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Former Asante Kotoko star Eric Bekoe has said that he will want to follow the footsteps of some former Porcupines who returned to coach the team.

The 35-year-old is the head coach of division two league club Nsawkawman FC after acquiring his License D certificate.

Bekoe reveals that his ultimate target is to coach his former club, Kotoko in the the coming years, by which time he would have attained the coaching Lincence A.

“The way the legendary Maxwell Konadu, coach Zito and the rest had the opportunity to handle the team, I also pray I get the same opportunity to handle the team. To serve on the pitch and to serve from the touchline will be a great achievement for me,” he said in an interview with Original FM in Accra. 

Bekoe first came to prominence on the local scene when he starred for Asante Kotoko in the 2007/2008 Ghana premier league when he was signed from Hearts of Lions to the Garden City.

His first coaching assignment began on Wednesday, July 8 2021 after he was appointed head coach of the U-13 side of the Shama District Football Association before accepting the Nsawkawman FC offer.In the season 2007/08, with a total of 17 goals in 23 matches, the 34-year-old was crowned the top scorer of the Premier League and also won the league with Kotoko as well as the Presidents Cup in the same year.

He played for Ghanaian clubs like Sekondi Hasaacas, Liberty Professionals, Hearts of Lions, Asante Kotoko and Berekum Chelsea as well as Petrojet in Egypt.

Struggling Ghana Premier League side, King Faisal has appointed Serbian tactician, Bozovic Branko as their new head coach until end of the season, Footydreamsgh can confirm.

The UEFA licence A holder takes over from assistant coach Abubakar Fatawu, who sat in for the departed Amadu Nurudeen.

Nurudeen left his role as head coach when King Faisal conceded their six consecutive defeat to Elmina (1-0) in the Ghana Premier League match day 24.

The 52-year old gaffer arrived in Kumasi in the early hours of Thursday and will the team throughout the remaining nine games left to climax the 2021/2022 season.

His last job was with Inner Mongolia Caoshangfei in the Chinese third-tier League.

King Faisal sit 14th on the league table with 29 points after 25 games after losing their 7th consecutive games against Accra Lions on Sunday at the Baba Yara Stadium.

Former Black Stars captain, Asamoah Gyan’s dreams and desire to play for his childhood club, Asante Kotoko before he retires from football is still in sight.

The 36-year-old made a return to the local topflight prior to the start of the 2020/21 season. Gyan was linked to the Porcupines. But he ended up signing for Legon Cities on a one-year deal.

The former Sunderland and Kayseriespor forward struggled to live up to expectations due to consistent injuries. The country’s all-time top goalscorer made just seven appearances for the Royals in all competitions.

Currently without a club and looking to get back in shape, Gyan said he hopes to play for Kotoko before he hangs his boots.

“International, I don’t know but locally, yes, that one I am sure about that,” Gyan said in an interview with Joy FM/TV on Monday morning.

“If I want to play, I’ve to play locally” Gyan was asked which club he would feature for between Hearts and Liberty should he decide to return to the pitch, he emphatically mentioned “Kotoko” and questioned the interviewer on why he skipped Kotoko from her question.

“I am a huge Kotoko fan but Accra Hearts of Oak for all these years I was born in Accra so I admire them from afar, some of the players I played with play for Hearts of Oak who are my friends. I can never disrespect Accra Hearts of Oak but I am a huge Kotoko fan but it doesn’t mean if I see Hearts of Oak I should be hating, It’s a no no. They are a huge club but I’ve got my team that I support which is Kotoko and I will play for them”

It’s been reported that Gyan and the management of Kotoko are in talks for a possible move next season. 

Former Asante Kotoko striker Eric Bekoe is disappointed no locally based Ghanaian striker was successful at equalling or breaking his 13-year-old Ghana Premier League goals record.

It was Kotoko’s Cameroonian import Franck Etouga Mbella, who equalled Bekoe’s 17 goals record, when he struck from the penalty spot in the Porcupines’ 1-2 defeat at RTU in a GPL match-day 25 fixture on Sunday.

Etouga Mbella is now 5 goals ahead of his closest contender for the Top Scorer Award, Aduana Stars forward Bright Adjei. AshantiGold and Bechem United attackers Yaw Annor and Augustine Okrah are tied on 11 goals apiece in the Goal-King race, with 9 matches to end the season.

“I’m so disappointed at our local strikers. It’s so appalling that we couldn’t get a local striker to equal my record but a foreigner. It’s a great achievement for Kotoko and Mbella. As a country, we are running out of natural box to box strikers.” Bekoe told Accra based Original FM.

Bekoe, an ex-Heart of Lions and Petrojet striker, won the Top Scorer accolade in the 2007/08 GPL season with 17 goals after beating off competition from Dominic Adiyiah and David Anars, who finished joint-second with 13 goals.

Before I’m accused of celebrating (I don’t believe there’s anything to celebrate), note that I derive no joy from ex-Asante Kotoko striker, Eric Bekoe’s league-goal record being equaled and very likely to be broken by Cameroonian, Frank Etuoga Mbella.

Ours is at times an illiterate, ignorant society, where people can impute wrongdoing anyhow without understanding the issue on board. So, this clarity is important. Having had the privilege to work or write for Kotoko half my entire life, developments such as the subject of this piece, evoke memories and also nudge me to write.

In the 2007/08 season, when Bekoe thrilled us with superb goals in and outside the Ghana Premier League (GPL), scoring 42 goals; 17 in 24 league appearances; I didn’t believe a Kotoko player will emerge to unseat him. I’m neither naïve nor negative.

Given how long it’d taken before Bekoe emerged to script his amazing goal notes, it was only fair and assumptive to think that, we would wait a decade more for another Eric Bekoe. Alex Asamoah attempted Bekoe’s feat the following season. He was only a goal away from 17. Besides, he wasn’t impressive as Bekoe so he didn’t grab news headlines. 

Before Bekoe, Thomas Boakye alias “Zion Train” was Kotoko and the GPL’s top scorer in the 1990/91 season. Prince Adu Poku had 12 goals as Kotoko’s top scorer, not the league’s lead scorer in the 1997/98 season. It would be a near two-decade interval before a Kotoko striker wears the goal king crown – Eric Bekoe. 

After Alex Asamoah’s 16 goals in the 2008/09 season, Nathaniel Asamoah (11); Amed Toure (12) and Dauda Mohammed (9) tried to win the goal king crown as Kotoko players. They couldn’t. Cameroonian striker, Frank E. Mbella with 17 goals, is on course to be goal king — 13 years since a Kotoko player last won it. 

My interest now isn’t why it’s taken us that long not to produce a likely goal king. My objective is to highlight Mbella’s fine effort and why he shouldn’t look back. He’s got to score more. If Mbella has presently equalled Bekoe’s record, needless to say, he’ll surely break it considering the frequency of his goals especially in Kumasi. 

Mbella must keep scoring, ultimately aid Kotoko’s possible title triumph and probably shatter Hearts of Oak’s Ishmael Addo’s 21-year-old record of 22 GPL goals. Goal king records in our league especially in the late 50s and throughout the 60s and even 80s are hard to find if not unavailable. 

Veteran sports journalist, Ken Bediako’s book, Complete History of Ghana League, 1958-2012, however provides credible information on goal kings for as many as 23 seasons. Looking closely at that data and Mbella’s numbers, it’s safe to say that, he’s rightly on track to write his name in the GPL’s Golden Goal King Colours. He should. He must. 

By Jerome Otchere