Prince Opoku: I owe a lot to Abdul Razak for helping me develop

This is the second part on an exclusive interview by Graphic Sports’ George Ernest Asare with former Asante Kotoko and Black Stars striker, Prince Opoku Polley.

In the first part, Polley walked readers through his formative days through his time at Asante Kotoko and the senior national team.

In this part, the retired football great talks about coaches who influenced his career, his move to Europe and his expectations of the current generation of players at Kotoko.

Excerpts:

Graphic Sport (GS): Which coach would you say had the biggest influence on your formative years as a player?

Prince Opoku Polley (POP): I will say the coach who had the biggest impact on my development in Ghana was Malik Jabir.  “Malik succeeded in bringing out all the hidden qualities in me and turned me into a potent striker when I started playing for Kotoko as a teenager.

 Initially, he adopted me as a son, partly because he played with my father, Sammy Stephens, during his active days at Kotoko. Before any match, Malik invited me privately and gave particular instructions, directives and advice on what I should do and how to exploit opportunities during the match.

GS: It means you rate him very highly…

POP: Because he was a quality player in his heyday, he had the ability to handle players professionally.  He was exceptional, so clever and smart in handling all situations.

Sometimes he took some very risky decisions and stuck with it. One of such decisions was selecting me to play in the first team during the second leg of the Kotoko-Zamalek CAF Champions League second leg quarter-finals match at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi in 1987.

Using me instead of a seasoned player such as Saarah Mensah was a big risk he took, but he stuck by it and eventually it paid off when I scored a brace to help Kotoko to defeat Zamalek 5-1.

By using me in my maiden continental match, he put his job on the line, especially considering what the supporters of Kotoko would have done if the club had lost the match.

Malik gave me the opportunity to explore my career to the fullest in a big team like Kotoko and this made it possible for me to play competitively for the Black Stars and as a professional footballer in Europe.

GS:  Who else helped you as a youngster in your early days at Kotoko?

POP:   I realised that it takes courage to wear the Kotoko jersey, especially when playing before the home and vociferous fans in Kumasi.  It puts extra pressure on newly recruited players because they are conscious that the least error committed on the field may incur the wrath of the fans for them to agitate for your replacement.

However, I was a lucky player when I was recruited because I met seasoned players such as Abdul Razak, George Serebuo and Sarfo Gyamfi and others who guided me on the field during matches and it helped me to gain confidence to fit well into the team.

GS:  You had many memories at Kotoko, both god and bad. Is there any particular experience you want to recount?

 POP: The one I remember well was a league match against Accra Great Olympics. I remember it was my second match for Kotoko at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium and I scored the only goal in the match.

I was given a black stone by a fan and instructed to throw it into the Olympics goal post because it was supposed to give me good luck to score in the match.  When I got into their (Olympics) penalty box their a thick wall built around Kwabena Asiedu, Amoah Tawiah and Isaac Acquaye made it impossible for me to penetrate the defence and throw the black stone.

In the course of the match, I attempted to control an aerial ball but Kwabena Asiedu and Isaac Acquaye crushed me in the air, causing my head to hit the ground forcefully. I was dazed in the process and lost the stone. Since I had been told that it was a magic stone to help me to score, I completely lost the confidence and venom to continue playing. I wanted to signal to the technical team to replace me but just then one of the technical handlers entered the field with the Kotoko masseur to treat me.

 However, he told me told me that I was performing creditably so I should continue to create opportunities. What he told me boosted my confidence so much

Fortunately, in the course of the match, he pounced on a loose ball and beat his markers to score the only goal of the match.

GS: How do you rate the present generation of Kotoko players?

POP:  What I have realised is that unlike our days when old players were always visiting the team, the same is not happening now because the retired and experienced players of Kotoko are not offered opportunities to get closer to the team.

Some of the current players are very good, but because they don’t get the needed encouragement and guidance from old players they don’t get the confidence to develop the way I was blessed to get from older players in my time.

GS: So how can retired players with experience like you help the current generation to develop?

