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Asante Kotoko management were impatient with me - Zdravko Lugarusic

Zdravko Lugarusic The Croatian tactician was shown the exit door after eight matches played in the 2016/17 GPL

Sun, 28 Jan 2018 Source: modernghana.com

Former Asante Kotoko coach, Zdravko Lugarusic says his former employers were impatient with him.

The Croatian tactician was shown the exit door after eight matches played in the 2016/17 Ghana Premier League.

Zdravko, who is now head coach of Sudanese national team speaking to Willie Graham of GTV insisted that the management of the club did not give him enough time to work at the club.

"I came without proper pre-season, all the players they signed had just started training. If you [didn't] get proper pre-season, five, six or seven weeks, then you can't play proper football because you [won't] get power, you [won't] get strength and stamina to play; you have to play the type of football that suits the team and the players,' said Logarusic.

"We didn't play anything attractive after 10 weeks [but] I was one point behind the leader and second position when I was fired. We still had a lot of time for improvement. We were not far from the leader but there wasn't much patience…I lost two games - one against Medeama and against Hearts of Oak with a dubious penalty. I came home, I lost points through dubious penalty [and] they jumped on me…'

He continued, "Sometimes you lose but when you are on the right track, with only three months together, in a good position, [there's] no reason to panic, but they decided to change. I've to follow their decision…They hired me, they fired me," he said.

Kotoko slipped deeper into the pit of poor performance after sacking Zdravko Logarusic, forcing him to ask his interviewer rhetorically, if the team did anything significant in the league after his dismissal.

"The point is, what is the success they made after me? Is it something spectacular? It's nice but I think we needed a bit more time to stabilise everything and get good fundamentals for the next season…'

Zdravko Logarusic didn't rule out the possibility of returning to Ghana.

"Of course. With the three sides [King Faisal, Ashgold and Kotoko], we made something nice. With Ashantigold we played the Confederation Cup and lost against Etoile Du Sahel. Why not?' he quizzed.

"I have nothing against coming back to Ghana again in the future. For me, with a good program, with a good offer, it can be Kotoko, Ashantigold or any other else. Any coach wants to coach in Ghana. If you are in Ghana and play in Africa it means you are a coach," he concluded.

The Croatian manager has led Sudan to the quarter-final of the CHAN competition.

Source: modernghana.com
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