Sorry we abandoned you – Kingson to Agogo

Former goalkeeper of the Black Stars, Richard Kingson, has apologised to his former teammate, Junior Manuel Agogo, for neglecting him in the wake of his sickness.

Agogo, who has been bedridden for a little over two years battling stroke, made a revelation in a BBC interview that his friends and teammates had abandoned him.

The former Ghanaian striker, who was the golden boy for the nation during the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations has troubles with speech, following his recovery which has left him lacking confidence and socially isolated.

Reacting to Agogo’s lamentations, Kingson, who felt sorry for his former teammate, apologised on behalf of his fellow colleagues for neglecting the former Nottingham Forest striker.

He explained to Ghanaweb in an interview that: “He [Agogo] is my good friend when we were in the national team, especially 2008, we were together as good friends but along the line, I lost his contact and I feel sorry for him.”

He continued: “Sometimes, when you have friends from the beginning and you think these are your friends and later they betray you like this, it is very painful so I understand him and I will just encourage him to move on, help himself to be stronger so that he can overcome the sickness.

“I’ll like to apologise on behalf of some of the players because some of them also talk to him. So those who don’t have the opportunity to talk to him, I will take the opportunity to apologise on their behalf to Junior Agogo and his family that we have neglected him at this point, but all the same, I believe we are in spirit with him so we wish him speedy recovery.”

Agogo was born in Ghana but spent most of his childhood in the UK. He began playing football at Sheffield Wednesday in 1995, moving up to the senior squad in 1997.

He played for 15 different clubs over 15 years, before retiring from professional football. He spent most of his playing career in England, with additional spells in the USA, Egypt, Cyprus and Scotland.

His longest spell was at Bristol Rovers where he played from 2003–2006, where he made 140 appearances before moving to Nottingham Forest.

Agogo played for Ghana’s senior national team between 2006 and 2009. His three goals in the final stages of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations helped Ghana to a third-place finish and made him a household name in the country.

Agogo scored a total of 143 goals during his professional football career. He was hospitalised for stroke in 2015 and has since not fully recovered.