Kumasi Cornerstone Football Club has described as false the claim by Mr Ntow-Finako, Vice-Chairman of the Division One League (DOL) Board that the club was the first beneficiary of the newly amended guidelines on promotion since the club was saved from relegation having placed second from the bottom in Zone Two 'A' in the 2000 league.

Debunking the assertion in Kumasi at the weekend, Sheik Ibrahim Antwi, Executive Chairman of the club, said "at no time was Corners favoured but that the club stayed in Division One in accordance with the GFA 1997/1999 DOL Promotions and Regulations".

He said Article Four of the regulations stated categorically that champions from the regional league, unless otherwise barred, shall gain automatic promotion to the appropriate zone of DOL One, the number of clubs to be relegated from each zonal league shall be determined by promotion and relegation with respect to the Premier league as they affect the zone.

"This document is a collection of regulations and guidelines introduced by the GFA for the running of the DOL of the national league. In particular it puts together decisions of the GFA Executive Council on 17th February, 1997 and 17th December, 1999, which were approved by the GFA congress," he said.

Sheik Antwi contended that at the end of the 2000 league, according to the league table for Zone Two 'A', Corners had 15 points, while Denkyira United had nine points while in the Zone Two 'B', Police had 18 points and National had four points.

Therefore after the league, Police and National were relegated from Zone Two 'B' to the Second Division, while in Zone Two 'A', Denkyira United was also relegated to the second division, pointing out that these clubs were relegated in accordance with the General and Special Regulations of DOL.

Sheik Antwi said in the same 2000, Dwarfs were relegated from the Premier league to Division One in Zone Two 'B' and this therefore affected Police and National who were in that zone.

He said in Zone Two 'A', only Denkyira United was relegated because Adansiman gained promotion to the Premier league based on this therefore, when Sekondi eleven Wise won the Western region division one championship, they gained automatic promotion to Zone Two 'B', while Salgado, the Central regional champions also joined Zone Two 'B', thereby raising the number of clubs in Zone Two 'B' to nine.

In order to conform to the stipulated eight clubs in each zone therefore, Gag Roos was transferred from Zone Two 'B' to Zone Two 'A' following the two places created by the relegation of Denkyira United and the promotion of Adansiman to the Premier division.

Sheik Antwi said in the 2001 league, Mine Stars gained promotion from Zone Two 'A' to the Premier league while Gag Roos came last, whereas in Zone Two 'B', no team gained promotion to the Premier league and that if the clubs in zones Two 'A' and 'B', which comprised one zone were put together, Gag Roos, All Blacks and Vipers had the least points of 11, 13 and 11 respectively while Corners had 14 points.

He therefore described as misleading the contention that Corners and All Blacks were in two different zones, pointing out that if it were so, DOL could not have transferred Gag Roos from Zone Two 'B' to Zone Two 'A'.

Sheik Antwi said since Corners had more points than All Blacks and they formed the same zone, All Blacks should automatically be relegated.

He believed that Corners had a clear cut case and said he was aware of the fact that some people wanted the demise of the club and warned those people to stop since Corners will not sit down to be pushed around when they can also interprete the rules and regulations correctly.

In line with the club's motto "Christ Our Cornerstone" and as their guiding principles, Corners will fight to the end.

Sheik Antwi called on the Minister of Youth and Sports to intervene to stop the Division One Board from robbing Corners for peace to reign in that division.

Meanwhile, the club had added two more people to the management. They are Mr Stephen Mawuli as the Public Relations Officer and Nana Batafour Acheampong, Konongohene as Member/Director.

Sheik Antwi expressed appreciation to all supporters and the playing body for their unflinching support for the club in the face of the present turbulent moment and assured them that they will win the fight.

He, on behalf of Corners, commended Kumasi Asante Kotoko for the wonderful performance in far away Congo in the semi-finals of the African Cup Winners cup match and expressed the confidence that Kotoko will win the cup for Asanteman and Ghana.