‘Hearts, Kotoko too big for relegation’; As Nii Ayibonte II leads rescue mission

A former board member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Alhaji Suleimana Braimah, alias Alhaji Hearts, believes strongly that both Hearts and Kumasi Asante Kotoko are the country’s biggest football institutions and as such can never be relegated from the Premier League.

The nation’s most glamorous clubs are battling against relegation after suffering major defeats at the weekend, with Hearts losing 0-1 away to Aduana Stars while Kotoko were thrashed 3-0 by Berekum Chelsea in Kumasi.

Hearts currently occupy the 14th position on the Premier League log while Kotoko lie on the 11th position and separated by just three points.

However, in the face of attempts by old guards of the Phobian family to help rescue the club from sinking further, Alhaji Hearts told the Graphic Sports confidently that he did not see the two suffering relegation at the end of the season.

"I don't believe Hearts and Kotoko can be relegated because they are too big for that.

"I know something will be done about it and for sure both clubs will survive because they hold Ghana football together," he added.

Meanwhile, Gbese Mantse and former Hearts chairman, Nii Ayibonte II, will today put aside his chiefly duties to lead a powerful delegation of former Accra Hearts of Oak directors to storm the Robert Mensah Stadium in Cape Coast to lend a strong support to the team in their crucial Premier League undertaking against Kpando Heart of Lions.

An experience set to rekindle the intimidating Phobian spirit of old, the coterie is expected to include former chairman of the club, Harry Zakkour, Isaac Tetteh (T.T. Brothers), Stephen Akwetey, Alhaji Hearts, Ernest Quarshie and Franco Nero, a former management member of the club.

At a meeting held in Accra last Monday, the directors visbily alarmed by what appeared a dire situation for the former African champions, demanded a clinical resolution of the situation which had seen the Phobians currently in the web of relegation to save the club from sliding into the soccer wilderness.

They resolved to mobilise financial resources to help achieve their mission with only eight matches to end the Premier League.

The group appeared to have been inspired by the call by Emmanuel Martey Commodore-Mensah, a member of the current board, to all true Phobians to help salvage the club from the relegation zone.

Nii Ayibonte II, who led the club to several honours, including the first 2004 CAF Confederation Cup, urged the group to look at the interests of Hearts as paramount.
“We must not be discouraged by the acts of those who think we are out there to create confusion,” he said.