Management of Asante Kotoko have dissolved the club’s Youth team and terminated the appointment of head coach Ernest Appau, former senior team manager Godwin Ablordey, Prince Adu Poku and five other employees as a result as the club continues its redundancy task.
Sources say the Youth team is unable to either produce players for the senior team nor talents for sale, and the feels it is not benefiting in any way from the team as they keep paying the staff for no gains. Ex Director of Communications and now Head of Administration and Legal Affairs of the club, Lawyer Sarfo to made this known in an interview with Kotoko Express App confirming the exit of the former player and team manager Ablordey among seven others.
The redundancy casualties, according to Sarfo Duku, include head coach of the defunct Youth Team Ernest Appau, his assistant Ibrahim Gariba, as well as equipment officer, Benjamin Oppong. Other casualties include masseur Richard Harmond, a physiotherapist Omono Asamoah and Achulo Gonja, who has served as a security officer at the club’s former training ground.
In his submission, Sarfo Duku disclosed the reasons behind the redundancy exercise, citing ineffectiveness and inefficiency over the past years on the part of the outgoing staff.
“They have not been working for the past three years, some of them have not been working for the past two years and more”, he told Kotoko Express App. The affected staff have been duly notified by the club of the decision as confirmed by Sarfo Duku. “We have communicated the decision to the affected individuals. As management, we have the responsibility to be prudent in our handling of the club’s finances, and this exercise is to ensure exactly that. We have communicated the development to the affected individuals and also we thanked them for the services rendered to the club”, he said.
The question still remains, what is the future of Asante Kotoko if the club works with no Youth Team, and how did the club kept paying individuals who “have not been working for the past three years”?
