’s games seriously.
The fact that we do not see him dress this way when he plays for his club side, Olympique Marseille also fuels this speculations.
Football is a game that is largely dependent on the fans and I want to say, without the intentions of being a prophet of doom, that very soon, any non-performance of the Stars may be zeroed in on Jordan’s way of dressing.
Many are the reasons Ghanaians have ascribed to the non-performance of our teams and I do not wish to see a boy whose family’s footballing history I have followed and admired so much fall a victim to some of those unwanted vitriolic comments, especially when that has not been the posturing of his father, brothers or uncles.
The ‘Ayew legacy’ must live and must be protected even in the court of public opinion.
By Joshua Tigo
Email: Joshua.tigo@gmail.com
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Is this a serious article?? Of all the problems in the world, this is what you choose to focus on? I’m sorry to say this Mr. Joshua Tigo, but your editorial is the most useless piece of drivel I have read in a long while. While you may not like it, most people under 35 do not wear their shorts at their waist. Formerly, shorts were short and worn right below the waist at the section above the buttocks. Only homosexuals these days (and I mean no disrespect to gay people) wear shorts that way these days. Consequently, football shorts have been redesigned to appear more like basketball shorts. Please let this lad have his peace of mind if this is the only thing with which you find fault.
Seriously, i read the article expecting some critical analysis of his game but this guy is talking about something totally irrelevant
You are rather destroying the import of this article. How do you come to conclusion of the dress code for Homos? Do presidents wear their trousers below the waist? what of Pastors? professionals and all dignified people in the society?
Try to understand where writer is coming from. He introduced himself between conservatism and self-discipline. Is wrong to be self-respected or a disciplined individual?
NOW LISTEN
The trousers below the waist originated from US prisons, where the prisoners started using their belts to commit suicide, belts were abolished.Therefore the bigger trousers, of course the trousers falls below the waist. Against this backdrop, is it then appropriate to dress like a condemned criminal? You be the judge.
Psych, I think you are big big fool to reason why Mr. Joshua Tigo chose Jordan Ayew in his article.
Useless article. Don’t write English… write something sensible instead of talking about someones dressing. Is he breaking any Fifa rule?
I am sure you are one of the people who will wear big suits to work and do absolutely nothing at work.
Appearance remember, is really deceptive!
Is it Okay for me to insult you? Please don’t insult people you do not know. If this article means nothing to you just ignore it.
I don’t know what you achieve by insulting strangers.
Why don’t you mind your own business?
No wonder Zambians are daily on this site to trade insults with Ghanaians. Let’s respect ourselves and Mother Ghana. Good bye.
I don’t think the article is complete. If it is, then its ending is bad. But he raised a very essential point there: his seriousness. Though it got nothing to do with performance, in as much as he can’t do that at Marseille tells of how for granted the guy takes us. The Ayews are beginning to feel the national sides are their birthright, because we hail them. In as much as pundits see Jordan as better than Dede, I think its gotten into the guy’s head. His performance for the national team, to say the least, is abysmal, compared to what he does @ Marseille. We love the Ayews, but let’s face reality.
^^ Jordan is better for country than club & whoever wrote this article is incredibly stupid what kind of emotional/religious/cultural viewpoint is this? Has nothing to do with football
this article is full of crap u never see sky writing something stupid like this
loopy article!!!!!!!
JORDAN IS NOT RIPE FOR GBSTARS. I SIMPLY DONT SEE WHAT MANY OF YOU SEE IN HIM AT THIS POINT IN HIS CAREER. LOOK, THE GUY IS MEDIOCRE AT MARSEILLE AND ABYSMAL WITH GBSTARS. JORDAN’S PERFORMANCE AT AFCON 2012 AND THE QUALIFERS AGAINST ZAMBIA REMINDS ME OF HOW DEDE WAS AT AFCON 2008. JUVENILE AND ILL MATURITY. LOOK AT HIS NUMBER FOR MARSEILLE AS A STRIKER AGAINST HIS NUMBER OF APPEARNCES. DID AKWASI APPIAH/PLAVI TAKE THIS INTO ACCT BEFORE INVITING HIM?
HE SHOULD GO AND EARN HIS STRIPES WITH METEORS OR SATTELITES JUST LIKE DEDE DID. HE NEEDS ABOUT A YR OR 2 AWAY FROM GBSTARS TO MATURE
USELESS GHANA PLAYERS BEHAVIOUR AFTER LOSSS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wXUblInsrVw#!
OMG!!!! This Zambian’s have really demoralize us paaaa oooo!!!! We have to put ourselves together and retake what belongs to us.
jordan is a balloteli in the dark. Zambs hardly exchange hard words on zamfoot cause evrything’s structured unlike ours
JORDAN AYEW IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE COACH TO LET HIM PLAY FOR 90 MINUTES. GHANA SHOULD MAKE A BOLD DECISION TO REPLACE HIM. OUT OF 15 APPEARANCES IN MASAILLES HE SCORED ONLY 3 GOALS. I STRONGLY BELIEVE LOCAL PLAYERS WHO WERE SITTING ON THE BENCH – EMMANUEL CLOTTEY AND BEN ACHEAMPONG ARE FAR BETTER THAN JODAN. AT THIS TIME, GHANA SHOULD MOVE AWAY FROM FAVORITISM ETC. BECAUSE JORDAN IS THE FATHER OF ABEDE PELE SO WE HAVE TO INCLUDE HIM EVEN TOUGH HE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH. THE INTEREST OF BLACK STARS AND GHANA SHOULD BE FIRST AND FOREMOST INSTEAD OF SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS PUSHING FOR IN ACTIVE PLAYERS.
No insults here guys. I think the article is incomplete…the point couldn’t come out clearly but somehow I get the point. Image is everything. He’s a role and kids are looking up to him so he should be a positive example.
@Oko Toure, how can Jordan be the father of Abedi pere, are u okey my brother or has your loss to zambia blown your brains out? Zambia Chipolopolo!
Absolute rubbish1 If u have nothing to say, better to keep quiet.
Whoever wrote this article deserves a beating. If you want to tell Jordan Ayew not to sag his pants, you can do that without implying that he’s not serious. Asamoah Gyan sags his pants,too. A whole lot of other players do things that we consider unconventional, but does that make them non-serious? No. What about players who sport all manners of haircut?
FTA:”My only little worry (if indeed may not be little) is that the wonderful path that was cleared by Dede for his little brother, Jordan Ayew is being misused.”
Are you suggesting that Jordan made it to the Black Stars on account of Dede’s reputation? If so, I sincerely, doubt that you were one of the few people who defended Dede’s call-up by Claude Le-Roy.
You also stated that he has made more mistakes than his elder brother. Well, the article would have carried more weight if you had at least mentioned them. The article lacks seriously in content and rational argument.
my pple on dis site Jordan is a problem. he’s ridin on de back of Abedi-father nd Dede-brother. he should have perform better to give assent to de self-exited Djan letter to GFA lockin him Djan from considerin comin back to GBSTAR. MY HEART ache when i learnt Djan is comin back. it’s all Jordan fault.
i realy think ghana are one of the best teams in africa but thier pompus and just because they got to a quater final of the world cup.dicipline and the way u dress will show how serious u are take for insantancegoing to and interview with jeans you maybe smart but you wont be taken seriously,zambia has improved due to seriousness jacob muluenga is a grown up rich like jordan but does not behave like that in zambias games