PLB boss Abra-Appiah is a appealing for calm among supporters

Ghana’s Premier League board chairman Welbeck-Abra Appiah is calling for calm among fans as the title race and relegation hottens up.

With only four games to end the season, three Premier League clubs especially will be avoiding looking at the table with their focus fixed on winning Sunday’s matches.

Kotoko, Medeama and Berekum Chelsea are the front runners for the crown while Ebusua Dwarfs and Ashantigold are lurking to pounce.

The Porcupine Warriors have vowed not give up the defence of their Premier League crown but Chelsea and Medeama will have a say on it by 30 June.

The situation down is not anything different as there as many as eight teams all fighting to preserve their Premier League status including Berekum Arsenal, Heart of Lions, Tema Youth, Liberty Professionals, Amidaus Professionals, All Stars  New Edubiase and King Faisal

The dynamics of the league has raised the stakes high ahead of the remaining matches as team will go beyond bounds to ensure they either win or stay in the elite division.

The country’s Premier League Board chief Abra-Appiah wants fans to remain calm and desists from acts of hooliganism.

“We are all in this country and we know how our league is run. Teams are mostly lethargic when the league start,” Appiah told Kumasi-based Metro FM

“I have said over the years that it is the same number of poins that you will garner when you’re ending the league, and the same three point you get when you start.

“We wait and then when the league is reaching home stretch, then some of the team deploy various tactics to either win the League or escape relegation.

“The league race is very tight. You ca never stick your neck to predict who will win the league or who else will be relegated apart from RTU.

“The PLB is not taken anything for granted and  we will ensure the remaining matches go on as planned without any troubles.

“I will like to appeal to the supporters of the various teams to remain calm and support their teams.

“When you team work hard, their hard work will pay dividends, not violence.”

Real Tamale United is the only side which has confirmed their relegation status with either  Berekum Arsenal, Tema Youth and Heart of Lions likely to join them.

Ghana Prem League

Berekum Arsenal have reversed their decision to quit the Ghana top-flight insisting they are ready to face RTU in Tamale on Sunday.

The Berekum-based club wrote to the Ghana FA on Wednesday to inform them of their decision to quit the league after they were slapped with US$4,000 fine for crowd violence.

Their letter to the Ghana FA was rejected on the basis that the person who wrote it is not recognised by the federation.

Despite club chairman Yakubu Moro insisting that they will quit the league the club continued to train which showed that their threat was vague.

The club’s spokesman Mohammed Salifu has now revealed that they reversed their decision to quit following pressure from fans but it is clear they were only threatening.

“We have decided against our earlier decision to withdraw from the Premier League. This is not the first time a club had wanted to withdraw from a competition due to one or two reasons known to themselves,” Salifu said.

“This has nothing to do with the GFA’s rejection of our quit letter. Had it not been that, their rejection wouldn’t have caused us to stay.

“We have been talked to by highly respected officials in the country and because of that we deemed it proper to listen to them.

“We have decided to respect them, our football loving supporters in Berekum as well as Brong Ahafo and the country as a whole.”

Meanwhile some leaders in Berekum, who are livid over the decision to withdraw from the league, have asked Moro to hand over the club to the community insisting the people of the town own the club.

Kwame Ransford, a youth leader in Berekum, says they are demanding that the club should be returned to the rightful owners as they see the decision with withdraw from the league as a disgrace to Berekum.

“Berekum Arsenal does not belong to Yakubu Moro, his father or his mother. He was given the chance to run the club by the community and if he feels he cannot run the club he should not return the club to the community,” Ransford told Happy FM.

Ghana FA

Berekum Arsenal players and coaches are training as normal despite their decision to withdraw from Ghana’s top-flight league.

GHANAsoccernet.com reporters in Berekum say the players trained on Wednesday and Thursday evening even thought they have served the Ghana FA with their decision to withdraw.

Club owner Yakubu Moro ordered their lawyer to officially write to the Ghana FA on Wednesday over their latest decision to withdraw from the country’s top-tier.

But the move to continue to train has shown that their threat to withdraw is just a vague one as they will be preparing to take their opponents by surprise.

The decision to withdraw has rocked the footballing nation as it has serious repercussions on where the Premier League title could swing this term.

Arsenal have complained claiming their ploy by some unnamed persons in the Ghana FA whom they have accused of frustrating their efforts this term.

This comes after they were slapped with a $4,000 as their supporters attacked Hearts of Oak players and officials when the two sides clashed in the first round.

Their stadium along with Kotoko and Aduana was suspended on Wednesday by the Ghana FA following acts of violence against visiting teams and match officials.

Ghana FA vice president Fred Crentsil

The Ghana FA says the decision to temporarily ban three clubs from playing at their home venues is not a punishment but an action meant to protect life and property.

Director of Communications of the GFA Ibrahim Sannie Daara says the measure has been taken to protect match officials, players and officials from violent attacks while the Disciplinary Committee examines recent violent incidents by supporters of the three clubs before meting out punishments.

Asante Kotoko, Berekum Arsenal and Aduana were on Wednesday banned from playing at their home venues following recent violent acts directed at match, opponents and supporters of opposing clubs.

Irate supporters of Kotoko launched violent attacks on the match officials after their 8 May match in Kumasi before attacking Medeama players in their bus last week Wednesday.

In a similar attack on Sunday, Berekum Arsenal supporters smashed the windows of Kotoko bus before attacking some players and match officials in Berekum

Aduana supporters were also been accused of attacking match officials in their game against Liberty Professionals on Sunday at the Agyemang Badu Park which resulted in the bans.

“This is a temporary measure to protect players, match officials and supporters. Following what happened at the three venues the safety of people attending the home matches of the three clubs cannot be guaranteed,” Sannie Daara told Asempa FM.

“As a responsible organisation we have to take swift action to protect the lives of players, match officials, supporters who attend our league matches.

“If we don’t take a swift action and wait for the Disciplinary Committee to take a decision before we act someone could lose his life.”

Kotoko, who are currently the league leaders, are tied on 46 points with Berekum Chelsea and Medeama.

Their chances of retaining the title will be damaged by the decision to ban them from playing at home while Berekum Arsenal will struggle to beat the drop.