By Richard F. Manuba
Liberian sport Journalist
Europeans Antoine Tony Hey, Bertalan Bisckei (deceased), and Roberto Landi, have all tasted Liberia’s possession of the United States’ currency; the great and mighty US Dollars owing to our nation handing to them, letters of employment respectively at different intervals.
They worked for Liberia and its people through direct interaction between and with the Liberia Football Association (LFA) and our footballers as well as government authorities at the Ministries of State, and Youth & Sports.
It is a globally acceptable norm in football that the man in charge of the dug-out or bench of the team during a match is the Head Coach or “The Manager” if you may, from a British or European perspective.
That shows that not more than one person is in the hot seat, or the “head-nigger-in-charge” as the Boss. Simply put, in football, the coaching line is only to be accessed by the Head and not deputies; period. Hey, Bisckei, and Landing respected this worldwide tradition and Liberians saw their European coaches standing aside the pitch, giving instructions and being the ones to address pre and post-match news conferences alongside the Captain of the team.
Fast-foward, 2019 has given us another European Coach in person of Peter James Butler from the UK. I applaud this decision by our FA authorities because I have a personal admiration for British coaches, since the British creditably hold the record of modernizing the football game when the Chinese discovered it.
British coaches in my mind, are tacticians who are efficacious in regimenting a poor-record team into being a feared competitor. This is a transformation I believe Lonestar will achieve under Butler’s tutelage, but, I have a legitimate concern which sat me down and placed my pen in my hands to coin this article.
Firstly, Butler is no stranger to the African continent, having worked for Botswana. So, racism will never run through my mind any day about him and his interpersonal skills. Secondly, he knows all too well that if anyone should take the bullets for continuous poor results, it’s always the Boss and not subordinates. Now, my issue here is, is it written in Butler’s employment contract that is his deputy or assistants who should mainstream in his job with Liberia?
This is awkward in football, because seeing a deputy frequenting the touch-line when the Head Coach is well in health, fit and is seated on the bench is only but bizzare. During our matches under Butler, the man we see on the touch-line is former and retired international Christopher Wreh, highly respected in Liberian and English football having played professionally for Arsenal.
Wreh remains [on record] the only Liberian who has played for Arsenal. Suitably, Wreh is a good choice for deputy or assistant to any coach due to his big experience of playing the game at the highest level, but roles and responsibilities need to be set out clearly in our National Team.
A deputy means you are not the main-streamer but in European terms, a backroom staff. When you watch games nowadays, you see the Head Coach/Manager only whispering through the ears of his deputy or vice versa, but only the Boss steps onto the touch-line to give instructions. Because we are too prone to giving artificial and unrelated interpretations to professional perspectives on issues, let me quicken to state that my views here are void of hate, malice, and only intended for the authorities to take remedial course of action.
Lest we forget, all of 80% of the LFA and other sports officials in Liberia are all my good friends, hence, I will not harbor hate for them or wish them misfortune, but with my experienced of more than a decade as a high-line sports Journalist, I carry a moral obligation and a fiduciary responsibility to serve as an observer of national issues and proffer my concerns as a suggestion or recommendation to veer off the wrong direction and get on the right path of success.
If Mr. Butler wholeheartedly accepted our job as Head Coach and not Deputy, let the LFA ensure he’s the guy always on the touch-line, and the man addressing our press conferences, and not being seated on the bench holding his cheeks whilst his deputy (ies) own the touch-line.
Long live the Republic of Liberia, long live the Lonestar. I wish the National Team success!
About Author
Richard F. Manuba is former Sports Reporter, State Broadcaster – ELBC, with more than 12 years experience in journalism in Liberia and other countries in Africa, can be reached on
+231886387803 / +231770902967 (WhatsApp)
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