Bash pens down Lucky 35

Correspondent: Jerome Otchere, Oseikrom

18th August 2007

The names of the thirty-five players who will represent Kumasi Asante Kotoko both on the local and international scenes next season are expected to be released in a few days time. Coach Bashir Hayford announced two months ago that he would like to work with thirty-five players out of about sixty.

Since April when the recruitment exercise started a number of players including foreign nationals have been training at the Ridge Park with the hope of being part of the squad that has nicely been christened the ‘lucky thirty-five’.

Although Coach Bashir Hayford recently altered his initial position somewhat by disclosing that he would start the league with twenty-three players before adding the remaining twelve, management in a sharp reaction directed him to rescind his decision since the rules binding player registration for the league would not give him that luxury.

But while there is absolute certainty about the number of players that will be selected nobody apart from the coach and members of the technical bench can tell which players will be part of the squad. Some radio stations especially in Accra have started mentioning some names alleging that those players will definitely be part of the final squad.

In an interview with the Kotoko Express on Wednesday, Operations Director Jerry Asare said management had asked the Coach Bash to submit his list and that he was likely to do that at yesterday’s management meeting. The said meeting had not started at the time of going to press. However, the Kotoko Express can report that if the list was presented to management yesterday, it will surely be made public sooner than later.

Meanwhile observations made by the Kotoko Express at the Ridge Park in Kumasi indicate that all the players are itching to know their fate. Though they were reluctant to speak on the issue, each of them is confident that he will be part of the final squad. Within the teeming supporters, various views continue to be expressed about the number of players Kotoko presently has and the consensus has been that some of the players underperforms apart from not being committed to the course of the club.

To this end, Coach Bashir Hayford has made it clear that he would only pick players who are good and serious. Long before the friendly matches in Sudan as well as the training tour in Germany, Coach Bashir Hayford made it known that his choices would be based on the performance of the players. Just this week the coach reiterated that point by saying that he would only select the best players.

“We are leaving no stone unturned to achieve the right results. We have set our priorities right and we are working hard to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves. Let me add that only the best players will be selected at the end of the day” Coach Bashir Hayford told the Kotoko Express last Sunday.