Coach Sarpong quit Olympics for good
Boxing-Wonder Tackie sure to wear world Lightweight belt on Saturday
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2002 - Coach J.E Sarpong says he has finally parted ways with Accra Great Olympics, citing lack of player commitment as an obstacle, which he could not surmount in the discharge of his duties.
But in a response to the latest development in the Accra-based club, Mr Richard Oblitei Solomon, Chairman of Olympics Management Committee said the coach's resignation has been accepted and that the management is holding consultations with the Board of Directors to find a worthy replacement.
Coach Sarpong who rescued Olympics from relegation last season and was named Coach of the Year by the Ghana Football Association resigned after three weeks into the new season but rescinded his decision and directed affairs in three subsequent matches without securing a point.
Speaking to the GNA at the Olympics Club House at Adabaraka in Accra on Monday, the chairman said though the relationship between the management and the coach was very cordial, their partnership has failed to meet the aspirations of the fans who are eager to see a new dawn of success which would put the club back among the giants in the country.
He said in order to reverse the trend of lack the lustre performance, which has become synonymous with the club, it is imperative that management takes the necessary action to block all the loopholes and straighten the rough edges to achieve positive results. "To achieve this, we are conferring with our Board of Directors to find a competent coach for the club within 48 hours and he would lead us to victory in our next two matches and move the club forward from there."
Mr Solomon said the normal thing, which happens in a club, which is afflicted with poor results is "for heads to roll" and they in management have started "a candid examination, with the involvement of the Board, to identify their lapses and inadequacies and address them to get the club out of the slump." He said management has encouraged and aided recruitment during the off-season while no player was sold, giving them hope that the team would flourish in the current season, as they believed the players they purchased were good.
The chairman said the downward trend of events would necessitate a "player scrutiny" and asked those who would scale the new exercise to reaffirm their commitment and prove their quality on the field to bring joy to their supporters.
He said he would not blame the fans for expressing their feelings of disgust and disappointment in a non-violent manner at the negative results the clubs has had in recent times and charged them to skip their disappointments and turn out in their numbers to cheer the team to a new revival.
Mr Solomon said since the new Management Committee took over the reigns of the club, thy have expended over ˘400 million while the team continues to play at empty stadium thereby depriving them of any meaningful income. He said they in management are sacrificing in order to redeem the club from the doldrums and place it on the level that it belonged in the past when it represented the country in the African Clubs Championship.
The chairman appealed to supporters to show a little bit of love towards the club by attending matches and cheering the players when the going gets tough. The Management team at the briefing consisted of Mr Stephen Nii Adjei-Mensah, Mr Ben Boye, Mr Fleisher Djoleto, Mr Frank Davies and Dr Albert Arthur, while Mr Perry Doku and Mr David Fugah represented the Board. Also in attendance was Mr Fred Pappoe, Secretary to the club.
Meanwhile, supporters of Great Olympics are requested to meet the Board and Management Committee of the club at the club's training grounds at Kaa Jaano, Osu at 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Mr Richard Oblitei Solomon, chairman of the club said the Board and the Management Committee have scheduled the meeting after the two administrative segments deliberated extensively on issues affecting the club.
He said the meeting would afford the management and supporters to exchange ideas and chart a new way forward to rescue the club from its present predicament. The chairman entreats all stakeholders, supporters, sympathisers and well-wishers to attend as their suggestions would be useful to the redemption effort.
GRi…/
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B.A. United seeking financial help
Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2002 - Brong Ahafo United Football Club has called for a broad based financial support from supporters of the club both within and outside the country in order to help the club win the league this year.
Mr Kwame Ntow-Fianko, Accra representative of the club, made the appeal when speaking in an interview on Monday about problems facing the club. He said in spite their financial handicap, the club was able to qualify for the premier league and is doing well and expressed the hope that with little support from all their supporters they can win the league.
"We have the players and if we can get at least a minimum sponsorship of ˘20 million a month to settle the salaries of our players, the league would be ours". He commended their supporters for rallying behind the club all these years and urged them to continue with such support. On ways of attracting sponsorship and generating money for the club, Mr Ntow Fianko said the club now has a web site and their supporters outside the country are aware of their recent performance.
He said it is in the light of this that they have requested for videotapes of their matches especially the gala tapes in order to use them to secure sponsorship for the club. He expressed the hope that if this goes through then the club would be on the verge of achieving greater success. Brong Ahafo United popularly known as "apostles of power soccer," are currently fourth on the Premier League table, in the six-week old 30-week competition.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2002 - The nation’s newly-signed coach Millan Zivadinovic is bracing for his maiden assignment barely a week after being confirmed as the man to take over the reins of the Black Stars. Come Friday at Lublijuna, the 58-year old Yugoslav will partially tackle his first major challenge as the Stars coach when he joins forces with the Ghanaian goalkeeper’s trainer Malik Jabir, to lead the Ghanaian senior team to battle World Cup finalists, Slovenia, in an international friendly.
A reliable source at the Ghana Football Association (GFA) informed that they had anticipated Zivadinovic to be in full charge of the Stars for Friday’s match but for his late appointment, which takes effect from 20 May. The source hinted that the Yugoslav will therefore have to watch the match as an observer and the FA vested full responsibility of the Stars Malik Jabir for Friday’s encounter.
However, coach Malik revealed in an interview on Monday that he was going to join forces with Zivadinovic on the bench to ensure victory over the Slovenians. And coming from a country which was a former colonial master of Slovenia, it follows that Zivadinovic’s presence will do the Stars a lot of good, technical wise.
