Hearts of Oak deny giving coach Abubakar Ouattara 5-game ultimatum

Accra Hearts of Oak have denied issuing an ultimatum to head coach Abubakar Ouattara, putting his job on the line.

The club in a statement released on September 11, rubbished the claims while urging the fans to back the team despite the setback.

Hearts of Oak further entreated the media to seek verification from the club in relative news before publishing.

Meanwhile, the fans recently hooted at the players and the coach following their opening matchday defeat to Holy Stars.

The Phobians suffered a 1-0 defeat to the newly promoted side at the Accra Sports Stadium, getting their season off to an unwanted start.

The fans' anger stems from the team beginning a new season with a defeat after a shambolic performance in the previous season that almost resulted in relegation.

See the full statement below:

"FAKE REPORT: 'Accra Hearts of Oak Board issues five-game ultimatum to Coach Ouattara'.

"The management of Accra Hearts of Oak Sporting Club PLC would like to emphasize and notify all of our stakeholders and the general public that reports making rounds on some media outlets that head coach Abubakar Ouattara has been given a 5-match ultimatum is entirely false and fabricated and should therefore be disregarded as such.

"The management and the supporters' leadership, NCC, issued a communique employing all Phobians to throw their unflinching support behind the team as we go into the new football season to ensure that our collective interest of achieving success is met and this is firmly on course despite the setback in match-day-1," the club wrote.

"Coach Ouattara, his technical team, and his players deserve our support, which is paramount to our resolve to achieve success. We, therefore, urge all media outlets to verify all information they receive on the club before going public to avoid spreading falsehood," the club said.

EE/MA