I found a snake in my boots when I was playing in India – Amankwa Mireku

Former Hearts of Oak captain Amankwa Mireku has dispelled notions that the club owe its success in the early 2000s to juju.

Hearts won successive league titles and also won the CAF Champions League and Confederations in 2000 and 2004 respectively.

So good were the Phobians that Attuqayefio chose to gamble with them in a Black Stars game against star-studded Nigeria team.

However, critics have often associated Hearts’ success with juju.

Some have suggested that their pre-match rituals at a house in New Town was to seek help from a deity.

But in an interview with Television CK, Amankwa Mireku admitted that juju exist in football but said that his Hearts of Oak side never entertained it.

He noted that some fans of the club sometimes consult juju men on behalf of players and but he never at any point in his career patronized juju.

He recounted how a fan of the club consistently pressured him into seeking help from some fetish priest. Amankwa indicated that he did not bow to the pressure.

After his glory days with Hearts, Amankwa had a stint in India and he has made a startling revelation about his time there.

“There’s juju in India but they don’t like it. They love to worship but they don’t do it against people. I remember we were in camp when and I saw a snake in my boot. I told my mates to be careful but they rubbished it. They said that two days prior they saw some snakes at our team’s hall”.