FEATURE: Kotoko doesn't need a rich CEO but a pragmatist Part 1

Published on: 18 March 2020

The African club of the century, Asante Kotoko SC. Factually the most successful club in the history of Ghana football and a giant in Africa football.

A club that will be 85 years old this year but lacks policy direction. Apart from lacking the needed infrastructure for modern technical and technological football.

The club moves by the wind and goes any direction. It moves back and forth without a vision . This is as a result of decision making .

The decisions that affect the club most is the process of choosing it’s chief executive officer which has transmogrified into Executive Board Chairman nowadays.

As of the time of writing this article, the club doesn’t have board of directors and hasn’t got board of directors for the past three years.

ARE THEY SERIOUS? It has been the norm that almost it’s chief executive officers are chosing outside the football fraternity.

They do not have any knowledge about the game, lacks the understanding of the game but have money.

Yes, most of them are successful business moguls with links to the business environment within Ghana and across Africa, sometimes beyond the corridors of the continent.

Because these big men lack knowledge in football, they take decisions that affect the club financially and retard it’s progress.

They also lack the basics of football communication and sometimes can’t communicate well to the numerous supporting base of the club.

Let me take readers back to the days of Mr Herbert Mensah. He had money, was ready to spend and had plans and also knew how to pamper and communicate well with the supporters.

Upon assumption of office, Mr Herbert Mensah made it clear to the supporting base that, they as a club need to rebuild a new team . This statement and policy went well with majority of the supporters.

There wasn’t anytime that the supporters charged on him and his management though he had a section that didn’t like his style of leadership . The post Herbert Mensah administration has seen disastrous managements after the other.

From the likes of Major Yaw Lawson, who had one time associated himself with club before succeeding the Silverster Asare Owusu led Interim Management Committee.

The decisions of the management have cause Asante Kotoko millions of Ghana cedis. From poor recruitment of players to signing of coaches without due diligence and sacking them that cause the club millions.

Sometimes you hear a decision by these successful business men and you ask yourself if they would have taking such a decision if Kotoko was one of their businesses.

I would like to limit my arguments to the latest administrations of Dr Desmond Kofi Kiduah Sarpong and His Honor Professor Kwame Kyei administrations.

A club that boasted of eight million supporters can’t put together and register just one hundred thousand of those supporters to contribute financially to the club. If Asante Kotoko registers one hundred thousand supporters and can convince them to contribute GH 1 a month to support the club, assuming they would spend that money only on player salaries.

They will get GH 100,000 a month and GH 1,200,000 a year which is USD217,000 .

If you divide this amount by their maximum of thirty registered players.

Each player would earn USD 602 a month. Which is GH 3,324 a month.

So if the number doubles, Asante Kotoko can pay their players an amount of USD 1,200 a month from funds they would mobilize from their supporters.

This tells you that Asante Kotoko is a money machine itself and doesn’t need a rich man to steer its affairs.

To be continued…

Written by Mr. Romantic

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