I can’t work with Strand - Godwin Attram fumes

Published on: 12 April 2017

Godwin Attram’s relationship with Accra Great Olympics could come to an abrupt end after the club’s management yesterday named Swede Tom Strand as their new head coach to salvage the club from sinking further.

Strand had been linked with Olympics in the last few days as part of a rescue plan for the struggling club. But the move was confirmed yesterday, with the man who led Medeama to win the MTN FA Cup last year expected to take charge of Olympics’ Premier League fixture against Liberty Professionals on Sunday.

In confirming Strand as the new head coach, the Olympics management in a press statement indicated that Attram and Stephen Botchway would remain part of the club’s technical team as assistant coaches.

Attram was livid at the turn of events and told the Graphic Sports that any move to relegate him to that of an assistant to Strand would result in he walking away from the club he guided to qualify for the Premier League and had since played the role of player-coach until their 1-2 loss to Aduana Stars last Monday.

An adamant Attram said he was not ready to serve as a subordinate to the expatriate and stated emphatically that he would bow out if the club did not consider him worthy as the head coach.

"I am stating this as a matter of fact that I am not ready to work with Tom Strand as an assistant and any move by management of the club to introduce Tom Strand will mean I have to quit my role as the coach."

"If the club feels I cannot do the job then I have to leave. But how can they relegate me to lower position after all what I did for the team to gain promotion," Attram fumed.

Already, the young coach believes the psychological ramification of his possible exit has had dire consequences on the players confidence and that has resulted in their recent uninspiring performances.