Asante Kotoko are heading in the right direction
Asante Kotoko made a profound mistake when they terminated the contract of CK Akonnor; the man who guided the club to the CAF Confederation Cup group stages for the first time in eleven years, the man who won the Special Competition Cup and sent three players to the National team.
The club went on to sign an incredible amount of new players, released few old players and appointed a new head coach to lead the club to glory.
At first, most of the Kotoko fans went along with the decisions of the club’s management but started to raise eyebrows when the Moussa Adingra’s Saga occurred.
Kjetil Zachariassen’s first interview was filled with optimism; the coach stated that his plan was to win every match but the Norwegian went on to lose his first official game.
Zachariassen experimented with his Asante Kotoko squad in the CAF Champions League preliminary stages despite playing few friendlies prior to the competition.
When the Porcupines were knocked out of the competition and were relegated to the CAF Confederation Cup, Zachariassen angered the fans with his comments, saying the CAF Confederation Cup was their level.
At this moment, the Asante Kotoko board realized they made a huge mistake by appointing the Norwegian but still decided to give him a second shot.
Fast forward to November, Asante Kotoko were knocked out by FC San Pedro, a club that was founded in 2004 and have spent the last few years developing and improving every aspect of the club.
At this point, the Asante Kotoko management was in disarray, confused and depleted. They tried to scare Zachariassen of the job after he refused to resign by telling him they can’t guarantee his safety in Ghana. Realizing that the approach was unprofessional, Kotoko invited Zachariassen and finally ended things with the Norwegian.
Having seen their failure and incompetence, the board started listening to the fans and are trying to make amends.
Asante Kotoko are currently trying to improve their recruitment system by reigniting the feeder club that was dissolved in 2018.
This new development will improve the club and aid their recruitment process and will see hungry, motivated and good players promoted to the senior team instead of signing players without evaluating them properly.
There are a lot of areas that need improvement at Asante Kotoko but setting up a Youth team is a step in the right direction.
