After nearly four decades in active club football, Ashgold Chief Executive, Kudjoe Fianoo, is set to take a bow from club administration and direct his energies to the national front.
Fianoo appeared to have had enough of the hurly burly of club football and there are indications he may quit at the end of the season and bring to an end a career that started from the defunct State Traders in the 1970s through Okwawu United and then to Ashgold.
It appears he has chosen a ripe time to quit when his Ashgold side are on the threshold of winning the Premier League after 19 years of elusive title dreams.
Even though Fianoo has been evasive about the rather surprise decision to take a bow when the applause was laudest, his close associates have told the Graphic Sports that the experienced football administrator, who is a member of the GFA’s Executive Committee and also serves on the Black Stars Management Committee, would not be Ashgold’s CEO next season.
Indeed, it is no secret that Fianoo is unhappy with recent developments at Ashgold, particularly as the club’s main fanaciers, AnglogoldAshanti, have continually squeezed the club by reducing cash investment in the Obuasi side.
The effect of this financial squeeze has been debilitating, particularly as bonuses for several matches have remained outstanding while the jobs of some staff in the club’s management hang perilously ready to be cut.
The situation, close associactes have told this paper, has imposed a heavy burden on the CEO who has been compelled to look elsewhere for resources to meet the pressure from increasing demands by the players.
Fianoo joined Ashgold in 2015 taking over from Capt (rtd) Andy Sam, and left in 2011 when Anglogold attempted to offload the club to a strategic investor which floundered.
He was then hired to come and salvage the club from the brink of relegation and now they are currently leading the pack in this year’s Premier League with only two games to go.