Asantehene dissolves Kotoko management team

Kumasi, May 17, GNA - Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene and Life Patron of Kumasi Asante Kotoko Football Club on Saturday dissolved the Sylvester Asare-Owusu-led five-member management team.

The Asantehene at an emergency stakeholders meeting held at the Manhyia Palace in Kumasi, he instead appointed an interim six-member management team and charged them to deliberate and appoint their own leader later.

The new members include Madam Helena Cobbinah, representing Kotoko Ladies, Sarfo Gyamfi, ex-player, Reverend Osei Kofi, ex-player, Alhaji Nje, former management member, Opoku Afriyie, Team Manager of Kotoko and Benjamin Nti, representing the Supporters Union.

The meeting was necessitated by the recent string of losses chalked by the Club, especially in the Glo Premier League which has thrown the entire Kotoko family into a turmoil with apportioning of blame from players, technical team, management and the supporters. Kotoko at the moment lie at the eighth position with 25 points, after they lost a total of seven matches, drawn four and won seven, a record seen by many football analysts as one of the poor performances in Kotoko's history.

Expectations were high before the meeting as the charged supporters clad in the Club's colours, besieged the premises of the Manhyia Palace and were kept in suspense until the Asantehene announced the dissolution of the management team, after the members had one after the other told the meeting as to what they thought were the problems hindering the Club's progress.

Majority of the dissolved management were unanimous in their assertion that there was disunity and division among them, which according to them accounted for the team's abysmal performance. Otumfuo Osei Tutu, who is the Spiritual Leader and owner of Kotoko lamented that the dissolved management team could not concentrate properly on the job given them but they instead pursued their own selfish interest thus diverting their attention from their vision statement.

He made it clear that it behoves on stakeholders of the Club to at all times be committed to the cause of Kotoko to ensure its progress and shun practices and utterances that in the long term may dent the hard won image of the Club.

The Asantehene hinted that as a long t erm solution to the challenges hampering Kotoko's administration, he intends to appoint a consultant to formulate a comprehensive management structure for effective management and running of its day-to-day activities. A Board of Directors will also be appointed before the next soccer season who would in turn appoint a Chief Executive to manage the Club professionally.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu tasked the new management to be focused in their work in the interest of the Club. He ordered the outgoing management team to strive to prepare and submit audited financial accounts of their three-year term of office.