By Sylvester Worwee
Former Liberia international Jonathan ‘Boy Charles’ Sogbie, now Senator of River-Gee County, has distanced himself from the appointment of Ansu Keita as Lone Star coach.
Boy Charles is a member of the famous George Weah 11. He was part of the Lone Star squad that made Liberia’s first Nations Cup appearance in South Africa in 1996.
The River-Gee County Senator began his illustrious football career with IE in the 80s. The forward later played for ASEC Mimosas in the neighboring Ivory Coast and several other clubs in Europe, the USA, and China.
“I didn’t form part of any decision or whatever. What I do know is I was added to a group chat that is vetting coaches for Lone Star. I couldn’t take part because I suspected several conflicting issues. Please speak to Marbue Richards or Romeo David,” Senator Sogbie said.
The vetting committee chairman, Ivan Brown could neither deny nor confirm reports that Ansu Keita has been awarded a two-year contract to coach Lone Star with a monthly salary of US$5000.
Other benefits in Keita’s contract include US$500 monthly for feeding allowance, US$100 for laundry, US$150 for internet package, US$200 for gasoline, US$50 for car washing, one round trip ticket per year for (economic class) for Coach Keita to visit his family in Canada, travel allowance every time Lone Star plays an away match (to be determined by GOL) and a win bonus of US$1,500.
The contract mandate, in other words, Coach Keita’s TOR is to qualify Liberia for the 2023 Nations Cup in Ivory Coast.
- Develop a local-based national team to qualify for the next CHAN final tournament
- Qualify Lone Star for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Brown, who is also an executive committee member at LFA said, he’s not clothed with the authority to speak for neither the LFA nor the government, but rather, he encouraged me to contact the Liberia Football Association and the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
It’s understood that Ansu Keita has UEFA “B” Coaching License, as per his credential submitted to the vetting committee.
A member of the committee, Paul Romeo David said background-check was carried out to validate information provided to the committee by coaches interviewed.
But he couldn’t confirm whether the committee’s background check shows that Keita obtained his UEFA “B” Coaching License from England in 2010.
Keita’s coaching credential has been an issue of debate since he was contracted by LFA in 2021 to coach Liberia’s Under-17 team.
