Olympics supporters call for change in management

Accra, May 28, GNA - With ten matches to end the season, supporters of Accra Great Olympics are calling for a change in the managerial direction of the club.

The supporters, who spoke to GNA Sports are citing inefficiency on the part of the current management committee and the fear of relegation as their main reasons for demanding a change. "We don't want to go back to relegation so the team should be handed back to Mr Eric Afotey Odai, who has the capacity and the experience to guide the club out of relegation. "It is a shame that just three seasons after coming from relegation, we are in the same trouble again because of poor management."

The leader and spokesman of the supporters, Joseph Langabel said after twenty matches and with only 10 remaining to end the season, the present management had nothing new to offer and their continued stay in office would only spell doom for Olympics. He said the management committee had the chance to redefine the fortunes of the club after the first round when the registration window reopened but they failed to identify the missing links in the team and could not mend the cracks that were conspicuous in the first round. "Instead of buying good players, they bought inexperienced ones and put Winfred Dormon and Edward Sosu, the best players the team had on the transfer market."

Langabel said since the present chairman, Mr Alex Odoi had said that he did not have money to run the club, it was wrong for him to be appointed in the first place as chairman of the Management Committee. The spokesman, who described himself as the lead drummer for national sporting teams said though it was on record that Mr Odai resigned as chairman on his own volition, the facts were that he was frustrated out of office when he was on admission at the 37 Military Hospital.

He said the circumstances leading to the resignation of the former chairman were rather not discussed, as they would incense a lot more Olympics supporters, who were crest fallen and lamenting the poor performance of the club under the new management. The drummer said they were informed by a board member that the current management committee had failed to render account after the first round as the Board had requested them to do, adding that a responsible and forthright management would not shy away from rendering account.

He poured praises on the Board Chairman, Mr Amarkai Amarteifio for financing the club from his own resources but added that his money would not push for the attainment of his goals if the current management remained in office.

Great Olympics are at the bottom of the 16 team standings after 20 matches, with just 15 points from a possible 60, winning only three, drawing six and losing 11 including four home matches. When the chairman of the management committee, Mr Alex Odoi was reached for his reaction, he lamented the call for the change and advised those who claim to love Great Olympics to come forward and join forces with them to salvage the club from its present predicament. The chairman said he accepted to spearhead the management of the club, three weeks to the commencement of the season because of the great respect he had for the Board Chairman, Mr Amarteifio who nominated him for the position and that he had no ulterior motive for being chairman of the club.

He said the current management committee had done everything possible to make the players perform as they pay them promptly and provide with them with kits and other logistics as and when the need arises.

Mr Odoi said true to his word, the board chairman had supported them both morally and financially, committing over GH¢ 160, thousand of his personal money to the cause of the club.

The chairman said they realized early in the season that the kind of recruitment done by the former technical team of Nii Adu Sackey and Azizz was awful, culminating in the appalling play and position of the club, reasons why their services were dispensed with. He said the management committee supported the new technical team to recruit new players for the second round but unfortunately, the former technical director Adjah Tetteh and coach Moffat resorted to poor selections, one of which led to the 3-0 humiliation by King Faisal in a home match.

Mr Odoi said the management committee responded swiftly by making changes in the technical team, bringing in Eric Ofori Antwi to join Abraham Allotey, a pair the players have absolute confidence in and have pledged their loyalty to.

On Winfred Dormon and Edward Sosu, the chairman said they were downhill and did not merit inclusion in the team any longer. He assured the Olympics family that the club would not get the drop but survive the season, but warned that if the supporters did not change their attitude of criticizing management without investigating developments in the club, many capable people would relinquish responsibility in Great Olympics in the near future. Captain Victus Amenyedor (RTD) a former chairman of the club said it would be dangerous to effect changes in the management committee of the club at the moment.

He said anybody who had the magic wand to get Olympics out of its present predicament should come forward and help in order to save the club from sinking. The former chairman said any alteration to the current composition of management would only create more enemies for the club and pull the clock back. 28 May 07