Executive Council member of the Ghana Football Association (GFA), Randy Abbey has disclosed that when the GFA sacked erstwhile Black Stars coach C.K Akonnor they wanted to replace him with Herve Renard.

Former Ghana captain C.K Akonnor was appointed Ghana coach in January 2020 but was sacked in September 2021 after a 1-0 defeat to South Africa in the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers.

After his sacking, the GFA constituted a three member panel which Randy Abbey was a member to find a replacement for C.K Akonnor as Black Stars coach within 72 hours.

According to Randy Abbey, their first choice for the vacant Ghana job was former Black Stars assistant coach Herve Renard who was assistant to Claude Leroy when he was in charge of Ghana in 2008.

He says that the Frenchman turned down the Ghana job as he wanted to qualify Saudi Arabia to the World Cup and was a lofty $80,000 salary which they wanted to negotiate downwards.

The Frenchman who has twice won the AFCON for Zambia and Ivory Coast when they faced Ghana in the finals in 2015 was not ready to vacate his lucrative post in Saudi Arabia for the Ghana job.

“The Ghana Football Association [GFA] gave us 48 hours to settle on a new coach for the team and we decided that we have to go in for someone who understands the culture of the country,” Randy Abbey told Accra-based Original FM.

He continued by explaining why the former Ivory Coast trainer turned down Ghana's offer.

“Herve Renard was our first choice but when we contacted him, he was not ready to leave his work with the Saudi Arabia team because he told us he wants to lead the side to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. Again, his monthly was a problem because he was on a $80,000 but we were still ready to negotiate with him,” he added.

Ghana eventually fell for their 'ex-love' Milo not knowing that this time the Milo had expired as the Serbian coach was fired five months after his appointment.

Milovan Rajevac was quickly sent packing after a disastrous 2021 AFCON in Cameroon where Ghana were kicked out at the group stages losing to Comoros, Morocco and drawing with Gabon.

His assistant Otto Addo was initially handed the job on an interim basis and qualified Ghana for the Qatar 2022 World Cup before he was handed a six month contract extension.