POP:   It seems the team have distanced themselves from the old players in recent times for reasons I cannot explain. Perhaps, the present management do not consider the old players as having the experience to impart to them to develop individually and as a team to improve.

The situation may have arisen because of the manner the team treat some of the old players. Sometimes when the old players decide to watch Kotoko matches they are made to pay gate fees or are denied entry, which should not be so.

When such incidents occur, it discourages old players from getting close to the team to offer the needed technical support, advice and encouragement to the players.

GS: How can this issue be resolved?

POP: The present and successive management of Kotoko should print special cards for old players who served Kotoko faithfully to provide free access to their league and international matches.

The absence of an old player on the club’s Board of Directors over the years also affects the relationship with the retired players and it pushes us away from the club. My plea is that Otumfuo Osei Tutu II should appoint one of the old players to represent us on the board.

Having a representative of the board would enable us channel all our concerns through him and also use him to initiate policies and programmes that would accelerate the development of the club.

Some of us sometimes want to contribute suggestions that would impact positively on the team, but because we have no voice because we are kept at a distance from the team.

GS: Now tell us about your professional career outside Ghana?

POP: My father had resident permit in Holland so he applied for and got a permit for all his children, including me. My permit, which allowed me to reside in Holland would have expired in 1988, so my father asked me to take advantage of it by relocating to Holland that year.

GS: Did you secure a contract in Holland before leaving Kotoko?

POP: No. I did not sign any contract with any club before leaving for Holland. I first joined my father before looking for a club. Initially, I introduced myself to Sparta Rotterdam’s coach that I was a good footballer and wanted to train with them, but he refused to give me opportunity, saying my manager should rather negotiate for a contract with the team.

He however directed me to their amateur side to train with them.  After training for a day, the amateur side realised that I had exceptional qualities so they selected me to play a friendly with the senior side to open their football season.

After the match, the coach of Sparta’s senior side called me and instructed to train with his team. That was the turning point in my professional career in Holland.

I trained with the first team for a few weeks and after playing a few friendly matches, I was offered a contract.

Sparta contacted the management of Kotoko and invited Ofori Nuako, who was then the Executive Chairman of the club to Holland to negotiate my release.

Sparta offered me a one-year contract, but after playing for half of the season, they realised that I was exceptionally good, so they wanted to extend the contract but I refused to extend it.

GS: Why did you refuse to extend the contract?

POP: I refused because initially I requested for a two-year contract, but they turned down my request. They doubted that I had the quality they needed because I came from Africa, but I proved them wrong and banged in 16 goals halfway into the season. It was a scoring record by an Africa player in Holland in 1998, so I attracted much attention from the media. At that time Romario, who was the top scorer in Holland, had scored 36 goals in a season with Dennis Bergkamp scoring 31 goals in the season. But scoring 16 goals halfway into the season caught the attention of other clubs and agents in Holland and beyond.

When the season ended, a Belgium club, Germinal Ekeren offered me a two-year contract to play in the Belgium league.

However, after playing for two seasons, my former coach in Holland had taken over FC Twente in Holland, so he also offered me opportunity to play for his team.

I returned to Holland to meet very good players at FC Twente and we qualified to play in European continental competition where we played against German giants, Bayern Munich and other top teams.

GS: How do you compare your performance at FC Twente with your first season in Holland?

POP: I had two good seasons with the club.  Before I joined the club, they had never beaten Ajax Amsterdam in any competition in Amsterdam, but in my first season with FC Twente, we broke that jinx and defeated Ajax at a time seasoned players such as George Finidi, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Kluivert, Clarence Seedorf were all playing for Ajax.

GS: How do you rate your career at the international level?

I had a very good seasons between 1993 and 1994 as we qualified to play in the UEFA Cup during my stay with the club. It was only when I joined the team that we managed to play in such an elite competition.  It was Bayern Munich who kicked us from the competition when they defeated us 4-3 in Holland and 3-0 in Germany. It was a nice game because I score in the first leg, but they were better than us.

To be continued