Kojo Era Ends! -But French Coach Rejects Liberia’s Job -Financial Issue Amongst Others Cited

It has been gathered by the INQUIRER Sports that Liberia football house has terminated the contract of former Liberia's international and now Lone Star head coach, Thomas Kojo.

LFA disclosed few weeks ago that head coach Thomas Kojo was given a mandate to qualify the team to the finals of CHAN and if not his contract was going to be terminated. Mustapha Raji, president of the LFA, told journalists in July of 2019 at a well-attended press conference.
But what appears to be a disturbing news for Liberia is the speculation that the French coach who was expected to take-over from Thomas Kojo has rejected the initial proposal presented to him by the local football house.
According to a FA source, the former French U-20 coach, Pierre ankowski, has pulled out of the deal to take over the national team of Liberia for personal and financial reasons.
The 68-year-old French tactician was set to take over the national team following Thomas Kojo’s failure to qualify Lone Star for the African Nations Championship as they were eliminated by Senegal on a 3-1 aggregate.
The source further disclosed that Kojo’s contract has expired and that the FA was only waiting for the coach’s technical reports which now means that the head coach job at the national team is vacant.
Football pundits have insisted that a way out for Liberia is the hiring for a professional foreign tactician who will help to grown Liberia’s talented youthful players ahead of major qualifiers.
It is now certain that Liberia has focused its attention on employing a foreign coach and the first name that had been mentioned was former France U-21 World Cup winning Coach Pierre Mankowski.
According to our source, Mankowski was expected to arrive in Liberia last week to discuss personal terms with the football house and finalize his contract before being appointed as Lone Star’s head coach.
The Frenchman had he been appointed, will have less than a month to put his team together as Liberia faces Sierra Leone in the World Cup qualifiers shortly.
He was expected to be given two-round trip tickets to go home for vacation and a decent house and a car to be used in Liberia.
Referencing the deal, the French coach was expected to sign a one-year contract with an option to extend for further year based on his performance.
Mankowski was said to be impressed with the offer by the LFA as the financial terms were encouraging for him and saw Liberia as a country with natural talents that can be bettered in years if the right supports are provided.
But it remains unclear where exactly the contract negotiation broke down, as neither LFA nor the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MYS) could provide clarity on the entire saga. However, it is understood that the contract negotiations between both parties had ended due to personal and financial reasons.
The 68-year-old Frenchman won the Fifa U-20 World Cup with France in 2013, a team that had some of Euro’s noticeable names that included Paul Pogba, Aymeric Laporte, Benjamin Mendy, Raphael Varane and Alphonse Areola Samuel Umtiti and Lucas Digne.
Mankowski served as assistant coach to Jacques Santini when France clinched the FIFA Confederation Cup in 2003 defeating Cameroon in the final but he left the squad after France’s quarter-final exist in Euro 2004.
He was, however, called to the France technical staff by Coach Raymond Domenech for the 2006 world cup, where they finished as runner-up to Italy. The Frenchman has also coached every youth setup for his country from U-18, 19, 20 and 21 levels.
It is believed that the coach’s disagreement was contained in an expression where he cited low financial proposal. It still unclear but the ongoing economy crisis in the country could also pose a serious challenge to Liberia’s willingness to accept on terms and conditions from the French tactician.
Liberia could be in serious trouble considering that the entire nation is now face with financial constraints as public service workers have not taken salary for months owing to ongoing financial challenges.
The arrival of the French coach would have given Liberia a big boost ahead of their pending qualifiers games, but the news of a breakdown in negotiation with the foreign coach sends a rather troubling news for Liberia’s hope of reaching a major international competition anytime soon.
The hiring of the French manager coach could have also helped Liberia in other areas like boosting its youthful football programs as Liberia still lacks a comprehensive way forward for grassroot football development.