Visionary Chief Executive Officier (CEO) of Asante Kotoko, Nana Yaw Amponsah, has set in motion his vision for the club, which is to build a solid youth team that will be capable of producing on-the-field results, and establish dominance over arch rivals Accra Hearts of Oak by overturning the historic 4-0 humiliation they suffered in their hands 20 years ago.
Amponsah believes that Asante Kotoko has got the needed fan base, but needs a squad of young players baptised with the Kotoko spirit right from the youth side to enable the team live up to the billing. The new management’s medium and short term goal is to build a team of young players that plays like premier league side West African Football Academy (WAFA), driven by the numerous fans of the club. Amponsah made this known during the official unveiling ceremony of the newly appointed management of the club held at the Sports Hotel in Kumasi on Tuesday.
“We need a solid youth system; that we cannot compromise, football is about the youth. We need to develop youth players who have the Kotoko fabric in embedded in them right from the start”, Nana Yaw Amponsah stated.
“Our medium and long term goal is to have a young team. Imagine a WAFA kind of team backed by Asante Kotoko supporters, you can imagine the things we can do. I know we cry that Hearts [of Oak] once beat us 4-0 but WAFA beat them 5-0, when we want to reverse that we need a WAFA kind of team”, he explained.
Considering the time it may take to build such a youthful side, Nana Yaw Amponsah is intuitive of the impatience nature of the demanding fans of Asante Kotoko, but he pleaded for patience and support.
“I know that the supporters can be impatient and all that but look, recently, Borussia Dortmund have three players leading their attack and they are 20 years, 17 and 17, genuine age. So we need the young players to build a strong team, and that will only mean the supporters will have to be patient for us to build something solid; Rome was not built in a day”, he emphasised.
He acknowledged that Kotoko cannot win all matches, but will win most of them, draw few and lose few, but this can only be done by building “structures that will stand a test of time”.
For starters, Accra Hearts of Oak handed Asante Kotoko their second heaviest defeat in a league match, and their all time heaviest defeat to the Phobians in a league match, when they beat the Porcupines by 4-0 on Wednesday, March 15, 2000 at the Accra sports stadium. Two goals from Ishmael Addo in the first half and a goal each from Kenneth Sarpong and Emmanuel Osei Kuffour (the General) did the damage.
Asante Kotoko had already suffered a disturbing 5-0 drubbing in the hands of another premier league side in a league game, Mysterious Ebusua Dwarfs three decades earlier.
