Saturday’s Toyota Cup brought a familiar feeling to Kotoko fans.
Twenty-four years ago, they faced the same opponents, Kaiser Chiefs, at the same venue in Durban.
That game, too, like Saturday’s, was decided on penalty shootouts.
That shootout, like Saturday’s, ended with a 3-2 score.
This time, however, the Porcupine Warriors won it after Mohammed Camara made four saves during the shootouts.
The image of Karim Zito lifting another trophy is familiar too.
Perhaps not as enduring as the MTN FA Cup win in June. In addition to the President’s Cup, that is the third trophy Zito has won since arriving in May.
Two weeks ago, Zito signed a two-year contract as head coach.
There was no mention of his earlier role as Technical Director but that is not his fault.
Clarity or not, Zito knows the club’s hierarchy and the power blocks well enough to do his job without a spanner in the works.
Scouting and recruitment
Zito’s absolute authority has already been felt in the club’s recruitment.
At his first press conference, Zito indicated that he wanted a bigger coaching staff. He asked for two more assistants. Before the season ended, Kotoko hired Amos Frimpong, a former right back who won the FA Cup in 2017 as captain of the club.
A month later, Hamza Obeng, who had previously served as assistant coach of Hearts of Oak, joined from Vision F.C. On the pitch, eight new players have been signed to replace the eight players who left the club in June.
Critics will point to the high player turnover, but it is a situation Zito inherited. What Zito can and must do is to change the club’s recruitment culture.
The practice of terminating player contracts only a year after signing them is not only reckless, but ultimately counter-productive. At the moment, there is no consequence for that. That needs to change.
If coaches are asked to present a clear development plan with key performance indicators for each proposed signing, it would be easier to determine whether or not a player deserves a contract extension or otherwise when they are signed.
And before they are signed, a similar profile assessment will help in explaining why player A fits the needs of the team better than player B. That way, coaches cannot recommend the termination of player contracts without just cause.
It may seem simplistic, idealistic even, but it is a more objective way of recruiting players and evaluating player contracts.
Club culture
Justice Blay’s ill-advised outburst was a timely reminder of what needs to change at Ghanaian clubs.
His counter accusation of alcoholism and substance abuse, while unacceptable, was hardly surprising.
Ghana has a big problem with substance abuse, and football is no exception.
The journalists you read from, the doctors who treat you, the lawyers who argue your case in court, the food vendors you buy from, and your musicians and actors are hooked on cigarettes, pethidine, weed, alcohol, tramadol, and worse. These days, they do not even go to the “ghettos” for these substances. They are laced into the smoothies, cakes, shito, and any edible you buy.
These days, you must specify that you do not want an infused drink when you are buying a smoothie or a cake. That is the reality of today’s world. The footballers we watch are from the same communities as these lawyers.
That is why football clubs need to roll out policies that ensure that their players are not taking performance-enhancing drugs.
It starts with inserting clauses that require players to pass periodic anti-doping tests. Failing such tests should trigger automatic termination of the contract. If players realize that there are consequences for taking prohibited substances, they will avoid them.
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