Former Asante Kotoko Supporters Chief, Kwaku Amponsah has faulted the players for inviting ridicule and bringing shame to the club, over their refusal to train until owed per diems and other entitlements are cleared.
Asante Kotoko are currently camping in Sudan ahead of their all-important CAF Champions League fixture against Al Hilal Omdurman.
The Porcupine Warriors trail their opponent by a lone goal following their first leg defeat in Ghana 2 weeks ago and need a result to turn the tie back in their favor.
The match is the last chance saloon in the club’s quest of making the Group Stage of CAF’s elite club competition for the first time in over 10 years.
Ahead of the fixture tomorrow, the players were supposed to have their CAF sanctioned training session earlier on Tuesday. However, the players, agitated over manager’s failure to pay per diems owed decided against training causing a deadlock in camp.
Following the happenings, Kwaku Amponsah, known affectionately in the football circles as ‘Chairman K5’ has responded by saying the players could have acted in a more appropriate way.
“To us as supporters, we are saddened by the actions of the players. They should have considered the supporters and the relationship between us before embarking on this act. Just imagine the disgrace they have brought on the club,” he said.
“Why did they not resolve this issue here before leaving for Sudan. What the payers have done, does not sit well with us at all. This will be captured by international stations like BBC, Al Jazeera and this tarnishes the image of the club as well as draw it back from making progress.
“In fact the payers did not act right, but we will have to forgive them and move on,” he said.
Chairman K5 has also commended management for quickly resolving the issue to prevent the trouble from brewing further. He however believes if they had the necessary resources available, then they could have made payments before the player agitations.
“I will commend the management for acting swiftly to address the issue. But I feel if they had the money available, they could have paid earlier to prevent this happening,” Chairman K5 noted.
