A member of the Hearts of Oak board, Vincent Sowah Odotei, has stated that while Hearts of Oak players excelled in the Black Galaxies, they underwhelmed at Hearts of Oak. He claimed that this contributed to the technical staff and Samuel Boadu’s dismissal just one week before the CAF Confederation match against Real Bamako in Mali.
In an interview on Asempa FM, in response to a question, he reiterated that Samuel Boadu had failed to instil competitiveness in the Hearts setup. “Our squad is essentially the only one in the Black Galaxies, and when they go, they do well, so why aren’t they doing that in Hearts of Oak?”
The present Hearts of Oak team, according to Mr Sowah Odotei, “is not competitive looking at the clear data. In the previous 15 away games, we have lost 8, tied 5, and won 1 of them. We haven’t won a game in the last eight league games; our victory on Sunday was our first in 10 games”.
The former deputy communications minister added that he and Alhaji Akanbi have been discharging their duties as per the direction of the executive board chairman, who has, over the years, shown that he trusts their judgement and work ethics.
“All of these factors played a role in our decision to part ways with Samuel Boadu, which is why we did. We assist the executive chairman and talk with the coach about the team’s performance, even though we are not technical people. We give the team everything they need; therefore, the technical team must be responsible for management and performance”.
When quizzed about whether he and Akanbi will consider relinquishing their roles for a substantive chief executive to take the post if the performance on the field is anything to go by, he argued that the club is doing exceptionally well in the absence of a CEO.
“In a competition, I will argue that we are not competitive and that you will not win if your opponent is ready on the field. What does the league table points accumulation shows tell you about our performance since we left the CAF tournament last season?
To discuss Hearts of Oak, we must go beyond Ghanaian football. The stats and statistics unmistakably demonstrate that our squad has not been competitive for a while. It’s understandable why we couldn’t overturn the 3-nil when your club enters a tournament, and your team isn’t competitive enough. However, Kadiogo from Burkina Faso also ousted our opponent Kotoko.
