Newly appointed Black Stars’ coach
Milovan Rajevac has played down suggestions that he was desperate for the Black Stars post after being without employment for four years before being reappointed to the post.
The new Ghana coach says he is delighted to return to the country he considers is his second home after some exploits with the Black Stars in his first stint in 2008.
The Serbian, who took the West African country to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, made this claim when he was reappointed to the post on Friday, September 24.
The Serbian manager was appointed just one week after the sacking of local coach Charles Akonnor who lost the confidence of the leadership of the Black Stars management and squad.
Rajevac was hurriedly appointed on Friday, 11 years after he quit the post in search of greener pastures that took him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Algeria, and Thailand.
He was announced as the new coach of the Black Stars for the same post that he was in when the West African nation reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup in 2010.
His monthly salary of $30,000 was far below the $100,000 he reportedly earned with Qatar which sparked claims that he was desperate for the job after being without work for the past four years.
Rajevac, who was the head coach for the Black Stars in South Africa, claims he was rather happy for the chance to coach Ghana again after leading several other countries.
“I was not desperate for the Ghana job,” Rajevac said at a press conference in Accra on Friday when he was unveiled for his second stint as the Black Stars coach.
“Ghana is my second home and I was happy to get the opportunity to work in Ghana,” the Serbian coach concluded.
Rajevac signed for a one-year contract on Friday with the possibility of extending it for another year according to Ghana FA and he will be assisted by Maxwell Konadu and Otto Addo.
The 67-year-old Rajevac is left with limited time to prepare for his first game, with the two World Cup qualifiers coming up against Zimbabwe in the coming two weeks.
He replaced Charles Akonnor, who was fired after Ghana scored three points in their initial two Group G qualifiers earlier this month.
The Black Stars struggled to beat Ethiopia by 1-0 in their home stadium on September 3. Then they were defeated by South Africa in Johannesburg three days later.
Ghana will take on Zimbabwe in Cape Coast on Oct. 9 before departing for the return leg Harare three days later.
There are two additional World Cup qualifiers in November and, if Ghana triumphs in their group, they’ll move on to play-offs later in the month of March next year, to decide the five representatives from Africa to Qatar 2022.
Rajevac will also lead Ghana to the Africa Cup of Nations finals in Cameroon.
He was the previous Ghana manager from the year 2008 until 2010, which included the World Cup in South Africa which they lost to Uruguay with penalties after the match in the quarterfinals, narrowly missing out being Ghana’s first African nation to make it to the final four.
Rajevac later transferred to an enticing post as Qatar coach. Later, he became the head for Algeria in addition to Thailand.