Still searching for continuity?

I must confess that it sometimes becomes a boring exercise writing about Asante Kotoko, especially when the issue is to do with constant changes in the club’s management.
For the umpteenth time, Asante Kotoko find themselves in a cyclical search for continuity and stability in management following the resignation of Dr Kofi Kodua Sarpong and the spiral of confusion it engendered.

Thanks to the rare gift of finality that Kotoko are blessed with - the Otumfuo factor - a fire that could have raged out of control was put out. I shudder to think what would have become of club cohesion if Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, spiritual head and custodian of Kotoko, hadn’t acted the way he did.

The intense lobbying by some interested parties to assume the reins in the club was indicative of how, at any point in time, the Kotoko top job will retain its magnetic pull. There is no running away from that fact.

Maybe people have good reasons to feel that the constant reconstitution of the Kotoko board should be seen as the cause of the club having marked time for years now. At the same time, however, it is difficult to see how the Otumfuo could have looked elsewhere when on some occasions things clearly appeared to be going wrong.

It is very clear that until there is a system that can guarantee continuity in administration, such as ensuring that the club is run along modern and professional lines, stability will continue to elude Kotoko.

It must be said without a shred of doubt that some of the personalities who have, at one time or the other, had the chance to serve on the Kotoko board or in management are among the finest one can think of. Under normal circumstances, their deep knowledge that has made them very successful businessmen should have been replicated in their association with the club, but that has often not been the case.

It is the considered view of some observers that certain factors have almost always accounted for the failure of some boards to deliver to the satisfaction of the Spiritual Head and followers of the club. These include lack of cooperation among management and the board, and the self-opinionated nature of some management heads and board members.

Perhaps a more bitter truth is that Kotoko have in some cases had the misfortune of having been administered by persons who placed their self-interest above that of the club. They simply were not truthful in their dealings with Kotoko.

As the club with, perhaps, the biggest support base in the country, not to talk of the amazing goodwill they bring on board, it is sad that Kotoko is still crawling among clubs without clout on the continent instead of being at the very top with the giants.

Years ago I wrote that it was well within the capacity of Kotoko to own at least three-star hotels in this country, a reputable transport business and top class financial institution. At the time some people felt I had my head in the clouds, hence my ‘by-heart’ talk, but today they are sharing in my feeling.

Take it or leave it, the willingness of Kotoko supporters to go to any length to make their club great can hardly be matched in Ghana football, yet many of the administrators failed to take advantage of that.

Kotoko have a lot to learn from clubs like Al-Ahly, Zamalek, Esperance, Etoile du Sahel and Club Africain in North Africa are all in the core business of football, yet they have taken full advantage of good business practices to always stay on top of challenges. The old way of doing things can’t take them anywhere.

The world won’t wait for any club that fails to plan ahead in today’s football that is full of challenges.

By Ackah Anthony/The Mirror/Ghana