What's a Ghana Premier League season without guff and quotable quotes?

Unthinkable.

This past season, which finised on Sunday, did not start without controversy.

A court action by King Faisal forced the late commencement of the league by almost five months.

The legal drama was not enough as the season had to go through its fair share of rather interesting highlights. Find out how eroticism affects football in this country in this Joy Sports wrap on the most memorable quotes from this season.

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Players are rarely blamed for the poor performance of teams and this is not unique to Ghana. Coaches are usually the first victims in a club’s quest for positive results after a string of disappointing runs. Just two months into the new season, a hero had become a villain. After leading Kotoko to two back-to-back league titles and an FA cup trophy, this was the message to Mas-ud Didi Dramani from the club.

“We have parted company with Didi by mutual consent. It is a tough decision but the two parties believe it’s best for us. We wish coach Dramani well in future endeavours” - Kwaku Ahenkorah, Kotoko Communications Manager (March 2015)

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The situation was not different at Didi’s former employer, Hearts of Oak. Kotoko’s arch-rivals were going through their own crisis on the field and in the club’s board room. For the first time this century, Hearts lost to visiting Hasaacas in Accra leaving the club in the twelfth position. This angered a lot of fans who reached out to the media to express their dissatisfaction. According to some fans, Addo was rather focused on winning big in the lottery than on the field. Herbert was sacked just seven days after that.

“We always see Herbert Addo holding a pen and looking through papers but as opposed to our initial thought that he was seeking new formations and tactics to avert the team’s poor form, he was rather working lotto plans.” - Anonymous fan (July 2015)

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Speaking of the media and coaches, who can forget Coach Bashir Hayford’s attack on sports journalists? The media provides a platform for diverging ideas to be heard and, sometimes, these opinions might not be in good taste for some people. That is somewhat natural and pretty much understandable. However for Bash, the media bashing was enough (pun intended). He was tired of playing nice to journalists who criticised him - with one even calling for his outright sacking.

“Majority of the sports journalists in the country don’t respect at all. Some of us were given good training at home...so for me when you do that, I will catch in a corner and beat you.” - Bashir Hayford, AshGold coach (June 2015)

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Bashir Hayford has since then led his players to successfully “fight” for Ashanti Gold’s first league title in 19 years.

Anyway, AshantiGold won the league on the second to last match day with 52 points. This season’s league has been strong, competitive and interesting. So competitive that it was still unclear the teams who would be make up the relegation party until the end of the last match day.

Hang on. Did we just say competitive?

The agent of Black Stars boss Avram Grant does not think so. Saif Rubie’s interview with the BBC began with questions about why Grant had not been seen in Ghana for over two months.

Of course, Grant was not holidaying, he was out there in Europe scouting for the next Black Star. But shouldn’t Grant be scouting for that star right here in Ghana as well? According to Rubie, there was no need since the league did not churn out quality players anyway. This caused a huge uproar in the local media, who don't really like the guy anyway. All this forced the Ghana Football Association to issue a strong worded statement that sent Saif Rubie hiding in the hole he came from much to the delight of Ghana’s antagonistic media. This really is a classic case of “the enemy’s enemy shall be my friend” since the media and the GFA are not necessarily the best of buddies.  

“Mr Rubie is far remote from the issues at hand and we would appreciate it if he steers clear from issues he doesn’t understand or has knowledge of...Now that Mr Grant is an employee of the GFA, we will deal directly with him if there any issues. We believe we can amicably solve any differences if they arise.” - GFA (August 2015)

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Moral of the story?

Dear Avram Grant, don’t stay too long on your scouting escapades. One feeling Grant however knows very well is being second; not good enough to be first. In 2008, he led Chelsea to second place at the Champions League final, losing on penalties. He lost the AFCON final in similar fashion to the Ivory Coast earlier this year.

Asante Kotoko’s coach David Duncan can relate, too. He has not won a 'major' trophy in his coaching career.

To David Duncan, the SWAG Cup and other invitationals are major and his inability to win the league title nor FA Cup despite coming very close does not interrupt his slumber. But you and I know that those titles don’t really count. He was unable to lead Kotoko to the title defence of the league and then the FA Cup where he lost 2-1 in the final to Medeama. For Duncan, the drought does not really bother him.

