Kumasi tense ahead of Kotoko crucial meeting

With the minutes ticking away for the creation of a new phase for Kotoko, the club's myriad followers have their ears cupped in the direction of the Manhyia Palace. Kotoko fans are too eager to hear something from Manhyia tomorrow (Saturday) to end weeks of anxiety as regards who directs affairs in the club.

Information pieced together indicates that anxiety is mounting in Kumasi in the days leading to tomorrow's meeting between Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and the board and management. This, according to observers in Kotoko, has come about because of certain revelations in the last few days, especially the disclosure of the heavy contribution made by the Board towards the running of the club but which has been largely unknown to the fans.

Last week, a former Director of Operations of the S.S. Appiah management, Yaw Gyasi, went on air to debunk the widely-held view in Kumasi that in the last four years Kotoko has survived on the philanthropic attachment of Herbert Mensah.

Speaking on a Kumasi-based FM station, Gyasi disclosed that contributions had been made to management behind the scenes. He specifically mentioned the ¢350m contributed by the board and another ¢300m the club received from Manhyia to enable the club travel to Casablanca, Morocco, to play Wydad Athletic Club in the first leg of final of the Cup Winners Cup.

When Gyasi attended a football match later the next day at the Kumasi Stadium, he was cheered and congratulated by a crowd for giving them a true picture of happenings in the club. Many supporters of Kotoko in Kumasi have also been confused by a sustained media campaign in the city by some members of management on the need for their mandate to be renewed to ensure the carrying through of their programmes.

This is against the background that just days after the match against WAC, some radio stations in both Kumasi and Accra announced that Manhyia had renewed the Herbert Mensah management's mandate for two more years.

Last weekend, a well-known supporter of the club in Kumasi, Ali Maradona, went round some radio stations in Kumasi and appealed to supporters to readily accept whatever pronouncement Manhyia makes from tomorrow.

Reports of a planned demonstration by some supporters if Manhyia doesn't come out with a decision favourable to management have been discounted by a very respectable figure in Kotoko who says measures are in place to contain any such situation. Meanwhile, the playing body is said to be well focused on its training schedule under the two new expatriate trainers.