Why ‘big name’ players are shying away from Hearts of Oak

Accra Hearts of Oak are rooted bottom of the Ghana Premier League with zero points from two games and a goal deficit of four.

Coach Kim Grant who led the team in the off-season period was fired after 1-0 defeat to Berekum Chelsea on the opening day of the new GPL season with the club’s board convinced that his incompetence caused their narrow defeat to the ‘Blues’.

But the proponents of that idea were made to have a rethink after the club suffered a humiliating 3-0 defeat at the hands of Medeama SC, seven days after the loss to Chelsea.

Hearts’ catastrophic start to the season has raised questions about the quality of players with some fans accusing their players of not being good enough to wear the rainbow colours.

It appears the woes of Ghana’s oldest existing club cannot be blamed on the current players as a report by Angel Broadcasting Network’s Saddick Adams has shown a systematic failure by the club’s board to address the issues with the playing body.

In a thread on Twitter, the Sports Obama as he is widely known reveals how Hearts which was once the place of choice for most footballers in the country lost touch as the preferred destination for players.

The current situation, according to Saddick Adams began when Togbe Afede took over the reigns of the club following the flotation shares almost a decade ago.

As per his report, Togbe Afede after seeing no benefit from some players he signed at huge prices in his earlier days with the club, took a decision not to invest hugely in players again.

This has led to the recruitment of substandard players, free agents and academy products who have consistently failed to deliver for the club.

He cited a number of instances where club officials assigned to recruit players failed to efficiently execute the tasks assigned to them.

He noted that one of the biggest problems with Togbe Afede’s Hearts of Oak is their recruitment policy.

Below are the tweets

HEARTS OF OAK RECRUITMENT

The biggest challenge of Hearts of Oak in recent years has been the shambolic recruitment policy. The initial years of Togbe Afede saw him pump a lot of money for players who were average. Obviously mgt ill-advised so he quit making big signings

— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 6, 2020

For some years now, the club has only resorted to free transfers, 'Justifies' and youth players. Ayi, Eshun, Moh Alhassan, Aminu, Esso and many others. Not saying they're bad but not good club allows its good players to leave for free

Now come to the mgts poor recruitment style.

— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 6, 2020

There's a very experienced GPL attacker who has just returned from Europe and available. He who won the league and featured in CAFCL two years ago.

Kotoko spoke to his manager and gave them a flight ticket to Kumasi, Aduana owner personally phoned him to express interest.

— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 6, 2020

Another striker was to meet Hearts for negotiations. Hearts nominated a man close to the team to meet the player

The player met this Hearts negotiator. Hearts offered 10,000 cedis. The player laughed and said he will think about it. The man gave him 100 cedis for transport ????.

— Saddick Adams (@SaddickAdams) January 6, 2020