Hearts Of Oak Respond To Report Of Struggling To Bring In Top Stars

Hearts of Oak

Hearts of Oak



Ghanaian giants Accra Hearts of Oak have written to GHANAsoccernet.com to react to our report that they are struggling to attract top players to the team ahead of the start of the new season.

Below is the full response article written by Accra of Hearts of Oak:

The Management of Accra Hearts Of Oak SC has read your story headlined as above and wishes to make the following comments:

At the end of the last Premier League season, our Manager, David Duncan, presented his Technical report, which included, amongst other things, his recommendations for recruitment for the 2013/2014 League season.

After a thorough discussion with our Sub-Committee on Recruitment and Transfers, with particular consideration for the areas of the most critical need, the Club settled on the number of players we would be pursuing and the positions to be filled included a goalkeeper and two strikers.

We have since secured the services of some of our targeted recruitments and are working hard in pursuit of the remaining ones. Players we have, so far, recruited are Kweku Andoh [Defender from Berekum Chelsea], Selassie Adjei [Striker from Amidaus] and Emmanuel Hayford [Midfielder from Amidaus]. And we are far advanced in our search for another Striker and a Goalkeeper.

On the various names mentioned in your article, we do confirm that quite a number of them came up in our internal discussions, but in the long run, the club settled on those we were going to pursue. As is the case with recruitment the world over, a club, having decided on areas to be strengthened, would approach a wider range of options with the hope of securing talents to fill the necessary slots. And so it was that Hearts of Oak approached a number of clubs for their players. We also engaged in discussions with other players who were not officially attached to clubs for their services.

 
As our fans may have gotten to know by now, the Management of Aduana Football Club met our request for their players with an emphatic gesture of refusal, writing back to indicate that the players in question were not for sale. Other targets who we engaged with had other plans already worked out and were therefore not available.

 
Clearly therefore, the impression that your article sought to create about Hearts of Oak purportedly struggling to land our recruitment targets because of lack of funding was totally incorrect! Over the past two seasons alone, we have spent a little over 15 billion old cedis [1.5 million Ghana cedis] for recruitment purposes! That certainly doesn’t support the suggestion that we are averse to spending on players.

 
Goalkeeper Foli Adade is the only player, so far, who commenced negotiations with us and ended up not signing and one such disappointment in the main transfer season is not unusual, albeit unfortunate. In the area of Goalkeeping, therefore, we are still in the hunt to secure an equally reliable goalkeeper, whilst continuing to work with our registered Goalkeepers for enhanced output in the coming season.

We wish to assure our millions of fans that Management of Hearts of Oak is as eager as they area to see our club winning major laurels again and getting back into the elite of African Football. We continue to work on all aspects of our club with the goal of building one of the most successful Sporting Clubs on the African continent. As we lay our foundations today, we are very positive about a bright future and continue to welcome constructive suggestions from all Phobians.

We urge all our supporters to rally behind the team as we get set to launch another onslaught on the Ghana Premier League and FA Cup in the upcoming season. We are confident in the ability of our Manager, Mr. David Duncan, our Technical Team and Players, to chalk resounding achievements this season and assure our teeming fans of our commitment to Restoring the Glory of Glorious Accra Hearts of Oak! We never say die!

Signed: MUHEEB SAEED
(P.R.O, Accra Hearts of Oak Sc LTD)

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