Tuesday, June 29, 2010

EBO MENDS TAKES CHARGE...Promises change at Kotoko (PAGE 31, JUNE 29, 2010)

FORMER Asante Kotoko player, Ebo Mends, was yesterday unveiled as coach of the club and immediately pledged to work assiduously to take the club to a level befitting its image as one of the biggest on the continent.
“It’s time to take Kotoko to that level, and I pledge to work with my team to reach that limit”, he said this just after the Executive Board Chairman, Dr K.K. Sarpong, had introduced him to more than 100 journalists who gathered at the conference room of the Rexmar Hotel.
Ebo Mends, 48, agreed to a two-year deal with the club and, according to Dr Sarpong, both parties are satisfied with the details.
The new coach who was part of the Kotoko 1983 Africa Cup-winning team, played for the club from 1982 to 1985 after which he left for Europe to continue his career.
On retirement from active football, he took a coaching course in Europe and later coached clubs in Ghana, Benin and the United States.
Ebo told the news conference that he was thankful to God, the board and the entire Kotoko family for the honour done him and hoped to impress.
Dr Sarpong told the meeting that Ebo was chosen after a careful screening of the names that came up.
He said the board had a lot of confidence in the coach and called for massive support for him to deliver.
“We expect that management will not interfere in the coach’s work,” he said and cautioned that any management member who did that would not be spared.
He said the briefing the board had gotten from the Interim Management Committee (IMC) of the club revealed that there were enormous challenges ahead of the club.
“We have a long way to go as the fortunes of the club have plummeted,” he said.
That notwithstanding, Dr Sarpong said, there was light at the end of the tunnel as they had started implementing measures that could catapult the club to greater heights.
Dr Sarpong stated that there is a new dawn at Kotoko and that the club was going to be run on professional lines.
“If we have a Kotoko clinic or a Kotoko radio station, there is every indication that they would be patronised, “ he said.
He stated that the board would ensure that the accounts of the club were published annually to ensure transparency.

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