I trust and hope that all is well with you. I believe that Ghana is lucky to have such a respected royal ruler like yourself and like Solomon before you, your wisdom in dealing with whatever challenges that come your way is fast becoming legendary. I am sorry to butt in on your time, but I am writing this open letter to you because of the concerns I have over one of the greatest clubs in Africa, Asante Kotoko. It is indeed more than a club and it is an institution that belongs to you. It is indeed a source of pride for your mighty kingdom and it is not for nothing that Asante Kotoko remains arguably the best-supported and most successful club in Africa. However, Your Majesty, I am afraid to say this, but all is not well with Asante Kotoko! You would probably be amazed to hear me say this, especially when the club has won three Premier League titles in a row; including a league and Cup double last term. But can we honestly say that financially, the club is in rude health? Definitely not! Your Majesty, I would humbly submit that the practice of various management teams and Boards of Directors always running to you for funding for the club is not sustainable. For instance, you gave the current Board a reported sum of GH¢450,000 to run the club. Although it was a generous gesture on your part, it would appear that, after the resignation of Dr. Kofi Kodua Sarpong, the new Board in place has no clue with regard to raising funds for the club. Proper marketing practices, merchandising and rallying the massive support of the club are plans that have been thrown to the dogs and this can no longer continue! Your Majesty, popular gospel musician Yaw Sarpong a few years ago came out with a song entitled ‘Asore Yi Agu’, which literally translated, means the church is destroyed. In that song, the church choir, the pastor, women’s fellowship and other arms of the church all blame each other for the demise of the church until much later, when it is realized that all arms of the church are collectively responsible for the church’s destruction. To put it bluntly, that is what is happening within Kumasi Asante Kotoko. Before I go into that, let’s go to the root of the problem shall we? For too long, Asante Kotoko has been run too much as a subset of a traditional fiefdom rather than as a corporate concern. Can anyone explain to me how Asante Kotoko has an estimated fan following of about 8 million, is one of the biggest clubs in Ghana and yet is deep in debt? Why is it that the club is only run on emotions, and decisions are taken to satisfy the supporters, most of whom do not know the first thing about effectively running a corporate concern? Why has long term planning been thrown to the wolves and rather the running of Kotoko is characterized with snap decisions which ultimately lead to disaster? In fact, what youth policies and structures are in place to ensure that in a few years time, Kotoko will have a production line of talent for the team which should reduce outlays on transfer fees and in so doing reduce operating costs in the long run? Why is it that the position of management has been brought down to the state of ridicule in terms of criteria? Does one have to just be a fan or an ex- player to become a management member, or does it not require a level of administrative expertise? Your Majesty, for too long the club makes the mistake of appointing a Chief Executive Officer or General Manager, before appointing the Board. What should rather happen is that a Board is inaugurated and then the Board appoints a full time Chief Executive for the club. Structurally, when this is done, the chief executive becomes responsible to the board and the management members become responsible to the chief executive, eliminating any back-stabbing, gossiping and lobbying at Manhyia by some of the management members, as well as quelling the occurrence of repeated inappropriate statements in the media. Also the management team should consist of marketing, branding and club administrative experts whose brief is to make Asante Kotoko self-sustaining in a specified number of years. Emphasis should therefore be on competence and not necessarily on fanatical loyalty to the club, the ability to make money simply out of selling items, or the ability to spend money on ‘ways and means’. There should be a clear plan of action as per goals and targets for the club within a specified time frame and the supporters will have to be educated to stop pressuring for success because the most successful teams in Africa took years of planning and building to get to where they are now. Rome was not built in a day. There should be a clear policy regarding recruitment. With the exception of the appointment of Major (rtd) Yaw Larsen in 2004 by the P.V. Obeng-led Board, the practice is to put together a management team before a Board is constituted. It is no secret that the Paul Adu Gyamfi-led Board does not see eye to eye with acting General Manager, Opoku Nti and had the Board been put in place before Opoku Nti was made the acting General Manager, Opoku Nti would probably never have gotten anywhere near the job. The uneasy standoff between the two parties mean that in the space of 12 months, absolutely nothing has been done to raise revenue for the club. As a result, the club might witness a massive player exodus and even though Mas-Ud Dramani would love to stay with Asante Kotoko, the club cannot even find the money for him to stay on! Your Majesty, it is sad to note that there is no comprehensive scouting plan