Sportive deny links with Hebert Mensah

Accra, July 27, GNA - Tema Real Sportive has said they have never been directly involved with the former Chairman of Kumasi Asante Kotoko, Hebert Mensah.

"To set the records straight, we wish to emphasise that Herbert Mensah has never been directly involved with Real Sportive".

A statement signed by the Club copied to GNA Sports on Friday also denied stories making the rounds that differences arose between the two parties over an attempt by Mensah to change the name of the Club, describing it as totally unfounded and ludicrous.

The Club was reacting to media reports about a purported parting of the two partners.

The statement said Mensah successfully brokered a deal between Sportive and an European consortium of investors led by Autumn Moon Limited at the beginning of last season.

It said two signed a pact that required Moon to finance the Club to the tune of not less than one billion old Ghana cedis. Autumn Moon was said to have spent not less than three billion cedis on Sportive in the past year.

That arrangement was subject to review at the end of the season. Following representations made by Autumn Moon after its Annual General Meeting, the management of the Club recommended that the sponsors

discontinue its financial support arrangement with the club. Subsequently, the two sides decided to part ways with an understanding to fashion out a machinery for Autumn Moon to recover its investment in Sportive without it affecting the 2007/2008 premiership campaign of the Club.

"We parted ways on a very amicable and cordial note and there has been no acrimony whatsoever between the two parties", the statement added.