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Hearts of Oak legend Charles Taylor has called on the hierarchy of the club to tie Samuel Boadu to a 10-year contract in order to rebuild the club.

The former Medeama gaffer has come under intense pressure in the ongoing campaign despite winning the Ghana Premier League title last season.

Speaking on Angel TV, the former Hearts of Oka midfielder has called on the leadership of the club not to sack Samuel Boadu.

“Hearts of Oak should not touch Samuel Boadu. They should rather make another Jones Attuquayefio out of him”

“He should be backed and given a 10-year contract to rebuild the club. He has shown what he can do given the needed support” he added.

Boadu, who joined the Phobians second halve of the domestic top-flight last season won the title for the first time in about 10-years for the club.

With 9 matches to go, the reigning the Ghana Premier League champions is likely to lose the title to sworn rivals Kotoko considering the points gap.

Kotoko sit top with 52 points whereas Hearts of Oak occupies 6th position with 37 points after 25 matches.

Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah has revealed he has been offered a new contract by the Gunners.

Nketiha’s contract with Arsenal is set to expire at the end of the current season and the England international says he has decided to delay the new deal.

“There have been offers of a new contract but at the moment my aim is to play football and play regularly. That’s my ambition and that’s what I hope to do but at the same time I’m at Arsenal, I love Arsenal,” Nketiah explained on the Beautiful Game Podcast.

Focus

“I’m just trying to focus on the season until May and make sure I finish that in a good way and then sit down and see what I think is the best opportunity to allow me to take those steps and develop,” Nketiah continued.

“I feel like I’m at the stage where I’ve signed a contract for five years when I was 18 and in that five years, how many starts have I had here? I went on loan for six months and been here for the rest and I have probably started about 30 games maybe in all competitions.”

“I see players my age that I’ve played with and they kick on and it’s like ‘what’s the difference between someone I was playing with at England Under-21s?’.”

“I was the captain and they’re doing more. It’s not even a thing of looking at them and hating them, I’m happy for them, but how did they get to the point where they are feeling confident and it’s through playing those games and having that experience.”

Next step

“For me to take the next step and get to where I think I can get to I obviously need to consider getting more minutes.”

Fellow striker Alexander Lacazette could is also set to become a free agent this summer.

Cash-strapped Ghana Premier League club, Real Tamale United are racing against time to raise GHC 40,000 to honour their match-day 26 fixture at Elmina Sharks on Sunday.

The amount forms part of the Tamale based club’s 2-day budget to rent a bus for the trip to Elmina on Friday and ensure players and officials secure hotel accommodation in the Central Region.

The relegation threatened club does not own a team bus, which makes it mandatory for management to spend a minimum GHC 10,000 to rent buses to honour away games.

CEO Kassim Perez was recently forced to collateralize his personal land to raise funds to rent a bus for the club.

RTU’s financial woes has also affected the payment of salaries. Coach Shaibu Tanko and his Technical Team are still owed 3 months unpaid salaries, even after masterminding the 2-1 win over Asante Kotoko in Tamale last Sunday.

Prior to the start of the GPL, RTU’s management presented a budget of GHC 2m to the Club President Ibrahim Mahama, Board Chairman Dr. Abdul Nashiru Issahaku and Club Patron, the Northern Regional Minister Hon. Shani Alhassan Shaibu.

But, the club’s leadership could only raise GHC 400,000 to pay arrears of players and officials.

RTU is sitting in 15th, one spot above the drop zone on the GPL log sheet, with 28 points from 25 games.

The CID Boss of the Ghana Police Service, Ken Yeboah has revealed that no investigations have been done about the AshantiGold versus Inter Allies match-fixing scandal that rocked the Ghana Premier League last season.

It would be recalled that the Ghana Football Association charged Ashanti Gold and Inter Allies on multiple accounts of match manipulation after the teams were alleged to have fixed their Ghana Premier League matchday 34 encounter last season.

The Ghana FA revealed that both teams were being investigated by the Ghana police.

But according to Ken Yeboah, the hierarchy of the football governing failed to appear with an official complaint after visiting the security service to make a verbal complaint.

He disclosed that the FA’s contingent we’re tasked to submit a written statement to make it formal but they have failed to turn up since they last visited.

“NO investigation has been done on the matter. “The GFA only came to our HQ to report on an alleged match-fixing in their league, ” CID Boss Ken Yeboah told Angel FM Sports.

“We told them we are ready to pick it up since it’s a criminal offence in their regulations but we asked that they write an official statement detailing clubs involved etc. They told us they’ll come back with the statement..”

“We never heard from them again till today. We had been waiting to hear from them since they left our office after the verbal complaint. All we heard was that they had started another league season. They didn’t submit any report and there’s no way we could commence investigations.”