Perhaps, as a major factor as to why Malik would like to compare notes with him, the expatriate will certainly be well versed in providing the antidote, which the Ghanaians would need to face the daunting task. According to Malik, all is set for the Stars to offer their opponents the necessary opposition in this World Cup warm-up trial as the Stars team will be dominated by 16 foreign-based players, with only two local stars.
The two locals expected to travel to Italy on Tuesday alongside six foreign-based players already in the country on holidays are goalkeeper Sammy Adjei and John Paintsil and the overseas based stars being Derek Boateng, Baffour Gyan, Peter Ofori Quaye, Augustine Ahinful, Kofi Amponsah and Richard Kingston.
These will be joined by George Blay, Hans Adu-Sarpei, John Mensah, Christian Gyan, Daniel Edusei, Abdul Razak, Michael Essien, Emmanuel Duah and Stephen Appiah in the border town of Trieste, Italy, from where they will be picked by the Slovenians by road. Two other players, Otto Addo and Charles Amoah, who were expected to be part of the team have sought permission to attend to some pressing family commitments.
This match is more or less a David and Goliath affair as Slovenia currently ranks 28 in FIFA rankings as against 57 by Ghana.
What is more, the Eastern European country, with less than two million population, will be making their World Cup debut in Japan and Korea after gaining independence from Yugoslavia in 1991. Though considered the weakest soccer nation of all Yugoslav republics then, Slovenia braved the odds in to make their inaugural appearance at the 2000 European Championship.
Since former Yugoslavia international, Srecko Katanec, took over the side in July ’98, they have not looked back as they defied the critics to book the Mundial ticket after a play-off with ’94 World Cup quarterfinalists, Romania. Drawn in Group B alongside Spain, Paraguay and South Africa, Slovenia boast of a team dominated by foreign-based stars with only three locals, even though most of the overseas players are bench-warmers.
On Friday, coach Katanec is likely to feature stars like skipper Ales Ceh, Milan Osterc, Mladen Rudonja, Aleksander Knavs, Spasoje Bulajic, Sebatian Cimirotic, Milenko Acimovic (Red Star Belgrade), and top marksman, Slatko Sahovic of Benfica fame. Notwithstanding Slovenia’s high pedigree, coach Malik Jabir is confident that the Black Stars will live up to expectation, especially when the Ghanaian players have just finished their various European leagues.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2002 - The Deputy National Organiser of the National Chapters Committee (NCC), the supporters wing of Accra Hearts of Oak, Mohammed Alhassan, has urged the board of the club to suspend the appointment of a substantive Chief Executive until the end of the current season.
This, he explained, is to provide the current acting administration the peace of mind to concentrate on the annexation of the league trophy and other assignments in the current season. Mohammed Alhassan was speaking to the Graphic Sports on issues relating to the present calm within the ranks of the Phobians which have led to their unimpressive outing in Africa, leading to their early exit, courtesy Abdul Razak’s Stade d’Malien.
The Chief Executive position of the club became vacant after the Mr Harry ‘Phobia’ Zakkour resigned the post just before the start of the current season necessitating the appointment of his then lieutenant, Mr Thomas Okine, as the Chief Executive of the club in an acting capacity.
The board of the club had advertised three positions in the club for full-time staff to fill the positions of Chief Executive, Accountant and Assistant Administrative Manager. This has attracted great response from interested personalities wishing to steer the affairs of the club, with nearly 80 applications reportedly submitted for that purpose.
But the NCC Deputy Organiser believes any attempt to change the top brass of the club’s present management could jeopardise the existing tranquillity within their fold which has seen them taking a commanding lead in the six-week old league. “Having come this far in the year, and having done so well to ensure the prevailing impressive form of the playing staff and their handlers, we should be careful in our actions not to detract the attention of the acting Chief Executive and his staff,” Alhassan emphasised.
GRi…/
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Accra (Greater Accra) 14 May 2002 - Ghana’s pedigree in the world of boxing will be called to question come Saturday in far away Las Vegas in the US when the International Boxing Federation’s (IBF) number one contender, Ben Wonder Tackie, stands toe-to-toe with undisputed world champion, Kostya Tszyu in a super lightweight bout that has all titles at stake.
And to ensure that his date with the respected champion does not become a fiasco, he has turned to compatriot and former WBA welterweight champion, Ike Bazooka Quartey, whose rich fighting techniques the challenger’s camp deems to be of immense importance in their search for glory.
Quartey who is said to be considering a return to the ring, flew to the US in the company of his trainer, Oko Odamtten, three weeks ago at the instance of Tackie’s camp and the title contender hopes to make the most of his sparring sessions with the ex-champion.
Aware of the task on his strong but slim shoulders, the Ghanaian pugilist has been buoyed by a new feeling of extreme confidence needed to overcome the true potential of his much-experienced opponent. With less than a week to enter the ring for the fight, Tackie says he is in the best of shapes, having undergone the most strenuous training regimen since his career as a boxer began over a decade ago.
This surely demonstrates his respect for the champion who has also shown tremendous respect for the abilities of the Ghanaian challenger who carries an awesome record of 28 victories and two losses into the fight, with 16 of the victories coming via the short route. In demonstrating his inexplicable self-belief, Tackie has played down the impending fight by setting his eyes on Zab Judah, his next opponent, should he overcome the Tszyu hurdle.
But such confidence poses no threat to the 32-year old champion whose fighting record stands at 28-1-1. “I feel this is the strongest that I have ever been,” he says of his current form ahead of the potentially explosive clash. However, if Tackie, 27, has any real advantage it must be his attacking style, which frightens Tszyu a great deal, although he says he will not allow that to tame him. Saturday certainly offers Wonder Tackie the opportunity to reclaim the glory that used to adore heads and fists of his folks, particularly Azumah Nelson and Ike Quartey.
GRi…/
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