‘Have faith in new Hearts coach’
A Board member of Accra Hearts of Oak, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe, has appealed to "real fans" of the club to give their newly appointed coach, Kenichi Yatsuhashi, a chance as the Japanese-American begins a one-year tenure with the Phobians.
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According to Dr Nyaho- Tamakloe, he was not worried about the perceived poor coaching credentials of Yatsuhashi because Ghana's football history is littered with many coaches from obscure backgrounds who achieved success after being appointed to high-profile jobs.
In an interview with the Graphic Sports last Monday, Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe backed Coach Yatsuhashi to succeed, citing the exploits of former Black Stars coaches, Ratomir Djukovic and Milovan Rajevac, as well as former Hearts coach, P.E. Cobbina, who is credited with grooming the legendary Hearts team of the 1980s, dubbed the Musical Youth.
"This is a unanimous decision taken by the board. Before we fell on Kenichi we had a 15-man shortlist which was reduced to three — Ernst Middendorp, Tom Strand and Kenichi Yatsuhashi.
"Middendorp has been here before and knows the terrain but he was ruled-out because of his age. We have a young team and we were looking for a young coach who could keep-up with them and work on their physical fitness”.
Dr Nyaho-Tamakloe further disclosed that the Hearts Board decided to unanimously hand Yatsuhashi a US$ 1,800 a month renewable deal after missing out on Medeama's Swedish coach, Strand.
"Our main target was Strand, but we pulled-out because the financial demands of his club were unrealistic. We then settled on Kenichi and we found nothing wrong with his credentials.
"All real fans of Hearts will back Kenichi, it is important to allow him to work before criticising afterwards."
Dr Tamakloe stated he was disappointed with the outbursts from utopians in the Hearts fraternity who were expecting a coach who had once coached Manchester United or Arsenal.
"Where he comes from in America, they don't care about certificates and papers, it is the experience and the practical side that matter. If he was useless, he wouldn't have been able to survive. There are coaches who are good on paper but struggle to get good results.
"There are utopians who criticise everything and contribute little to the club. When I was chairman of the FA and I brought in Djukovic there were a lot of critics but they became silent when he started winning games and qualified Ghana to the 2006 World Cup," Dr Nyaho- Tamakloe pointed out.
