'Fantastic' Stephen Appiah’s humility wows me – Kwesi Pratt

•He claims to be a huge fan of the former Black Stars captain

•Pratt wants Ghanaian media to focus on promotion of the local game

The Managing Editor of the Insight newspaper Kwesi Pratt Jnr is waxing lyrical bout former Black Stars captain Stephen Tornado Appiah.

Pratt revealed on Metro TV that he is a huge fan of Stephen Appiah and that his fondness for Appiah stems from his personality.

He said Stephen Appiah has a ‘fantastic’ personality and respects all kinds of people.

“I respect Stephen Appiah for many other reasons rather than football. What wows me about Stephen Appiah is his humility. He is such a fantastic human being. It’s not about his football but I have so much respect for him for his extraordinary humility.

“I have an experience with him that I will never forget. I was by the road and he was passing by, he went all the way to turn and to say hello. At the time I had no relationship with him. He is an extraordinary personality. I don’t see him as a football but as a human being, he is a fantastic person,” he said.

Kwesi Pratt Jnr said that the focus of this country should be on promoting its own players instead of spending a chunk of time discussing foreign leagues.

He explained that Reverend Osei Kofi is one of the most talented football he has come across.

“I used to support Real Republicans unfortunately it was destroyed after the 1966 coup due to political and ideological reasons. So we couldn’t continue to support Real Republicans.

“Real Republicans had players whose standard may be better or equal to the standard of players we discuss in glory terms today. If you look at some of the matches Aggrey Fyn played, he was a classic all-around player. You couldn’t beat him. A player like Osei Kofi, in terms of real talent, I don’t see his equal in the world, perhaps Pele.

He also praised Abedi Ayew Pele for his talent, reasoning that only a handful of the current players in the world could match up to Abedi.

In my early years in public service, I got to know Abedi Pele and I thought that his talent was extraordinary. Some of these names don’t come anywhere near Abedi Pele in terms of skills. We sit here and talk about Barcelona, Chelsea etc and it makes me sick.

Pratt says he completely abhors foreign football and does not understand why Ghanaians dedicate much time to promoting football in other countries instead of the local league.

"I’m disgusted by the effort to promote European football at the expense of local football. As a matter of principle, I’m completely disgusted by it."