‘I won’t step aside’
A defiant Asante Kotoko coach David Duncan cut a lonely figure last Tuesday morning when he met an empty training grounds abandoned by his playing body and technical assistants as Michael Osei held training session at a different venue.
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Determined to defy a directive by the club’s management last Sunday after the club’s 0-1 loss to Aduana Stars to “step aside” while his assistant (Osei) took over, Duncan went to the club’s Adako Jachie training grounds all dressed up and ready to take the players through their paces ahead of Sunday’s Premier League clash with Liberty Professionals. But to his surprise the players were busily training at the Baba Yara Stadium under the guidance of Osei.
The beleaguered coach stayed on at Adako Jachie till 10 a.m., apparently to emphasise that he had reported for work and perhaps use it against management and the board.
A board member of Kotoko, Kwaku Amponsah (K-5), admitted on Nhyira FM last Tuesday that on their way from Dormaa-Ahenkro after last Sunday’s game, management indicated to the Board Chairman, Lawyer Paul Adu-Gyamfi, of its decision to ask the coach to step aside but the chairman advised that a meeting be held the following day to decide on it.
However, against the instruction of the board chairman, the Samuel Opoku Nti-led management issued a statement late Sunday evening of the club’s decision to temporarily part ways with the coach.
According to management, the decision to ask the coach to step aside was the first in a series of measures being put in place to salvage the image of the former Premier League champions.
Coach Duncan said he would not heed to the directive because the “stand aside” instruction was alien to his contract with the club.
Per the contract, Duncan was to win the league in his first season or place second or third and qualify for the quarter-final in the MTN FA Cup competition. Duncan satisfied the set goals after placing second in the league, while playing in the final of the MTN FA Cup competition last season.
A source close to Coach Duncan said with this season’s league just six matches old, he believed the coach had not done anything to warrant a sack.
“If the league had ended and Coach Duncan fails to win the league or qualify the team for Africa as stated in the contract then he could be sacked,” the source said.
Coach Duncan had since failed to pick his calls despite many attempts by this reporter to reach him.