Kojo Bonsu, a former Executive Member of Asante Kotoko and current Flagbearer hopeful of the opposition National Democratic Congress, has identified the impatience of the club’s fans as a major problem that needs to be addressed.
Asante Kotoko has undergone numerous changes in both the technical and management teams over the past decade due to pressure from fans demanding a change of coaches after a string of poor results. There have also been similar changes in the Board of Directors and management of the club.
According to Bonsu, good long-term planning and consistency in both the coaching and administrative departments of the club are crucial for Asante Kotoko to achieve results and win laurels. He believes that the team’s success cannot be achieved through instant results, and patience is required to build a sustainable system.
“There’s a problem with Kotoko and Kumasi, we don’t have the patience to see good results. You need to build but they want instant results and it won’t work. I’ve worked with Kotoko for many years, in 1983 the cup we won we went through 79, 80, 81 and went to the final in 82 before going to the finals to win the cup in 83.
“So you need to build the crescendo but we are not building. One minute you hear there’s a coach from Burkina Faso, the next you hear he’s been sacked. We need to have patience,” he stressed.
Bonsu pointed out that Asante Kotoko needs an academy and proper scouting to regain its lost glory on the domestic and continental fronts. Without these, he argued that players will just come and go, and the club will not have a sustainable system in place. He urged those managing the club to be patient and give management enough time to run the club.
“We have to do proper scouting and get an academy. If we don’t have an academy all the players will just come and go. So we need to have a system but unfortunately, we are not prepared to wait for the system. We need to build and have patience and give management time to run the club,” he said.