Battle over Heart of Lions
A deep-seated ownership crisis has shaken the foundation of relegated Heart of Lions, threatening the future of the once-dreaded club, days after tasting their first ever demotion from the premiership.
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Barely 24 hours after suffering the drop for the first time in 11 years, the founder of Lions, Victor Ahiakpor, waded into the controversy by blaming the present management for the club’s woes.
As if that was not enough, a peeved Ahiakpor categorically denied selling the club, contrary to the view that Randy Abbey is the majority shareholder of the club.
The man, who is affectionately called ‘Abramovich of Ghana football’, promised to come out with the full facts soon.
In an interview with Happy FM last Monday and which he re-echoed on Hot FM yesterday, the former Lions boss only stopped short of blowing the lid in terms of who actually owns the Kpando-based club, and dared Mr Abbey to come out with the details.
However, former GFA spokesperson has since refused to be drawn into a brawl for obvious reasons.
When the Graphic Sports contacted him yesterday for his reponse, Mr Abbey simply declined to comment on the issue.
But Mr Ahiakpor, who had the difficult task of watching the club he brought to the premiership in 2003/2004 suffer a 2-4 defeat to New Edubiase United last Sunday, leading to their demotion, attributed the setback to his being sidelined by the present management.
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He accepted the defeat in good faith because he thought his club approached the game with a divided front only to lose squarely to a united opponent.
“I think we deserved to be relegated so people should stop pointing accusing fingers at the Football Association. Were we robbed when we went to Obuasi to play Edubiase? They beat us fair and square.
“When you don’t do your things right you end up blaming people for your woes. It is so unfortunate that I am now being referred to as a chief supporter of the club. I want to state clearly that I have not sold Heart of Lions to anybody. Ask Randy Abbey if he has bought the club and how much I sold it for,” Ahiakpor told Happy FM.
He explained that he only wanted people to help him raise the club to an appreciable level and that was why the new management members came on board and had subsequently sidelined him.
“If you’re doing business and want improvement, you need people on board to support you so that’s what I did. But unfortunately, I am being sidelined and that is the result we are seeing today,” he stressed.