Massive clear-out rocks Black Stars hangers-on for 2015 AFCON, Langabell affected

Published on: 17 December 2014
Massive clear-out rocks Black Stars hangers-on for 2015 AFCON, Langabell affected
Joseph Langabell entertaining the Black Stars in their free time

The Ghana Football Association (GFA) is to embark on some changes in the travelling plans of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations by axing individuals whose roles are not deemed crucial to the team during tournaments.

The changes, which will include ridding the Stars of individuals whose roles are not deemed crucial to the team during tournaments, are geared towards  creating a pure football ambience for the players to perform.

Among those to fall casualties are Joseph Langabell, a known national drummer/entertainer of the team, and some media persons who have been perching with the national teams by sharing the same facilities, such as bus, hotel and even dressing rooms, with them.

“Apart from the 23 players and the technical team comprising, the head coach, his assistant, goalkeepers’ trainer, psychologist and welfare officer no other persons will be allowed access to the team at the 2015 AFCON”, a deep throat has told the Graphic Sports.

According to the deep throat: “It  is now imperative to rid the Stars camp of persons whose roles are not clearly defined in the team, particularly during tournaments. This thing has cost the team massively in tournaments, particularly the last World Cup.

“The Stars camp was hugely populated by persons  whose roles were not appropriately designated and other hangers-on whose presence contributed to the confusion in the camp leading to the violent attack by Sulley Muntari on Moses Armah, a member of the Executive Committee of the GFA”, he said passionately.

He cited Michael Essien’s testimony at the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCI) to corroborate the Stars Management Committee’s plans to get rid of the undesirables ahead of the AFCON.

Michael Essien, a senior member of the Stars, who is currently suspended, had told the PCI that investigated the Stars ignoble showing at the last World Cup in Brazil that there were too many people around the team and that did not give the players the peace of mind to concentrate on the tournament.

Aside from that, the deep throat expressed concern about the common allegation that these hangers-on have often served as conduit to smuggle women into the team at peak moments of the Stars’ run and the reason they must be smoked out.

He said as an alternative plan, if it became necessary to admit those media persons who often joined the team under the guise of conducting interviews, special arrangements would be made to enable them interview the players.

Meanwhile, Langabell stands to be sorely missed by the radical changes to hit the Stars camp starting with the AFCON in Equatorial Guinea since from the deep throat sources his role will no longer be required in the Stars outfit.

But even though he is unlikely to join the team for the AFCON it is believed that his name has been included in the budget estimates for the competition with the designated role as an entertainer.

Langabell became associated with the Black Stars in 2009 as a national drummer and has remained an integral part of the team and is profoundly loved by the players, some of who, it is alleged, he has been running errands for.

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