Friday, 29 March

Can he emulate the success of Sir Cecil Jones Attuquayefio?

Sports News
Samuel Boadu - Hearts Coach

There’s a cliché in football, that says coaching the “Big Clubs” is synonymous to wining laurels.

Here in Ghana, the country can boast of two top giants on the African soil, notably Accra Hearts of Oak and their bitterest rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko who are based in Kumasi, the Ashanti Region.

Leading these clubs as a Coach or Manager comes with pressure, the pros and cons and sometimes the demands to always remain competitive and win trophies season in season out. 

The focus of course is on the 2020/21 Premier league Champions Accra Hearts of Oak, the rainbow Club, the Continental Club Masters founded in 1911.

After 12 years of trophy drought in the Ghana premier league, a certain Gaffer walks in from Medeama Sporting Club and changes the narrative and the fortunes of the OAK Tree following the sack of Serbian Head Coach Kosta Papic, who secured the last trophy for the Phobians in 2008.

This season’s BETPAWA premier league promises to be very competitive and pregnant with surprises as it does every season.

Samuel Boadu heads into the new league season on the back of immense pressure after he failed to win the Ghana premier league trophy last term, but appeased the fans with a 12th FA Cup triumph, much to the unsatisfactory comments spilled out from Dr. Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe, Board Member for the Accra Hearts of Oak.

“People keep on saying he’s won five trophies but once you look at the future of the club, that’s my concern.

“Football is a very tricky game. Maybe we’ve been able to win five trophies by chance because the way Hearts of Oak plays its football is not the way I see it,” that’s the remarks the Former GFA President revealed to Joy Sports George Addo Jnr.

Dr. Nyaho Tamakloe’s comments did not sit down well with a section of the Hearts family, others also called for the sack of the Gaffer following a string of bad performances in the latter part of the 2021/22 league season.

For the uninitiated, five available trophies got swooped by the Gaffer in the space of two years for the Rainbow Club, the 2020/21 Ghana premier league trophy, the MTN FA CUP in that year, the President’s Cup against fiercest rivals Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the 2021/22 MTN FA CUP.

September 10 presents a new opportunity, a new leaf for most clubs and for the OAK tree in the new season, with a few players exiting the club, the likes of Kofi Kordzi, Umar Manaf, Patrick Razak and others, replaced with a number of new recruits such as Yassan Ouatching, Junior Kaaba and WAFA’s Konadu Yiadom amongst the quality players, not to forget the Black Galaxies players who played a part in the country’s qualification to the CHAN tournament in Algeria 2023, there’s much to be done and be won by the Gaffer Samuel Boadu.

Many have drawn comparisons of Samuel Boadu to the late Sir Cecil Jones Attuqauyefio, as the Gaffer to revive the good old days on the domestic scene and in Africa [CAF INTER CLUB COMPETITONS]

Well, the Rainbow club failed woefully in Africa last term falling to the big wits Wydad Athletic Club and JS Saoura from North Africa.

There’s another chance, one may call it redemption this season, as the CAF Confederations Cup will have the Phobians as Ghana’s sole representatives this time around.

Samuel Boadu and his charges start another journey to try and test the waters on the Africa terrain, whereas wining the league trophy is non-negotiable giving the signings done and having the core of the team not depleted.

Is that a daunting task? An answer every phobia fan will be skeptical about, not because there’s isn’t belief in the team, but the demands in playing in the CAF inter Club competitions is not the easiest of tasks.

Of course, it is just matchday 1 in the Ghana’s top flight league, but the Phobians do have a long way to go this season in defining their season.

Will Samuel Boadu be able to carve his way closer to his Real Model, Sir Cecil Jones Attuqauyefio or create history by re-writing his very own story.

Time will definitely tell!!!!

Source: Classfmonline.com/Gabby Ofei