By: Jerry Afriyie-Paemka

Date: 21-10-11

What a fantastic game it was against Ashgold at the Baba Yara Stadium in Kumasi last Sunday. It was a game that announced Kotoko’s intensions and sent a clear message to the other fifteen premiership clubs that we mean business this season. Even some hardline critics who are extremely difficult to please, have testified that the Kotoko team is taking shape.

Until last Sunday it was only left-back Baba Rahman among the new recruits who had cemented his place in the Kotoko starting line-up but after the Ashgold game it looks like all is set for some tough competition for regular places in the midfield and attacking areas.

 In midfield was the imposing figure of Yahaya Mohammed cast in the mould of “Sariki” Adamu Mohammed who was just as combative and rugged as the former Kotoko midfielder although Yahaya’s vision and incisive passes is something “Sariki” will be jealous of. In attack the pair of Michael Mensah and Michael Anaba are certainly going to give the big boys a good run for their money.

The youngsters showed so much promise and reminded one of the early days of Samuel Inkoom and Harrison Afful at Asante Kotoko. From nowhere Inkoom and Afful became household names within a short period much to the amazement of the players themselves. I can visualise Anaba and Mensah achieving even much greater heights.

The good thing is young footballers have always been given the platform to explore the world of opportunity at Kotoko and with dedication, commitment and hard work, some of them have exploited the opportunity to their full benefit. Some others however could not perform to their potential simply because they failed at the hurdle of commitment, dedication and hard work. Anaba and Mensah, as I observed them last Sunday, are destined for greatness if they work hard and remain committed and dedicated.              

Healthy competition is good in any sphere of endeavour and therefore we hope it is going to contribute to Kotoko achieving positive results The mark of a good team is having quality players all over the pitch and strength in-depth even on the bench. As said in this column last week, it should be one game at a time and after the “price of gold” went tumbling in Kumasi last Sunday courtesy Mike Akuffu, Nat Asamoah and Mike Anaba’s goals, all the artillery should be directed at Bechem United without fear or favour.

Press Pass still maintains that if Kotoko can win the three successive games in Kumasi against Ashgold, Bechem United and Heart of Lions, the Porcupines will climb to the apex of the log. Currently occupying the top three are New Edubiase, Hearts of Oak and Wa All Stars with six maximum points from two games but I dare say none of them can post four straight wins. Infact no one should be surprised if Kotoko should assume the top spot after this weekend’s round of matches. It is most probable.

However before that can be achieved the Porcupines must first take care of Bechem United with all seriousness. With all due respect to Bechem, this is the kind of game I expect Kotoko to win by four, five or six goals with at least one player grabbing a hat-trick or a brace. These days my expectations are quite high but the reality is that football pundits expect the three points from Sunday’s game to be safe in the bag for Kotoko. That should not mean complacency on the part of anybody. The team needs to keep the tempo and the catchword here is consistency.

After a good performance in the opening day draw with Tema Youth followed by a very good display against Ashgold, supporters can only expect another very good exhibition of football artistry or better still an excellent one. For us the fans, we want to see Kotoko score goals, the more goals that are scored, the greater the joy. It is also true that supporters want to see Kotoko keep clean sheets in their matches like it happened against Ashgold.

Now let us shift attention to attendance. Although it was an appreciable crowd at last Sunday’s game against Ashgold, it was a little below expectation. By Kotoko standards, home matches should attract not less than 25,000 supporters on the average and so a lot more work needs to be done in that direction particularly by the Circles. The issue of the premier league generating massive interest amongst football fans and also getting the crowd to fill the stands is a national problem in character which needs to be tackled from several angles by stakeholders.

However at Kotoko there is a lot we can do to help salvage the situation because we command about seventy percent of football fans in Ghana and no one will doubt that we are the market leaders or majority shareholders so far as supporters are concerned. When Kotoko moves, Ghana football will surely move. It is therefore important that we start pulling big crowds to our home matches and get a lot more travelling fans to away matches.  When supporters start painting the various league venues red, it will definitely awaken the minority fans who will also start getting their acts together and soon the numbers will improve at all the centres, so that the Glo Premier League will really glow.

All said and done, the standard of play will be a critical factor but surely from what we have witnessed so far, the standard is quite impressive and therefore Kotoko fans in particular have no excuse not to turn up at Kotoko games in their numbers. So on Sunday let’s paint Baba Yara red and make sure we grab the three points at stake and leave the cash for tottering Bechem United.

Very soon your authoritative Kotoko Express is going to start publishing stadium statistics of all our home games which will include attendance as well as gross and net revenue of home matches and we can all measure the level of support the team is receiving from fans particularly at the club’s home base in Kumasi and surrounding areas.   

Cheers!