It shocked many when Accra Hearts of Oak skipper Fatawu Mohammed addressed the media and told the world about what happened in the dressing room when Kostadin Papic was the first-team coach
The Phobians are going through a serious crisis following recent bad results, the resignation of almost all the technical team including their head coach Papic and earlier today, supporters besieging the club’s secretariat to demand reconstitution of the board of directors, the appointment of new Chief Executive officer, appointment of Local coach etc
The Board of directors led by Togbe Afede also addressed the public explaining the reason the head coach left his post
According to Dr Nyaho, the players told the board that Papic is their problem and listed some factors.
Fatawu was at the press conference and reiterated what Dr Nyaho had said earlier
According to the captain
“What the boys said about the favouritism is that some feel that they were ready and fit to play the matches that they were not allowed to play. Some also felt that some players return from injury and in no time get selection. So some thought that they work hard yet they are not used by the players.
‘’For example, a player will be out for one or two weeks and upon his return gets called up into the first eleven and so it caused a lot of confusion among the players.
‘’The players started feeling the coach was biased in his selection as it was only his favourite players that got call-ups and this brought division in the team. His style of coaching was not getting us the result as he was fielding favourite players and not ones that were ready and fit to play, also the coach failed to keep a winning team“ Fatawu added.
On one breath the coach was selecting his favourite players even when they are not fit on another breath the coach failed to keep a winning team. This clearly shows he lied.
Regardless, Our checks show, only three (Ben Mensah who is the third-choice goalkeeper, young defender James Sewornu, and Benjamin Nana Yeboah (keeper promoted from Auroras) players who didn’t feature under Papic in the 10 matches he supervised- so it cannot be true that he was doing favouritism
We also think this statement marks an ungrateful player, who has lied to betray the very man who saved his dead career.
Because, Larry Sumaila disputed Fatawu (following supporters constant criticism) from the right-back position after matchday 12 in 2019-2020 truncated league, through to 2020-2021 Ghana Premier League until he got injured before Papic selected you, even when Sumaila recovered, Papic kept faith in you and allowed you to continued to play.
So it is surprising to hear something like this from a captain of a club. The unprofessional attitude of Fatawu is unacceptable and we think his recklessness will go a long way to harm his teammates.
