The ten-month romance between former Kumasi Asante Kotoko boss, Herbert Mensah and Alhaji Karim Grunsah at Kumasi King Faisal came to an end last Sunday, Soccer Express can confirm.
The two men agreed to part ways at a meeting hosted by former Ghana Football Association Chairman, Alhaji Nurudeen Jawula and fabric merchant Alhaji Rashid Yusif a. k. a. Nayak.
Details of a communiqu? signed by Mensah and Grunsah stated that the ownership rights of King Faisal revert to Alhaji Grunsah even though the two will jointly own players of the club who were purchased by Mensah during his stay with the club, or whose contract extensions he financed.
The said players can only be transferred with the mutual consent of the two parties and the two former partners shall take 50 per cent apiece of all transfer proceeds after the statutory deductions have been made.
The communiqu? named the affected players as Kwadwo Poku, Samuel Tawiah, Kwabena Boateng, Atta Mensah Brefo, Akwasi Bobie Ansah (Jnr), Samuel Thompson, Prince Antwi, Abubakar Yahuza, Eric Gawu, Ben Wilson, Kwabena Poku, Elliasu Alhassan, Iddrisu Yahaya, Mohammed Hamza, Habib Mula Mohammed, Abass Inusah, Nyaya Sumaila Alhassan, Suraju Mohammed, Rant Abdulai, Godwin Ablordey, Abu Zeid, Jerry Opoku Ware, Sam Okyere, Wasiu Zuberu and Nicholas Addo.
"In the light of the abrogation of the partnership agreement immediate steps are being taken to change the signatories to King Faisal bank accounts and all existing local bills are to be defrayed from monies accruing from the Coca Cola Top Four tournament," the communiqu? said.
King Faisal will however not be advertising the Nokia logo on their jerseys in the next season as the Nokia sponsorship, arranged by Mensah has been withdrawn.
Also missing in action will be Hans-Dieter Schmidt. According to the terms of the abrogation agreement Mensah has been mandated to abrogate his contract with immediate effect.
The break up of the two partners come after weeks of speculation that there were differences between the two over alleged reports that Grunsah had refused to sign a partnership contract, which would have made Herbert Mensah a 70 per cent majority shareholder in King Faisal.
Mensah played down the purported confusion citing it as normal business differences even though Grunsah went ahead to inform the FA and Ghalca that they should not recognise Mensah or any of his team as agents of King Faisal.
According to Mensah who left Accra over the weekend for UK his only interest in King Faisal at the end of the season was to protect his investment and he is happy that he and Grunsah have been able to amicably resolve the issue of ownership of players who joined King Faisal through his financial investment.
Herbert Mensah stunned many when he joined King Faisal in late February, days after he had been removed from office as Chief Executive of Kumasi Asante Kotoko. What many thought was a knee-jerk reaction ended up with the loudest success story in Ghana football as in ten months, Mensah boosted the physical readiness of Faisal with an intense one-month long preseason fitness training by South African fitness expert, Jacques Naude.
The preseason training was followed by surprise recruitments in the likes of Mohammed Hamza, Godwin Ablordey, Abass Inusah, Kwadwo Poku and Cudjoe Addo. The end result of the huge investment was a great season that saw King Faisal maintain the third position for weeks on end after an initial start which saw them lose to the likes of Berekum Arsenals, Hearts of Oak and Kumasi Asante Kotoko after an initial 4-1 victory over Kpando Heart of Lions.
Faisal ended up third on the league and qualify to represent Ghana in the Confederations Cup. They will also participate in the now prestigious Ghalca Top Four competition.
Mensah says there could not have been any better accomplishment and believes he can now exert the energies of he and his team on the SOS Networx Initiative.
Meanwhile Messrs Jawula and Yusif have been appointed as arbitrators in the event of differences arising out of the implementation of the agreement between Mensah and Grunsah.
