Former Board Secretary of Accra Hearts of Oak, Mr Ernest Thompson, has challenged the current board members and management of the club to conduct an immediate evaluation of their operations to help revive the club to its glory days.
According to Mr Thompson, who alongside former club Chairman, Harry Zakkour, Ato Ahwoi and Tommy Okine, masterminded the club’s heroics in the late 90s, said the lack of a strategic plan to focus on strengthening the financial, administrative, marketability and the performance of the players on the field could hinder the progress of the club which he believes could be invigorated.
Hearts have failed to win any major trophy in a decade. Their latest attempt to win a trophy to appease their fans was also dealt a huge blow when they lost woefully to sworn rivals, Kumasi Asante Kotoko, in the MTN FA Cup finals in Northern regional capital, Tamale: a situation that left supporters fuming and pushing for new direction in the running of the club.
While commending the present administration in their continual strive to uphold the vision of the club though financially handicapped, Mr Thompson believes that until a clear-cut approach and strategy is established with the club, it will continually wallow in vain in its realisation of reliving the glorious days of the club.
Mr Thompson said the current composition of the current board members restricts the minority in sharing their views objectively in the administration and management of the club.
Immediate board members were appointed by majority shareholder of the club Togbe Afede XI, a move Mr Thompson believes has decoupled some experienced former members from sharing their views.
Speaking on Accra-based Joy FM, Mr Thompson said, though he has no interest in returning to take up any official appointment in the club, there was the need for consultations to be made by the current board on how to strategise and implement the necessary procedures to resurrect the fortunes of the club.
“I don’t believe that the majority shareholder should appoint all board members because they have about 68% and I think they should allow some minority representation on the board to allow other divergent views on issues confronting the club.”
“If there is a tendency that the majority shareholder appoints all of you, at times it creates situation where people become feeble in expressing contrary views in meetings because running a club is not so easy, there are prone to be different views,” he argued.
Sharing his views on the floatation of shares to raise revenue for the club, Mr Thompson said its purpose to clear some of the debts of the club has not been achieved because most of the shares bought were not bought with cash.
He explained that failure to pay cash for the floatation by customers has led to the current liquidity problems facing the club because most debts of the club were converted into equities.
“Those with majority shares, did they pay cash? And if you are asking for more shares to be floated and we have a rise issue with other shareholders not showing interest and the majority buys alone to get 100% and assuming if monies accrued from the floatation of shares are paid as debts owed to one person, that draws us back to the liquidity problems being encountered by the club and I think we should try and address it.”
Mr Thompson stated that a clear-cut strategy that involves a proper orientation of the club’s youth side to the senior side has to be established to help raise revenue for the club.
He explained that players that excelled needed to be traded in transfers to help the club accrue some funds to offset its debts.
An immediate re-examining and considerations of the club’s abandoned stadium with ancillary facilities at Pobiman in Accra, he explained, could change the fortunes of the club in the long-term, if the right investments were made.
“In modern management, you need to sit down and draw a plan and put in place very good structures. I think the floatation of shares abruptly halted that strategy and I think we need to re-examine and implement a proper re-assessment to make it fully functional without any hitch as it is being experienced currently.”
Mr Thompson expressed outmost disappointment in how players of the club are managed.
He said current players of the club look depressed and lacked inspiration in approaching matches. He said the euphoria that accompanied the team during matches under his tenure has dipped, culminating to the fluctuations of results encountered in the just-ended Ghana Premier League season.
He explained that the extreme detachment of the board from the team has made it difficult for players to reach out to management in sharing their concerns.
Mr. Thompson said the club risks losing its spark in the upcoming season if management fails to break the club’s rigid bureaucratic chain.
“The players lack the motivation to play. It’s so disheartening to see supporters contributing monies in the sustenance of players of a club that is 106 years. There is definitely something wrong and I think the current management and board members must sit up.”
“The main focus should always be the players because they are the people that club will rely on to produce get the supporters to the stadium and so I advise the management to pay particular attention to their needs in terms salaries and bonuses for them to deliver. This is not the Hearts of Oak we left and I just wish we would rise again.”
By Gottlieb Baako