Kumasi Asante Kotoko chief Dr K.K. Sarpong has pledged his full support for the club’s coach Didi Dramani despite popular uprising by the Red Army fans against the coach.
Fans of the defending league champions are calling for the coach’s head after failing to guide them to scale the JSM Bejaia hurdle at the Kumasi Stadium last Sunday.
However, Dr Sarpong said Didi Dramani remains his head trainer and he will give the coach his full support.
‘Didi has my full support, he is my coach for now. We have a contract with him, I want to be the professional that I am. There are other targets apart from making it in the Champions League in the contract,’ Dr Sarpong said on Oman FM a few days ago.
He added, ‘I don’t want to repeat what happened in the Hans Deiter Schmit era, where the club had to dole out huge sums of money as a result of the club’s failure to keep its part of the contract. I want to respect the contract.
‘Since the man came in, he has lost just two games, and so we should be patient. What happened on Sunday is lost and we can’t recover it.
‘The pain that they are going through, mine is not less. Some of the fans have forgotten so soon how bad the situation was when I joined the team. It’s not been too bad.
‘I have already accepted the blame. I apologise on behalf of management for the Champions League exit. Fans should forgive us and continue to support us.
‘I have been able to bring on board about eleven sponsors, and it is a legacy I want to leave so that my successor wouldn’t have to struggle monetarily.’
By Kofi Owusu Aduonum