Chris Hughton is a well-known British manager, and former player, who has 53 caps for the Republic of Ireland and was part of Jack Charlton’s squad who reached the last eight of the 1990 World Cup. He is also UK’s most successful black manager who was coaching Newcastle, Brighton and Norwich (among others) and now, he is a technical adviser for Ghana football team, working for the country or his origin.New stars in Ghana’s sky – beware of the Williams brothersChris’ father came from Ghana in 1953 and became a postman before he met Hughton’s Irish mother, so the former Newcastle coach knew his origin, but didn’t go to Ghana much in his early days, since his working class family didn’t have time to go on summer holidays. But in his later years he was able to go and visit his family, and on his last holiday, he ended up being named Ghana’s technical advisor.“Three days before I arrived, the Ghana coach lost his job. I was visiting family, just relaxing. But I must have been spotted and a lot of people, particularly in the local media, presumed I was there for the job. It kind of grew and grew. They were discussing it on the TV and next thing my grandchildren were sending me stuff they’d seen on social media and asking why I hadn’t told them. I was relaxed about it. I knew it wasn’t true. But then over a period of time that all changed” explained Hughton to Daily Mail.Black Stars getting another Gunner: Nketiah ditches England for GhanaChris ended up with Ghana gig after all, and he will travel with the squad to the World Cup in Qatar.“I do have a relationship with the association simply because of my background and I spoke to them while I was there. Would this have happened had I not taken that holiday? Very possibly. Ghana had a difficult AFCON, they finished bottom of their group in January and wanted to improve quickly as they had a World Cup eliminator almost immediately. But the holiday certainly didn’t do me any harm” admits Hughton.(1.40) SENEGAL (4.40) BENIN (9.00)Just like at the beginning of his coaching career, when he was the caretaker manager for Tottenham Hotspur, Hughton stepped in to help and was at the helm with two games with Nigeria, after which Ghana qualified for the World Cup in Qatar. There were talks just after the win over the Super Eagles that he might end up as the coach of the Black Stars, but he opted to support Otto Addo and his stuff as an advisor.“I was involved against Nigeria but only really watched training. Tactics and selection are one thing, but there are other issues such as media work. I can help to take some of the pressure off with those things. I will be involved with the coach on tactics and the team we pick, but he will have the final say. We are fourth seed in the group but this will be a different World Cup. Players will all have been playing for their clubs. England play eight days after the Premier League stops, for example. So it could be about form or players picking up injuries and things like that. That October period with no friendlies will be very difficult and a nervous time for countries as they hope their players are OK. So we will have to take advantage of anything like that when we can” said Hughton.
