The painful truth by Kenichi, unprecedented!
The four million-plus Accra Hearts of Oak followers must by now give their head coach Japanese-American Kenichi Yatsuhushi all the plaudits for his outright truth and daylight revelation that he posted on his facebook wall on the state of financial remuneration as it affects his assistants, his charges (the fighters on the field) and himself.
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What might have touched everybody's heart on reading the story was the fact that he was singled out and invited for settlement, but as a man of principle, refused to accept the offer, but demanded that others must be paid first. Numerous expatriate coaches have come and gone, and for obvious reasons, none of them has been so bold to tell the world what happens in their lonely corners.
Indeed, everybody connected with the game seem to try and "brighten the corner where he is", possibly for fear of a reprisal of some sort. It has been so, all along from the days of coaches Ainsley, Sojberg and Ember from the 1950’s to the 70’s.
If anything, it was only the Portuguese coach Mariano Bareto who came close to the reality by telling the world that there was something wrong with our football, and that there was quite a difference in what was purported to be the official salary and what he actually received as his take-home pay as a certain percentage of the money fizzled into thin air before reaching his pocket. But he could not say it when he was at post.
Coach Raugh Zumdic also commented on the difference between his official pay and what actually went to his pocket, but said it outside. Perhaps, it is only Kenichi who has boldly told the world the salaries and bonuses of his players and technical staff had not been paid for months, and such a situation could affect the morale in the Phobian camp.
Hearts had just returned from Samreboi in the Western Region after losing 2 - 4 on penalties in their MTN FA Cup round of 32 against Division One club Samartex, and in that painful trauma Hearts fans were expecting some soothing words that would serve as pleasant public relations gimmick and not a bombshell!
Transparency has always been a mighty problem in our part of the world right from independence on March 6, 1957, and that all over the place officialdom have always clamoured for compliments and positive comments and nothing negative, even when things are clearly off their complexion, physically, socially, economically and morally.
That mentality has sank so deep in our fabric that for sure I knew Kenichi would face some strong sanctions from certain quarters in the Hearts hierarchy. In actual fact, for a long time, rumours have been making the rounds that Hearts players and technical team had some salary arrears and that things were being worked out to ameliorate any dangerous explosion.
In other words, Hearts players were working hard on empty stomach and that they were waiting for a deliverer. The Japanese are not cut for such diplomacy and the plight of the playing body could only be saved by a fearless expatriate coach in the person of Kenichi. This shows Kenichi was God-sent!
It is all over that the top brass of Hearts of Oak is divided on the fate of the coach. Some think the coach must be made to suffer the consequences of opening his mouth so wide or possibly dismissed outright for telling the truth, while others think the coach is a divine saviour and everything must be done to fulfill the club's obligation to the players and technical team as quickly as possible in order to achieve more positive results.
If you care to talk to the club's genuine and die-hard followers, you will realise that majority of them are happy with the revelation, even though bringing it to the public domain would cause some havoc and subject them to public ridicule by their opponents. I listened to a local radio channel and in their remarks on the issue, some of the hard core diplomatic characters expressed the opinion that the coach was not "professional" in his comments, while a large number of callers thought the Japanese American coach was the best gift God ever gave to Hearts at this moment, and that his revelation should never create crisis, as he told the whole truth and deserved an award for that.
Here is a coach who felt he could train a set of players to assume a different posture from hopelessness to hopefuls and change the history of the club and for that started pulling crowds to augment the finances of the club.
One really wonders why there should be salary arrears, and that the club has not been fair to the coach and his team who need all the motivation to carry on with their good works so far.
It is expected that by the time Hearts face WAFA in Match Day 8 at the Accra Sports Stadium today, some express financial settlement, be they salaries or winning bonuses would have taken place behind closed doors.
The coach is happy with the club, and everyone who supports the club would expect that all would be cool as early as possible for the return of the smiles. I just can't understand how come that any time Hearts get a good coach something happens and he is booted out.
A case in point was David Duncan who was suddenly dismissed with no proper explanation, and Hearts had to compensate him heavily. And from there, winning of matches became extra tough for the newly-appointed coaches culminating in the near relegation of the century-old club.
The general feeling is that the chairman of the board Togbe Afede XIV would not allow any confusion to dominate at this time that all the club needs is absolute peace, and manage to be on top of the financial crisis.