The Ghana Football Association (GFA) has taken a bold decision to beef up the Black Stars technical bench, with Coach Sam Arday as a key introduction as part of efforts to excel at the Gabon 2017 Africa Nations Cup slated for January 14 to February 5.

That was a fallout from a critical meeting between the Black Stars Management Committee and Coach Avram Grant held in Accra last Monday. Coach Arday, who is currently the chairman of the GFA Technical Committee, was considered a qualified candidate for that important position due to his wealth of experience as a veteran coach and has been part of the technical set-up of the Stars three previous World Cup campaigns in Germany, South Africa and Brazil.

Investigations by the Graphic Sports revealed that Coach Arday, also a technical director of Sogakope-based West Africa Football Academy (WAFA), would this time play the role of a major technical advisor between the team and the management committee. The new arrangement will also see three Ghanaian coaches being appointed as scouts to monitor Ghana’s opponents and furnish Coach Grant with the necessary report during the tournament.

On his part, Grant, who is said to have agreed with the committee’s proposal, would bring on board a physiotherapist and his favourite physical instructor, Jamie Lawrence, to enhance the conditioning of the players.

According to a grapevine source, the committee acknowledged the role played by Lawrence during the Stars’ FIFA World Cup qualifier against the Pharaohs of Egypyt in Alexandria last month.

The source said the committee lamented the Stars’ poor form in their last five games and stressed on the need to beef up the bench to reverse the trend in Gabon.