Togolese Football fans are torn between having Stephen Keshi as coach of the Hawks. Keshi is among  a number of  local and international coaches who have applied to take up the vacant position  after the resignation of Frenchman Thiery Froger.

Keshi is a front runner for the job having made an impact with the Hawks. But he is not favoured by  echelons of Togolese Football. However, Hawks supporters see Keshi as the coach who can revive the fortunes of the national team after they were eliminated from the 2012 Nations Cup. The people want him.

In 2006 Keshi qualified Togo for the Germany 2006 World Cup, but he fell out with Togolese Football Federation.

“Keshi is a great coach, he has done a lot of things for us here in Togo, but I don’t think one or two Togolese officials would be enthusiastic about his return. This is because their feeling is that Keshi has done his best and has nothing more prove,” Joachin Anani, a Lome-based sports journalist said.

However, Hypolith Ajoura a supporter of the Hawks deferred: “Despite what some people feel or say.  Keshi is the only coach that has brought a revolutionary change to our football.

“ I think it’s better to deal with the devil you know than the angel you haven’t seen.”

Togo are currently without a head coach after  Froger stood down in the wake of the team’s elimination from the 2012 African Cup of Nations qualifying campaign.

“We have received a multitude of applications from around the world. Among the serious candidates, one can find Europeans and Africans,” Togo Football Federation (FTF) spokesperson Amavi Patatu said today in Lome.

“In this lot, is obviously the name of the current interim coach of the Hawks, Tchanilé Tchakala, and former coach Stephen Keshi who led us to our first World Cup,” he said.