Former Ghana international Sam Johnson has waded into the debate on monies given to Black Stars players.
According to him, he fully supports the idea of players demanding for their monies even before they play in any tournament.
Sam Johnson revealed that,the current players have taken lessons from how the government failed to honour their promises towards former players in the past.
In an Interview with Esther Abankwa on Angel TV’s “On the Turf” Sports Show, he cited an instance of how they were subjected to hunger and made to play with empty stomachs when they went to similar competitions in the 1990s with the hope of getting their monies after the tourney, but were never given anything.
“As for money, I support it fully,they should take their monies before anything, look,they have robbed us for long and the young ones have learnt from it. The young ones have seen what they did to us,and how some of us are leaving in poverty now. When they see you out there, people say all sort of things,that we played football for long time,but didn’t make something meaningful out of it. Meanwhile our monies were not given to us,so as for money,I support fully,” he said.
Sam Johnson however cautioned that,the Black Stars players need to produce result,once they have been paid.
At the 2014 World Cup,there was chaos in the Black Stars camp when the players refused to play their match against Portugal in the group stage, unless their appearance fees of $100,000 each was paid to them.
The situation led to the then government’s decision to fly the money to Brazil,an action that brought international disgrace and condemnation to the country.
