By: David Kyei

Date: 25-08-11

The pre-season training for the up-coming 2011/12 league season has started at Asante Kotoko, and as has been the tradition of Kotoko supporters, they have started trooping to the Adarko Jarchie training grounds to satisfy their curiosity on who and who have been signed on and would be training.

True to their expectations, some of the players who have been signed on showed up at the training grounds to start preparation with their colleagues.

Even though some other players have be coming to the grounds with the hope of being given the opportunity to trial out at the club, five notable players who have either completed their move, or are in an advance stage of negotiations turned up.

The presence of the five players; Richard Yeboah (formerly of R.T.U), Abdul Rahman (formerly of Dreams FC), Seidu Mutawakriu ((formerly of Dreams FC), Sako Idrissa ((formerly of Asfa Yenega), Osei Kofi (formerly of Yegoala FC) and Kofi Nti Boakye, really set the hearts of the fans who had become worried over the quite nature of Kotoko’s recruitment at ease.

Training under the tutelage of Technical advisor to the Executive Chairman, Malik Jabir, and ably supported by new recruit, Coach Sarfo Castro and the team of other technical men, the team had some minutes of warming up and conditioning exercises before moving on-field to play a game.

The intention of the game, according to the technical advisor, was to help the newly signed on players get to play alongside their colleagues to be able to properly integrate into the team.

The two teams had the existing players on one side and the other team being consisted of the newly signed and a few existing players.

Though at the end of it all, the existing players won the match by 4-3, the blend of the new players into one team brought some brilliance of the players out to the delight of the fans around.

The response of the fans to the moves of especially the new players if for anything was an indicator that they were first happy with the signing of the players and secondly happy with the performance they were putting up at training.

A sample of supporters Kotoko Express spoke to after the training session were unanimous in their expectations of the new players.

“I have observed that the presence of the new players has brought some sense of seriousness in the existing players and I believe Kotoko would be the better for it,” said Ibrahim Seidu, a regular at the training grounds.

Kwame Nsiah, another supporter, was of the opinion that his only joy in all what had transpired at the training grounds was that, the new players are going to contest the eleven playing slots  and that will mean competition in the them.

“When competition comes into a team, the players all put their shoulders to the wheel and thereby making their clubs the better for it”.

One supporter, Enoch Poku, who was visiting the training grounds for the first time has an interesting reason to share.

“After the news that most of our players had been sold after the tour, and the news that some players had been recruited to fill the vacancies, I have not been at ease”.

“I therefore decided to come to the training grounds myself to see the players for myself, and thankfully, the little that I have seen of the players give me the hope that all will be well,” he concluded.