Hearts condemn Kotoko's PRO

Accra, Sept. 5, GNA - Defending League Champions Accra Hearts of Oak on Friday condemned a statement allegedly made by Mr Paul Adom-Otchere, Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Asante Kotoko, which accused fans of the club (Hearts) of vandalising the Ghana Football Association's secretariat after last Sunday's emotionally-charged match between the two clubs at the Accra Sports Stadium.

A statement issued and signed by Mr Ashford Tettey-Oku, Administrative Manager of Hearts also denied an attack on Kotoko's bus rather, it blamed Kotoko fans for the act because they were apparently unhappy with their club's performance during the epic encounter.

Mr Adom-Otchere was alleged to have made the statement on Radio Gold, an Accra FM Station when he was asked to either deny or confirm a threat issued by Kotoko fans declaring Mr Ben Koufie and his GFA members, Referee Agbovi and McCarthy persona non grata at any of Kotoko matches because their security could not be guaranteed.

The statement alleged that instead of the Kotoko PRO addressing the question, he unfortunately digressed and attacked the Hearts fans for the damages.

The statement finds it difficult to locate the correlation between the question and the attack on both the GFA secretariat and the Kotoko bus.

It said investigations have shown that both attacks were carried out by irate Kotoko fans adding, "these acts of Kotoko fans attacking their own is well known in the Kotoko history", citing in particular, a similar incident at Kpando when Kotoko lost to Heart of Lions by a lone goal.