Accra Hearts of Oak in Crisis!

League leaders Accra Hearts of Oak have plunged themselves into crisis with the sacking of Serbian coach Kosta Papic.

With seven more matches to end the season, the Interim Management Team of the club dismissed the former Orlando Pirates coach citing the three successive defeats in the league as enough grounds for the decision.

Under the Serbian tactician, the Phobians have become a winsome side and led the league table with fourteen points from closest rivals at the end of the first round of the 16 club league. But the situation has slightly changed in the second round with their lead slashed to five points.

Perhaps what raised eye brows was the painful 1:0 loss to arch rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko in the 22nd week fixture at the Ohene Gyan stadium in Accra.

Subsequently, reports in Kumasi after another 1:0 loss to a nine man King Faisal team indicated that Management members including Frank Nelson and Thomas Okine verbally confronted Papic over his tactics in the dressing room in the full glare of the public.

The damage it seems had been done already and the news of the dismissal came as no surprise to insiders.
Nevertheless, this is a departure from the Hearts team that placed a disappointing eight last season. So, could the Management be over-reacting to a momentary loss in concentration on the part of the team?

Following a very successful first round, Papic left the country with clear-cut instructions to the Management to sign four players to consolidate the team’s position in the coming round.

In the absence of the Serbian, Hearts signed thirteen new players including veterans Sammy Adjei, Hamza Mohammed, Stanley Afedzi and promising former Asec Mimosa striker Mahadi Abubakari.
Most of the new players lacked match fitness and it showed in some of the friendly matches the club played. There was indeed not enough time for the new players to get into the stride and Papic chose to have faith in his first round team much to the chagrin of the top guns of the club who kept on insisting that the club should get value for its money.

To say the least, some of those new players have been very disappointing. Ex-national number one keeper, Sammy Adjei ran away from camp when he was informed of the decision of the technical team to put him in post for the club’s away league game to Obuasi Ashgold, Hamza Abdulai and Hamza Mohammed have also done very little to warrant a first team place.

The only exception has been former Real Sportive midfielder Esme Mends who has acquitted himself perfectly in his midfield role.

That is not to say that Papic did not have his own personal flaws. There were times that his substitutions and tactics were questioned openly by technical brains who were overly aware of the club’s rich historical background.

Even though, Hearts did manage to win games especially at their favourite Ohene Gyan stadium, they did so without a good tactical foundation and clear pattern of play unlike they have done in their most illustrious past.

But what is almost forgotten, is, the time those generations of Hearts was given to blossom and the quality of players in the team at the time was good.

The Papic regime will be remembered for bringing back the teams hunger for success. And considering the quality of players under his tutelage the results he achieved are quite awesome.

Former Liberty Professionals coach Nii Noi Thompson has been appointed in an acting capacity for the rest of the season and his first task will be against Real Tamale United on Sunday.
There will be keen interest in his starting eleven and also the result he will achieve in the post Papic era.

But one thing is for sure, the Premier League crown is not far from the Phobians but what matters most now is the future of the club.

The club will be better off investing in young players with potential like Tetteh Nortey, Philemon McCarthy and Karim Alhassan rather than to invest millions into players who are fast past their prime.

Can Ghana’s PLB be taken serious?

The Premier League Board (PLB) has again contrived to make nonsense its avowed aim of aligning the local football calendar with that of the European league.

The PLB has on numerous occasions unduly postponed matches supposedly to make way for national team assignments and the latest case is yet another interesting example.

The 22nd week Glo Premier League matches which were supposed to be played between May 30th and May 31st were rescheduled to June 6th and June 7th to make way for the Black Stars versus Cranes of Uganda friendly at the Tamale Stadium.

Despite the fact that only four locally based players namely Kotoko duo of Harrison Afful and Samuel Inkoom, Daniel Yeboah of Hearts of Lions and Philemon McCarthy of Accra Hearts of Oak made it to the senior national team.

There is clearly a regulation that states that clubs can call for a postponement of their matches if they contribute more than four players to the national team at a time.

And to make the situation worse, the PLB has again rescheduled the week 22 matches to make way for the Ghana-Mali 2010 World Cup qualifier at Bamako.

According to a report in The Ghanaian Times of Monday June 1, 2009, the move was influenced by the reaction from “some fans” who want the nation to be fully concentrated on the world Cup clash instead of having to watch a Hearts- Kotoko clash on the same Sunday.

So, why is the PLB not considering playing the league a day prior to the Stars’ clash?
The league’s organising body recently passed through some amendment during congress to have its name changed from Professional League Board to Premier League Board but nothing much has changed: it’s business as usual.

Decisions like this tend to bring down interest in the local game because people get tired of the haphazard manner in which the game is being managed with no concrete plan to follow.

More so at a time when everybody is concerned with the dwindling fortunes of the local game, such a decision would only go to reinforce the belief of the stereotypes that the FA is not really serious with the local league.

The constant changes also have implications for the fitness of the players. In fact Ace Coach Emmanuel Kwasi Afranie has complained that he finds it difficult keeping his players together every time the PLB calls for a break in the league bringing to the fore the wider implications on the country’s football future.

According to fitness experts a lot happens within a two week period of lack of activity.
The clubs try to make up for it by playing friendly matches to stay in shape.

The Glo premier league has already seen two separate two week breaks first to make way for the African Nations Championship in Cote d’Ivoire in February. There was also a break at the end of the first round. The question is; is there really a basis for another two-week break?
Wait a minute!

The Division One League Board also called for a month’s break following the end of the first round to allow the disciplinary committee to resolve all cases before it. Sadly after a month, not even one case has been seen to and the second round is due to begin this weekend.

Elsewhere, football leagues are run with well managed fixtures released ahead of time.
There is the odd case of disruptions due to weather conditions or security concerns but provisions are made to accommodate these challenges.

The football league in England was allowed to go on despite the participation of Manchester United in the recent Fifa Club World Cup in Japan without a fuss.

Is the PLB learning anything at all from these?!