Aduana PRO clears the air on Kenichi's appointment

Mr Evans Oppong, Public Relations of Aduana Stars has debunked reports that, the club had reached an agreement with Coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi, before terminating its contract with departed coach Yussif Abubarkar.

The Dormaa based club terminated their contract with Yussif Abubarkar on Tuesday, July 10 and announced coach Keninchi as the next coach on Wednesday morning, with pictures of coach Kenichi meeting his new team in Dormaa.

This gave rise to suspicion that, Aduana had already secured the services of the coach before sacking coach Abubakar.

Mr Oppong, speaking in an interview with GNA Sports, said the club’s administrative staff, had to work around the clock, just to make sure they had a new manager in less than 24 hours, because of the team’s Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederations Cup group stage fixture on Wednesday, July 18, against AS Vita Club.

He revealed that, Aduana contacted four coaches including Kenichi, for the vacant role on Tuesday evening, but the club managed to reach an agreement with Kenichi, because he showed interest and understood the urgency of the deal, so did not hesitate to reach an agreement with Aduana Stars.

According to Mr. Oppong, former Hearts of Oak coach Frank Nutal, Romanian Cioba Aristika and a local coach currently under contract with another club in Ghana, were all contacted for the job within a limited period, but they had to settle on the Japanese American who was readily available and flexible with his terms.

“We contacted these coaches through their emails and WhatsApp platforms, with job offers on Tuesday night, around 21:00 GMT, right after we had terminated the contract with Yussif Abubarkar.

“Coach Kenichi responded to our offer and admitted he was interested in the job, so having our CAF Confederation Cup match against AS Vita on Wednesday, in mind, we did not hesitate to reach an agreement with him,” he disclosed.

Mr Oppong noted that, coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi left Accra around 2:00 GMT to make the trip to Dormaa in the Brong-Ahafo region on Wednesday and met his new squad later in the morning, before they quickly started working towards their next game.

The 2017 Ghana Premier League Champs would come up against Congolese side AS Vita club in ttheir third match of the CAF Confederations Cup group stages fixture on Wednesday, July 18, at the Nana Agyeman Badu II Stadium in Dormaa.

The game which kicks off of at 13:00 GMT, will be the first game of new coach, Kenichi Yatsuhashi, as manager of Aduana Stars.