Sports Features of Tuesday, 16 August 2011

Source: Raymond Yeboah

Chelsea dominance puts Brong Ahafo football back to the olden days

The Brong Ahafo Region have over the years produced great football stars like Kwasi Wusu, Adansi Fofie, Dan Owusu and other interesting stars who featured for B/A United and Tano Bofoakwa in those days in the Ghanaian top flight league but they were not able to win any major laurel to the region as compared to what Aduana Stars and Berekum Chelsea have recently done.

Though Aduana set a record of winning the league title in their debut season, what makes Chelsea's league triumph so special is the fact that the team struggled to survived relegation in the last two seasons before coming to annex the league which to me glorifies the old adage which says ‘the downfall of a man is not the end of his life.’

Also, the just ended PLB Awards Night confirmed the total dominance of Chelsea in last season's league. The important elements of the awards were won by this great club. The CEO of the year award which the man behind the success of the club, Obed Nana Kwame Nketiah won at the expense of Fred Crentsil and Dr. K.K. Sarpong of Hearts and Kotoko fame was no surprise to me because none of them can contend to moulding a club to its greatness.

Kotoko and Hearts, compared to Chelsea, are great traditional clubs who even without a leader could perform because of their respective large army of followers. How about a club like Chelsea? The team does not command a large support neither do they have a life patron who can give the club a breath of life when in trouble.

So if by this, Nana Kwame and Mr. Kyeremeh can succeed with this small club, what else do they need if not appellations. Nana Kwame to begin with, should have even won the best CEO award two seasons ago when the then debutante team finished 6th on the league log.

When I look at the structure of Chelsea, the team has been built around a certain faith where giving out is their symbol. God is so principled about giving so much that anyone who obeys this rule, no matter the nature of the person, gets success. How many club CEOs in Ghana donate to an orphanage when celebrating their birthdays? So until Nana Kwame and Kyeremeh stop this act of helping the poor, their hands will always be a Midas touch to Chelsea and they will dominate the league not only in Ghana but Africa as well.

The team has already got a great morale booster to face next season because of these awards they have won. Coach Orlando Wellington would like to retain the coach of the year accolade next season so he is going to double his work in the club as head coach. Goalkeeper Ernest Sowah must next season prove to the whole Ghana that he is the only local goalkeeper to replace Richard Kingson in the Stars’ post after winning the best goalkeeper of the season award.

The team of the year award coupled with a 12 seater bus and GH?15,000 cash reward by the PLB is only going to ginger Chelsea to usher next season in with more trophies and success. Also by this same time next year, the team will be playing in their own grounds at Benkasa.

The best is yet to come from team Chelsea not only in the Glo Ghana Premier League but the CAF Champions’ League as well next season because with only few inclusions they still have a core of the team at their disposal.

Kudos to Berekum supporters and the people of Brong Ahafo for their support to Chelsea and their wonderful chairman and CEO.