Hearts to retrieve Taylor's 50 million cedis

Accra, Aug. 4, GNA - Mr Ernest Thompson Board Secretary of Accra Hearts of Oak on Monday told the GNA Sports that he will propose to the Board at its next meeting to force Mr George Himmans, the man who issue the 50 million-cedi dud cheque to Charles Taylor, a former player of the club, to pay the money to the player.

Mr Himmans collected 50 million-cedi cash on behalf of Taylor as part payment of the player's controversial three-year renewable contract with Hearts and deposited it in his personal accounts and later issued a cheque to Taylor to collect it, which bounced.

Mr Thompson said as a matter of principle, Himmans should be made to pay Taylor immediately.

The player was given the money in cash by Mr Tommy Okine, Chief Executive Officer of Hearts, when Taylor, his brother and Mr Himmans went for it but the player refused to take the money in cash. Taylor, however, agreed that Himmans should collect the money and later pay it into his (Taylor) accounts.

Taylor is presently playing for Hearts' rivals, Asante Kotoko, after breaching an earlier contract with the Phobians.

The Ghana Football Association after conferring with FIFA fined Kotoko 200 million cedis for inducing the player while Taylor was also fined 650 million cedis for breach of contract after which the player was to be a free agent.

This decision, Hearts objected and went to the law courts for an interpretation of the GFA rules and regulations. But before the matter could be heard, the two clubs-Hearts and Kotoko- had settled the case out of court.

Kotoko last Friday presented Hearts' with 400 million cedis bank draft representing training and development fee (transfer fee) and Hearts subsequently gave out a release letter for the boy to be registered by Kotoko.

The Board Secretary who is also Head of the legal team for Hearts told the GNA Sports that the test case will help develop laws governing football in the country and more importantly, "clubs can now be assured that acts of inducing players and footballers unilaterally to breach their contracts will not go unpunished".

"The settlement was a victory for Hearts', for if we had kept quiet, we wouldn't have been given a dime or at most some 50 million cedis", Mr Thompson.