The Times - UK (2022-04-09)

10 1GS Saturday April 9 2022 | the times

Sport Football

LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/GETTY IMAGES

I was like, ‘Uh-oh.’ ” Gerrard was sent

off, but fortunately Boateng withstood

the impact.

A couple of days later, Boateng’s

phone went with a number he didn’t

recognise. It was Gerrard, who’d got

his number from Gary McAllister.

“The gaffer said, ‘George, I just want

to apologise for the tackle, it wasn’t

right, I shouldn’t have done it.’ ‘Why

did you?’ I asked. ‘You were bossing

the midfield, and I couldn’t handle it.

In the first half there was a ball

between me and you, and you went

really hard and won the ball, so the

second time I thought you were going

to go in again,

but I mistimed

it’.

“I said, ‘I’m

fine, I respect

you,’ and we

became very

good friends. I

played with

Gary at

Coventry and

he’s here as

well so I have

two amazing

people here to

look after the

team. For me

to have the

gaffer, Michael Beale

and Gary McAllister

helps me personally. I

want to manage in

time — there’s no rush

— but to see how they

are working is great. The

gaffer says for me to come

in when the academy’s off

and be with the first team. That’s

really important for my development.

“That’s what I like about the gaffer.

He was a huge, huge player, and so

far he has done an outstanding job at

Rangers and he’s now in the league

he knows very well, and we have to

give him the time to build the team

he wants.”

Boateng will play his part, working

with his friend and old team-mate

Mark Delaney in developing players.

“The players have huge pride to play

for Villa and that speaks volumes.

What is an Aston Villa player? The

best example is Jack Grealish: very

skilful, hard-working and lots of pride

in playing for the club. If we can get

that into the players in the under-18s,

23s and first team, this team will be a

real force in the Premier League.”

“South Korea have Son [Hueng-

min]. But Ghana has the opportunity

to go to a World Cup and actually

impress the world by the style of our

football.”

His education continues apace.

Boateng, who did his A, B and Pro-

Licence badges with the Irish FA and

is finishing his FA Advanced Youth

award, began his coaching with

Blackburn Rovers under-13s before

moving to Villa in 2019. “Can we get

this academy to be the best in the

Midlands? In the next few years can

we be one of the best in the country?

That’s what we are looking for,” he

said. “The

head of the

academy,

Mark

Harrison, has

worked his

socks off.

“Look at

Kaine Kesler

[Hayden, the

wing back on

loan with MK

Dons], Carney

Chukwuemeka,

Aaron Ramsey

[the midfield

player on loan

at Cheltenham

Town], the younger

brother of Jacob. Look

at England

representative sides.

We have under-16s,

under-18s, under-21s

representing England.

We’re really proud of that.

“Dean Smith started us.

The new gaffer [Gerrard] has

come in and he’s a legend. Some of

these boys were not even born when

the gaffer was at his peak, but they

know who he is. He has some of them

training with him.

“If you’re a first-year scholar and

asked to train with the first team, it

means everything. We try to develop

not only good players, but good

human beings, someone who is good

for society even if he doesn’t make it

here as a footballer.”

Boateng knows all about the

competitive streak of Gerrard, who

flew recklessly into him when Villa

visited Anfield in 2001. “We were

winning very comfortably, and the

ball came in the air, I brought it

down, and all I could see was the

gaffer coming in with a big lunge, and

— the noise, the passion, it’s great to

see, it’s just the minority who spoil it

for the rest.”

Security guided them to their

changing room with one piece of

advice: “Stay inside.” “We were locked

in for an hour, the lads were

celebrating, music, dancing. If you

meet Daniel Amartey, of Leicester,

say, ‘I’ve heard you can sing and play

drums.’ Daniel usually starts the

singing and dancing.

“Then we got the news that the

fans had blocked the road, that was

another hour. We were supposed to

fly out of Abuja at 10.30pm, we left

Abuja at 1.30am. But none of us ever

felt threatened.”

Now 46, Boateng was born in

Ghana but moved to the Netherlands

when he was nine for his father’s

work, and made his name with

Feyenoord before moving to England.

Even though he represented Holland

four times, Boateng never forgot his

roots. “I’m lucky to have both cultures

in me,” he said. “My heritage is always

going to be in Ghana. That’s why I am

so happy with the delight of the

Ghana people.”