to recruit the best young footballing talents in and around the Ashanti Region for the club, which in the long run would reduce financial outlays on recruitments. For example, why is it that Joseph Gordon, then playing for Asokwa Deportivo, would be allowed to join Medeama SC for two years, before Asante Kotoko goes back for him at a huge cost? Indeed, it is amazing that the likes of Dominic Adiyiah, Jerry Akaminko and Alex Asamoah all passed through Kotoko’s Under 20 team and were let go. In Asamoah’s case, Kotoko had to pay a reported sum of GH ¢200,000 to bring him back to the club. Also Samad Oppong was for many years the mainstay of the Kumasi High School team. Because there is no plan in place to capture the talent, Oppong went to King Faisal and Kotoko again had to pay GH ¢45,000 to bring him to the club. Both Kwadwo Asamoah and Sulley Muntari burst onto the scene in Kumasi and yet, because Asante Kotoko has had no scouting system in place for so many years, both players had to leave for Accra before enjoying successful careers. So if the bridges are built well, then Kotoko will not need to spend on more than three new players every season. Your Majesty, I am struggling to remember the last time any Kotoko head coach stayed beyond 18 months at the club since the days of Ernst Middendorf in the early noughties. Mas-Ud Dramani has since broken that record with two trophy-laden years. You must do everything to secure his stay with the club because the constant chopping and changing has to end! Once a coach is given terms of reference as per the job, he should be given enough time to execute it. Manuel Jose spent six years at Al Ahly and we can now all see the Egyptian Club’s impact on the continent and reputation as Africa’s premier club. Jones Attuquayefio spent over three years at Accra Hearts of Oak before annexing the CAF Champions League in 2000. So clearly, longetivity and continuity are basic prerequisites for success in the middle to long term. It is not enough to declare that the club’s aim is to annex the CAF Champions League without the requisite financial management tools, which should be a key requirement for any management team coming in. Your Majesty, a total revamp of the way the fans are registered as Kotoko supporters is needed to move the club forward. You check the records and you will probably find that registered Circle members nationwide will not number above 10,000. So if Kotoko is reputed to have 8 million supporters nationwide, then an exhaustive programme should be plotted nationwide to capture a minimum of 60% percent of that number. That comes to 4.8 million registered supporters. Can you imagine what would happen if each of these supporters contribute 1 Ghana cedi every month as dues to support the club? That, minus costs of running various Circles and payment of staff, could come to a healthy 4 million Ghana Cedis a month in income to the club. Also, a positive image of the club would have to be sold to corporate sponsors and after registering millions of supporters, telecommunications giants like MTN for example would know what numbers they are playing with and will sink more money into the club. But the management coming in must also endeavour to do all it can to maximize exposure for such sponsors, so that Kotoko’s financial future will be secure. Organisations of regular pre and post match press conferences will also do a lot to bring the hierarchy of the club in touch with millions of its supporters, which is also a marvelous way of projecting a good image about Kotoko. The Sale of club paraphernalia has to be regulated so that further revenues can be generated. With this, gate proceeds will just be another revenue stream, rather than the only one. The Kotoko Express is supposed to be official mouthpiece of the club, but sadly, over the years it has become little more than a tool that many management members use to manipulate information to their advantage. When the reporters for that paper require the necessary information to sell the paper, it is not always forthcoming. The information disconnect would have to be bridged so that more fans of the club patronize the paper, which would represent another income stream. Your Majesty, so many players want to play for Asante Kotoko but at the moment, there is virtually no money to secure some captures on the transfer market, neither are there funds to give existing players better deals. That is why the club is forced to sell players at knockdown prizes to clubs that do not have the prestige that Asante Kotoko has. It is time you either charge the existing Board of Directors to be up and doing or else, you would sack them and bring in a new innovative Board. Your Majesty, I can understand if you would bring in distinguished individuals whom you know personally to run the club, but I humbly submit that it is time to put sentiment aside and put together a Board of Directors who would devise innovative ways of giving the club financial self sustainability within a few years. Medium to long term planning is a must, otherwise, your dream of seeing the club win the CAF Champions League will remain a pipe dream! Your Majesty, I am grateful for your time and I sincerely hope that this open letter becomes food for thought for you, as you plot to take the great institution that is Asante Kotoko forward. Many thanks once again. Yours sincerely Christopher Opoku
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 08:16:04 +0000
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