Hearts make u-turn on decision to sack Kenichi

Ghanaian giants Accra Hearts of Oak dramatically failed to make a decision to sack Kenichi Yatsuhashi as the club's head coach.

Board and management members of the club concluded the Japanese-American trainer remains in the driving seat despite an earliet decision to terminate his appointment on Friday.

The club's official Twitter account posted a tweet suggesting the coach is staying put.

Hearts of Oak's Administrative Manager Hackmann Aidoo confirmed to Accra-based Happy FM the club had decided to part ways with the 4-year-old but said the club's management was locked in a crunch meeting to outline the fate of the coach.

Reports in the local media Thursday claimed Hearts Strategic Committee head Vincent Odotei had issued a verbal sack to the coach who is widely tipped to have revived the club.

But Odotei has questioned the form of the former African champions in the first-half of the season. Kenichi led Hearts to amass 13 points from their opening 5 games but of the season but he disappointingly claim the same amount of points in his last 10 games of the first round of the league, including a home loss to bitterest rivals Asante Kotoko.

Local media reports claim Hearts had already established contact with Serbian gaffer Kosta Papic to replace Kenichi.

Papic, who managed Hearts of Oak in the 2008-2009 season, reportedly asked to be paid a monthly salary of $5000, $3000 better than Kenichi's current wages.

In an interesting twist, Techiman City FC coach Yussif Abubakar who has also managed the Phobians in his past spell was linked to the job.