The fateful match saw Ashanti Gold run away with a 7-0 win involving two own goals, with viral post-match footage on social media showing what were described as “cheap goals”.
Later, Inter Allies defender Hashmin Musah, who came into the game as a second-half substitute and netted two own goals, confessed to deliberately putting the ball behind his own goalkeeper with intentions of foiling what he suspected was a standing, fixed 5-0 scoreline.

“Our football has been attacked by faceless cowards. It is my responsibility and that of the Executive Council to defend the passion of the nation,” GFA boss Okraku remarked on the subject last month.

“Everybody who has played a part [in match-fixing relating to betting] will face it.

“We will clean our sport and bring confidence to a sport that feeds me and all of us, a sport that gives hope and spiration to the entire 30 million people of this country.

“If you are here and you know that you played a part, just be ready.”

Allies were already confirmed relegated before the said game, while Ashanti Gold ultimately finished ninth on the table.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has removed the Baba Yara stadium from the list of approved stadiums for Senior Category “A” matches.

This was contained in a letter signed by CAF Development Officer Raul Chipenda and addressed to the General Secretary of the Ghana Football, Association Prosper Harrison Addo, Esq.

‘’Following the one match approval given by CAF for the use of Baba Yara Sports Stadium (Kumasi) in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 African qualifiers playoff round matches under the condition that specific points were to be corrected in the stadium, based on the report received from the CAF inspector that was onsite, we regret to inform you that the improvements made are still not up to the standards required by CAF to host Senior International A matches. Unfortunately, the level of implementation of all the CAF remarks in the stadium were not satisfactory, including the quality of the equipment’s and materials used in the different functional areas in the stadium. As a result of the reported situation, we have taken the following decision:

• Formal prohibition is made to use the Baba Yara Sports Stadium (Kumasi) in all CAF/FIFA Senior international A matches. The stadium is automatically removed from the list of CAF approved stadiums and will only be approved for any subsequent CAF/FIFA international senior national teams matches and CAF Men’s inter-clubs competitions following the implementation of all the CAF remarks”.

CAF provided the Ghana with their comments and remarks to be addressed in the coming period by the stadium management.

CAF further stated that the stadium authorities should consider initiating a complete renovation and refurbishment work in order to ensure that the stadium is approved in the future for CAF competitions. We recommend that the renovation plan is based on modern architecture, contemporary design, and high-quality equipment and materials with a clear project plan and specific timelines in the off-field areas pointed out.

CAF further stated that Ghana should note that in accordance with the CAF Stadium inspection and approval procedure, before a stadium can be re-approved, all the comments and remarks must be strictly respected and implemented and a follow up re-inspection covered by your Association MUST be done by CAF in order to reassess the stadium compliance.

“For guidance, the attached “CAF Stadium Requirements” is a comprehensive document that includes the needs of a stadium and sets out the minimum requirements to fulfill in order for a stadium to be homologated by CAF. Once again, we emphasise that quality stadiums are fundamental for the development and progress of African football, hence the regulations and its requirements compliance will be implemented strictly by CAF. We nevertheless encourage you to initiate the renovation program and the acquisition of all the stadium equipment in accordance with CAF’s remarks’’ the letter read.

Copies of the letter has since been sent to the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS) and the National Sports Authority (NSA) as the parties seek to work together to ensure that the off-the-pitch issues raised by CAF are resolved quickly for the Baba Yara Sports Stadium to be relisted on the CAF list of approved stadiums for Senior Category A matches.

The Kumasi Baba Yara Sports stadium in Kumasi was granted a “one” match Conditional Approval Licence by CAF and FIFA for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 playoff tie against Nigeria on Friday, March 25, 2022.

GFA COMMUNICATIONS

Ghanaian legend Asamoah Gyan has revealed he might contest the presidential role of the Ghana football association someday.

Speaking in an interview with Accra based Asaase radio on Tuesday morning, the former Sunderland and Al Ain striker revealed that he might consider contesting to lead the Ghana football association even though he hasn’t thought of it now.

“I don’t know. It might be possible. I haven’t thought about it. There are a lot of people who call me and tell me that I can be the FA President one day,” he said on Accra-based Asaase Radio.

“It’s something I haven’t thought about but it might get to a time when I might pick a thought that the people are choosing me”

“I don’t think Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba ever thought that they would go for the presidency. It got to a time where they realized that they could,” Gyan added.

Former Barcelona and striker, Samuel Eto’o was elected the Cameroonian FA president last year and Ex-Chelsea forward, Didier Drogba was also recently cleared to contest the elections for the Ivorian Football Federation presidency.