The Porcupine Warriors are being over-ambitious, having tasked CK Akunnor to deliver them the CAF Champions League title.
Kotoko's CAF Champions League target for new coach is unrealistic
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The former Hearts of Oak and AshGold coach signed a three year deal with Asante Kotoko with George Amoako, the CEO of the Porcupine Warriors has tasked CK Akunnor to make the Kumasi-based club champions in Africa.
“CK Akunnor has been tasked to win the CAF Champions League trophy in the shortest possible time and that is simple,” he told Atinka FM.
However, Asante Kotoko don’t have what it takes to achieve that feat within the shortest time as believed by the club.
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Kotoko have high hopes at the moment because they are flying high in the current offseason.
Kotoko wants to see CK Akunnor continue from where Paa Kwesi Fabin left off.
Under the former Black Starlets coach, the Kotoko setup was revamped setup by introducing new players into his team with Songne Yacouba being a revelation, scoring like no one’s business.
It seems that has inspired Kotoko and even after Paa Kwesi Fabin exit, the Ghanaian club believes CK Akunnor is the right man to continue the project.
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Here are the reasons why Kotoko would need more than a three-year tenure handed C.K Akunnor to bring home an African glory.
Financial challenges
Asante Kotoko like many clubs in Ghana and West Africa at large are facing financial difficulties.
All over the world, football thrives well when people with financial muscles decide to invest in the game.
In Ghana, people with great worth are not ready to spend on football. So the clubs find it difficult to hold on to their players when rich clubs come with deals in the region of $100,000 to $500,000.
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No Ghanaian club owner or bankroller is worth $50 million dollars, so the ripple effect on the teams is that players are not well paid to entice them to stay for long.
Patrice Motsepe, the owner of Mamelodi Sundowns is worth over $2 billion, while Moise KatumbI, the bankroller of TP Mazembe is with a net worth of $60 million, in addition to regular income from mining.
These bankrollers have over the years spent huge sums of money to make their teams reign on the African continent. TP Mazembe and Mamelodi Sundowns are able to purchase players for half a million dollars and pay them over $30,000 a month.
In Ghana, a club like Kotoko would not contemplate buying a player for $20,000, let alone paying him that amount every month as salary.
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Is Dr Kyei, the bankroller of the Porcupine Warriors ready to buy a player with enormous qualities from other parts of the African continent for half a million if the need be? And even if he has the desire to spend that much on a player, can he do that without going bankrupt within a short time?
Mr Kyeremeh the owner of Berekum Chelsea invested so much in the club after they became champions. He bought the best of players on the local scene to help the Berekum based side reach the group stage of the CAF Champions League, but just after the campaign, he faced off and went into hiding. He no longer has that finances to inject into the club.
Ghanaian football fans would be happy if Dr Kyei buys big and also put in place the necessary measures to retain them on the local scene.
But per what we have experienced over the past two seasons several people have their doubts that he has what it takes to buy a player for half a million dollar or more and pay players about $10,000.
Without the finances to spend heavily on players purchased and pay huge salaries, Kotoko will just be an outsider when it comes to continental football.
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Kotoko don’t have a consistent team
The Porcupine Warriors need to maintain a consistent side for at least three years to make them a potential CAF Champions League title contender.
The Hearts of Oak 2000 CAF Champions League winning team is a case study. They maintained the team for a minimum of between two to three years. The likes of Jacob, Nettey Amankwah Mireku, Osei Kuffour, James Nanor, Ishmael Addo, Kenneth Sarpong, Emmanuel Adjogu, Sanni Wahab, Charles Allotey, etc had played for the Phobians for two or more years prior to the all-conquering feat chalked in 2000.
We can’t talk same of this current Kotoko team. Few players have been consistent with the Porcupine Warriors over the years. Hence the understanding, cohesion and team play is supposed to be built in the current Kotoko team with time before they can build a strong side to make them compete effectively in continental club football.
Kotoko are supposed to hold firmly to their current playing body by ensuring they motivate them well to keep them on the domestic scene.
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Kotoko are yet to be tested on the local scene in competitive games.
The Porcupine Warriors are receiving a lot of applauds for being the most exciting team on the domestic front at the moment after having lost just a game since their defeat against Karela in the league.
However, most of the victories chalked by the Porcupine Warriors were not in competitive games. Their back to back wins over their bitterest rivals, Hearts of Oak, a draw in Tanzania against Simba, a 3-2 victory over AshGold in Kumasi and a 3-0 triumph against Berekum Chelsea were all friendly clashes.
The Kumasi giants are yet to get the real test.
The Ghana Premier League has been put on hold after the expose’ on football by award-winning journalist Anas Aremeyaw Anas in June 2018.
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It would be too early to start hailing Kotoko, until after they have started dominating domestic football. The Porcupine Warriors have not won the Ghana Premier League since the 2013-14 season, so they are yet to face a major test on the local front.
Hearts of Oak won the Ghana Premier League for six consecutive seasons and reached the group stage of the CAF Champions League on three consecutive occasions before conquering Africa. The current Kotoko team are nowhere to attain that feat.
Kotoko don’t have enough quality:
The Porcupine Warriors are enjoying several praises from local football fans for their recent display.
However, does Kotoko have the players who can earn a consistent place in the Black Stars? Until Ghana’s call-up for their tie against Sierra Leone, no Kotoko player was good enough to be in the Black Stars. The only player who has been handed a call-up, Felix Annan is not an outfield player.
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When Hearts of Oak won the CAF Champions League in 2002, they were having many players in the Black Stars- Sammy Adjei, Dan Quaye, Amankwah Mireku, Jacob Netteh, Charles Allotey, Charles Taylor, Ishmael Addo, Osei Kuffour, etc.
Hearts of Oak had a side that was even good enough to represent Ghana in a qualifying game for the 2002 FIFA World Cup against Nigeria- the game ended goalless.
Any time a Ghanaian side had excelled in continental football, they had players with the quality to earn a regular place in the Black Stars team.
The technical handlers of the Black Stars are mostly blamed for not keeping an eye on local football and for that matter players in the Ghana Premier League are overlooked.
But the fact is that, season in season out, we witness players on the domestic scene leave for greener pastures overseas. This deprives the various teams the quality required to make them attractive and play competitively. This is the more reason why the local league is losing its shine.
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This current Kotoko team have no experience in continental football.
The Porcupine Warriors lack players with the sort of experience to compete well in both the CAF Champions League and the CAF Confederation Cup.
Kotoko as a team have been awful in both the CAF Champions League and Confederation Cup. They have failed to cross the second knockout stage of the competition since 2008.
In the past four campaigns, the farthest Kotoko have reached is the second round. In 2013, Bejaia knocked them out in the second round. In 2004 Barrack Young Controllers of Liberia saw them out in the first round. In 2015, it was the turn of El Eulma of Algeria in the second round after they had got a walkover in the first round. They suffered a first-round elimination in 2018 against CARA Brazzaville in the CAF Confederation Cup.
Kotoko is just not ready to conquer Africa. Simple fact.
