Hearts of Oak Director blasts Coach Martinus Koopman as 'frustrated and bitter'

A board member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has taken a swipe at their axed coach, Matinus Koopman, describing his recent outburst as coming from a bitter and immature individual who seemed frustrated.

Coach Koopman had blamed the recent nose-dive in the performance of the club to the board’s decision to stop him from using some specific players who he believed were hard working and often proved themselves during training.

“They named three players, but they later changed it to seven players (Annan, Korsah, Esso, Albert Eonde, Salifu, Seidu, and Attah). They told me not to use them because they didn’t believe them and they could not help me in the competition,” Coach Koopman told Ghanasportspage.com.

However, denying the board’s involvement in the coach’s claims, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe said the board never told the coach not to field any player, and pointed to available records showing that Koopman had even used all except two players who were nursing injuries.

The board member said the Dutch tactician was only peddling falsehood because he was bitter, he had been axed from the job due to non-performance.

“When they [Koopman and Rene Hiddink] came we decided to allow them to work without any interference. They said they couldn’t work with some of the boys, and those he mentioned were players he sorted out himself and virtually asked them to leave the team because he said they were not up to standard.

“Out of the players that he mentioned apart from two boys who were injured and could not play at all, he used every one of the players he mentioned,” he stated. 

The former GFA boss said the coach and his technical director even ignored the top hierarchy of the club when they even tried to make some suggestions to them and wondered why he would suddenly point fingers at them for the team’s performance.

“He is immature, frustrated and bitter, he is a complete liar because all the names he mentioned one can check from the Ghana Football Association or even our records to see whether they have not been featured since he came.”

Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe said even when it became obvious that some of the players were not performing, the coach was reluctant in replacing them for better and much younger players so he must take the blame for his failure and not attempt to draw the board into it.

The board member also expressed surprise at the coach’s statement that the club had very good defenders and midfielder but lacked good wingers and attackers.

“If as a coach you have realised that the wingers are not good you train them, but you don’t complain,” he said, and gave a historical background of how a former Ghana legend Edward Acquah was transformed by a Swedish coach from a goalkeeper to become one of the best strikers for the Black Stars.