“I lose no sleep when people talk about the facts that I haven’t won the league. If you go back into your archives or annals and find the types of cups I have won, [they are] the type of cups that no quarter is asked for and no quarter is given.” - David Duncan, Kotoko coach (July 2015)

Perhaps, the reason why Duncan has not been able to win anything with Kotoko this season is because his players’ attentions are somewhere else. According to the GFA’s Status Committee member, Kofi Manu, these players are interested in the erotic. How apt it was, that this information was disclosed by a man whose nickname is “Blue Blue.”

"These players do not sleep. I tell you all the time, they don't sleep...The fact that they are in bed does not mean they sleep...They spend their nights making calls, browsing the web and watching porno!" - Kofi Manu; GFA Status Committee member (April 2015)

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Results in football in many parts of the world almost always have a third party perceived to be involved in and it is very rare that this third hand is not the referee.

The poster boy of complaints about referees worldwide is Mourinho and it appears in Ghana, we have found ours in a certain Yakubu. The President of New Edubiase; Abdul Salam Yakubu launched a scathing ethnic attack on a particular group of referees claiming there was a conspiracy against his club.

"All my team’s matches have been officiated by Accra and Ewe refs… Everyone is against us… [I do] not need referees from the Volta and Greater Accra regions for the rest of my games." - Abdul Salam Yakubu, Edubiase President (August 2015)

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There was late drama 12 days to the end of the season. How would the country’s football be like without the antics of Hearts and Kotoko? It is almost unimaginable. After Kotoko had managed to revive their hopes of staying in the league, they were hit with the ultimate quote of the season. Before September 1st, they had won four out of their last five, drawn once and were in third place. By dusk on September 1, they had dropped to 15th after the Phobians had filed a protest against them for using Obed Owusu; claiming Owusu was unqualified to have played the game they [Hearts] had lost 2-1 when the two sides met in Accra. The Disciplinary Committee upheld the claim much to the disdain of Kotoko. The decision very much changed how the league will eventually end with Hearts who were headed for relegation given a lifeline.

“Accordingly, Hearts of Oak is awarded three points and three goals in respect of its match played against Kumasi Asante Kotoko. Three points and three goals are also deducted from the total accumulated points of Kotoko. A fine of GHC 5,000 is to be paid by Kumasi Asante Kotoko, half of which is to go to Hearts of Oak.” - Ghana Football Association. (September 2015)

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So the season has ended, we will take stock of how events turned out; the positives and the negatives. Of course it is not a perfect league [perhaps Saif Rubie’s point] with one of its problems being the lack of attendance.

Globalization has made it possible for many to watch - and follow religiously - football from other parts of the world especially in Europe.

One plan proposed by the GFA’s spokesperson, Sannie Darra is a ban on foreign football shown on local television. People who watch foreign football do not watch it on free-to-air media any way so that certainly is a no brainer.

But Daara's boss has a much better plan.

From next season, grumpy old men with a nostalgia for the past will not be the only people at our stadiums. The GFA President, Kwesi Nyantakyi, believes that renting sexy girls to our stadiums is the cure to getting more men to the stadium.

“I have said this thing over and over again. We must let sexy ladies  enter our stadia and the men will readily follow them into the stadium to watch games. Most of these men [will] hear that beautiful girls are coming to the stadium today, [and] jump and follow them to the stadium.” - Kwesi Nyantakyi (September 2015)

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What about women? Shouldn’t we also get handsome men to incentivise them to go to the stadium? The point is to get people to go to the stadiums to watch football but if they are going for other reasons, wouldn’t that be a deviation to solving the problem?

No matter.

The winners of this year’s competition, Ashanti Gold have an twelfth man on the field whenever they play in the club’s CEO, Kudjoe Fianoo. 

The 62-year old has been at helm of administrative affairs for AshGold for a decade and has safely delivered the much sought after title to the club after 19 years of searching.

The 'Champion Chairman', as he has now been christened by the club’s fans, believes the time has come for him to bow out. He is leaving AshGold modestly when the applause is loudest and it would take a lot to convince him to reconsider his decision to resign.  

“Ten solid years. What I needed to do; I feel like I have done it. I want to leave Ashanti Gold on a high and I have delivered the league title. If I had not won the title, I would not have left.” - Kudjoe Fianoo, Chairman of AshGold (September 2015)

These quotes put into perspective the major happenings of the season from the kickoff until the end. You'll be sure there'll be more sensational stuff next season.

See you then!

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Get more league reviews

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* Joy Sports Season Review: Top 10 flops
* Survival Sunday: Olympics, Lions relegated as Kotoko ensure safety

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