The group-stage draw

stirred even more interest.

“We were following the

draw at training at Villa but

the pre-show was so long

we had to get out on

the pitch,” Boateng

says laughing. “Give

us the names!

People in Ghana

celebrated getting

Uruguay. I said,

‘Why? Uruguay

are a very good

team.’ Everyone

said, ‘But we will

take revenge.’ ”

Suárez

infamously handled

a goalbound shot

that helped to break

Ghana’s hearts at the

2010 World Cup.

“It’s not going to be

easy in Qatar. Portugal

will be a tough game,

because they have [Diogo]

Jota, [Cristiano] Ronaldo,

Bernardo Silva, top, top

players.

G

eorge Boateng sat in “the

barn”, the cavernous space

housing a gym and an

inside pitch at Aston

Villa’s Bodymoor Heath

training ground, yesterday and

reflected on an extraordinary few

days. Boateng survived a pitch

invasion and missiles in Nigeria as he

helped Ghana to qualify for the

World Cup, got drawn against an old

national enemy in Uruguay’s Luis

Suárez, and saw more of his exciting

Villa academy prospects work with

Steven Gerrard’s first team.

Boateng, 46, the former Coventry

City, Villa and Middlesbrough and

Hull City midfielder, is one of the

most admired up-and-coming

coaches in the country for his work

with Villa’s under-23s, and also with

Ghana, assisting the head coach, Otto

Addo, and the technical adviser, Chris

Hughton.

His whirlwind fortnight started on

March 25 with the home leg of their

World Cup play-off against Nigeria in

Kumasi, which finished 0-0.

“The stadium can hold 40,000 and

apparently there were 60,000 inside

and another 20,000 outside,” he

recalled. “The atmosphere was

unbelievable. My family had tickets

with all the directors and they were

sitting with two people on each chair.

“It shows the passion for football in

Ghana. Since Thomas Partey moved

to Arsenal from Atletico [Madrid], we

have 100 fans in Arsenal shirts

watching our training, singing for

Thomas. His transfer was well

received back home, people going,

‘Wow! Arsenal!’ Everyone knows the

team they had with the Invincibles.”

Partey was to play a pivotal role in

the feisty second leg in Abuja on

March 29. “The people in Abuja were

lovely, so friendly in the hotel, saying,

‘Good luck, may the best team win,’ ”

Boateng said. “We were a bit confused

at how friendly they were.” It didn’t

last. The night before the game,

Ghana headed to Abuja National

Stadium for training but were delayed

getting on the pitch as Nigeria

overran their slot. Stadium staff tried

to shepherd them off the pitch at the

end but Hughton, Addo, Boateng and

the Ghana FA explained they had a

post-training routine.

“Normally in our culture we stand

in a circle on the pitch after training

and sing and pray and then go. They

switched the lights off! It was pitch

black so we got the lights of our

phones, laptops and iPads and carried

on praying and singing.

“Then they put the lights back on,

then off, then on, trying to get us off

the pitch.That actually spurred the

lads, who were saying, ‘If this is how

you’re going to treat us, we want to

win even more.’ ”

Partey scored the vital away

goal and Ghana were through.

They rushed to celebrate with

their fans. “I looked over my

shoulder and just above the

tunnel I see people coming

down on the pitch. Oh my

God,” Boateng said. “The

other players and staff

recognised it and everyone

said, ‘Run!’ ”

They dashed the 50

yards to the tunnel,

weaving past pitch

invaders. “As we get closer,

it gets worse, because

they’re throwing water

bottles and chairs, and

we were dodging here

and there. The ’keeper

[Swindon Town’s Jojo]

Wollacott, who’d

given another great

performance, got

hit by a bottle

on his head.

The fans in

Abuja were

outstanding

‘The gaffer

said sorry for

the tackle –

we became

good friends’

HENRY WINTER

THE BIG INTERVIEW

Having felt force of a Steven Gerrard

challenge as a Premier League player,

George Boateng is now developing as

a coach under the Villa manager

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Gerrard scythes down Boateng during Liverpool’s game against Middlesbrough at the Riverside in 2005; a similar tackle

in a 2001 game resulted in a red card for Gerrard, who later called Boateng, now his under-23 coach at Villa, to apologise

Boateng is enjoying success

as a coach with Ghana, inset

above, and Villa Under-23

Ghana people.

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