Listowell Bukarson is a disgrace - Nettey

Source: Gary Al-Smith/SuperSport.com

Listowell Bukarson is a disgrace - Nettey A full week after the Super Clash, the fallout continues. Hearts' deputy coach Jacob Nettey has lashed out at the treatment meted out to him in Kumasi, with special reserve made for the reds' Public Relations Officer.

In his club's official paper, the former Hearts captain accuses the Kotoko PRO of masterminding his arrest and heckling before the Super Clash, leading to the loss of money and other items. His crime, according to him, was that he was suspected of carrying "juju" into the stadium.

"[I was] in the company of former Kotoko player Baba Ali and Alhaji, when we got to the gates at 2:40pm, but the security men on duty under the instructions of Listowell Yesu Bukarson reprimanded me for reasons that I had juju in my pocket, which was to stop his club from beating Hearts on the day."

Nettey told the paper that he will press charges at the Disciplinary Committee of the FA against Bukarson. "Football is about peace and not war, which is why I want Listowell to be sanctioned."

However, Bukarson spoke to SuperSport.com, explaining that Jacob Nettey had been barred from entry by security after he had been caught scaling the walls of the Baba Yara Stadium. Bukarson also discounts Hearts' News claim that Nettey was with Baba Ali.

"At an earlier pre-match discussion, all stakeholders of this match had discussed and agreed that gates would be closed by 1:30pm that day, knowing that all 38,000 tickets would be oversubscribed. So when he [Nettey] came in the company of [ex-Black Star] Prince Poli at the time they did, the gates were locked. You would not believe it, but Jacob actually scaled the wall."

Nettey denied having juju and outlined what he lost. "The Police officers told me they were acting on the command of Listowell who had requested that I should be detained till the end of the 90 minutes. And rightly so, the Police did as he had wished and I was detained till about 10 minutes of gametime before I was released."

Listowell told SuperSport.com that he possibly "could not order the police to do their job". He revealed that Nettey had been captured on CCTV, but declined to drag the issue, in the spirit of football.

"What Jacob does not know is that the CCTV cameras were on, so when he scaled the walls everything was captured. I have heard all his statements, but in the spirit that Hearts and Kotoko have shown in the past few weeks, I won't drag this issue."

But Nettey, smarting from the events, branded Bukarson in strong terms to his club's paper. "He is a disgrace to Kotoko. He is a disgrace to Ghana football and he is a disgrace to himself. I lost 400 Ghana cedis ($240) in the process"

The Hearts man then says the Police did nothing, despite his formal complaint. "I was told nothing could be done about it and I was told to walk away after I was released before they pressed further charges on me."

Listowell laughed off the jibes when SuperSport.com spoke to him, choosing to provide possible circumstantial elaborations for the actions of security.

"We are coming from a club that has a history of May 9, 2001 and other cases of overflowing at the stadium. When my attention was drawn to his scaling the walls, I simply had to let the security do their job and take him away. I am shocked at these other things Jacob is saying."

On the field, Kotoko beat Hearts 2-1 to go 12 points clear the top of the league.

Story: Gary Al-Smith, Twitter: @garyalsmith