Hearts to build stadium?

HEARTS EYES MODERN STADIUM FOR CENTENARY CELEBRATION

The seemingly elusive club infrastructure provision so often blamed on the drooping shoulders of dire straits 98-year-old Hearts of Oak, is just about kicking off the ground into the monumental pages of soccer history, thanks to the mercies of a said initiator who wants to remain under the cloak of anonymity.

The ubiquitous THE SUN whose rays have recently been blazing rather furiously with precision in the news world learned only last week that, the plan to equip the nation's Premier club with infrastructure is in two folds; the immediate and the long term.

Tight-lipped club directors said to be huge in numerical strength, yet weak on positive delivery will not be drawn into sinking their rainbow teeth into the flesh of the goings-on, perhaps in order not to drop hints whose tell-tale signs could give the initiator's name away. However deeply-rooted sources situated away from the directors have dropped the hint that the club desires to own a Stadium, plant its feet in the Communications industry as well as develop links to SAMPDORIA who play in the Italian Serie A.

THE SUN has discovered that over the past month some skirmishes have been going on among skin-on-head phobians with clout as regards securing a 26-acreage piece of land overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, popularly referred to as HEARTS PARK.

The sources say, the facility was first bequeathed to the phobians by former head of state General J. A. Ankrah in the rein of the National Liberation Council (NLC) IN 1966 yet ever since then pretty no concrete step has been taken to legitimize the oral deed.

THE SUN can confirm that the rainbow club formed on November 11, 1911 by Chris Briandt Nettey, Ackom Duncan, Okraku, Lutterodt and a host of others then at Swalaba in mainland Accra has since rolled its sleeves to legalize the process.

The phobians have their sights fixed on a 40,000-plus-seater Stadium even if the contractors will run the facility until they back out after realizing their investment, a club house, a gymnasium, a clinic and possibly an additional training field to be used by both the nursery team, Auroras and mainstream Hearts.

“The idea is to make maximum use of the 26-acre land which is far in excess of what houses the 40,000-plus-seater capacity at Ohene Djan Stadium by some 10 or so acres”, a major rainbow source told THE SUN. Ironically the man who released the land facility Gen. Ankrah and the gentleman expected to play a vital role in legitimizing possession President JEA Mills have all presided over the club at one time or the other.

But quite apart from these solid credentials of epaulettes on the eternal shoulders of the two gentlemen, the juicy bit of news has to do with MICHELETTI, the Italian construction firm that built three of the four CAN 2008 Stadiums on time enough for the tournament with great alacrity and zeal.

With Hearts of Oak so hard-pressed for time to show off some facility before the centenary celebration in 2011, MICHELETTI looks to be a key factor in the scheme of things for not only did the GOOD SAMARITAN have good intentions, he also had that decisive sinews called money. Even before THE SUN faded into the horizon it had it on authority that some two years or so ago the firm started off leveling the HEARTS PARK facility with a horde of machines but grinded to a halt when a hitch cropped up suddenly.

Never in a hurrying bid to forsake the substance for the shadow, THE SUN pressed hard enough until it discovered that beneath the surface hangs a former CEO, whose rein was cut short by uncomfortable blocks within the club, thought to be the brain behind the recent moves to put positivity exactly where Hearts are supposed to be, especially with the approaching magic year of 2011 within sight.

When contacted NCC Organizer Alhassan Maako Mohammed who has served in every umbrella national chapter since 1995 told THE SUN that even Asante Kotoko, formed in 1935 are in the process of building their own Stadium and so it is incumbent on Hearts to get a multi-faceted facility befitting such a great club as Hearts of Oak, with massing gray hair on its head. Formed back in the day, Hearts is the oldest existing club at the present time. The very first club EXCELSIOR of Cape Coast formed in 1903 is defunct while the phobians, eight years juniors in age linger on with a huge following despite a debilitating financial burden said to be in several billions of old Ghana Cedis.

Hearts boasts of an impressive array of honours having annexed the Premiership diadem on 20 occasions, the FA Cup nine times and the continental Africa trophy twice in addition.

One of the remarkable victories was chalked in enemy territory at the then Kumasi Sports Stadium against the eternal rival Asante Kotoko who were just eight minutes away from annexing Africa at the expense of the phobians. On that occasion Hearts dug deep into their reservoir of strength and discovered the word SUPERIORITY, and succeeded in plastering the ‘yappy-yappy’ mouth of the noisy red porcupine army. T