Kotoko's preparation for Africa was poor - Jerome Otchere

The editor of Kotoko Express, Jerome Otchere has said that the club was ill-prepared for this season’s CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup.

After an impressive outing last season, expectations were high that Kotoko will go past the Group phase and stake a claim for the title.

However, defeats away to Etoile du Sahel and Ivorian side San Pedro meant that the Porcupines would have to shelve their continental title winning ambitions.

Speaking in an interview with GhanaWeb TV, Jerome Otchere noted that some decisions made by the Kwame Kyei-led management team adversely affected Kotoko’s chances.

Chief among the decisions according to Jerome, is the sacking of CK Akunnor and the subsequent appointment of coach Zachariassen.

According to him, management erred in their decision to axe Akunnor who had already tasted continental football with the club and was better placed to lead the team to achieve their set targets.

“I don’t think we were prepared for it. As you know CK prepared the team under very difficult circumstances. He was supposed to get to the league stage of the Confederation Cup. I was expecting that this year, he would have had time to work on the team better than he did last year and he would have also been able to build on what he was able to do in 2018. Unfortunately, the powers that be thought that he wasn’t too good to guide Kotoko to the Champions League so he was sacked.

“Zachariassen was brought in and I felt it was not a good decision at the time that he came in because CK had started some sort of a project which I felt he should have been allowed to continue that project and see where it will end us. The timing of Zachariassen coming and the fact that key members of the team that got us to the league stage of last year’s competition were all out meant that we were going to struggle”, he said.

Delivering his verdict on Kwame Kyei’s reign as executive chairman of the club, Jerome scored him highly for the huge investment he has made into the club but called for the institution of administrative structures.

“To be fair, one of the good things that Kwame Kyei as a chairman has done is the amount of money he has pumped into the club. I have been a witness and it’s something that I will always commend him for because in these difficult financial times even if he is the richest man in Ghana, it will still take some will power in the amount of money he’s put in the club. In the three years, if I’m assessing him, he will get an A there”.

“What is deficient however is management structures and may be the system on which the club is running. We were just talking about the decision to sack CK, at the time they took it, I don’t think it was good. People have also spoken about the number of times management has changed under him. I think that is also problematic.