The Reds chief has outlined to the supporters what is expected of them as they prepare to play their first home game of the season in Kumasi
Asante Kotoko chief executive officer Nana Yaw Amponsah has revealed his excitement to see the club play at Baba Yara Sports Stadium as they prepare to host Bechem United in Ghana Premier League on Sunday.
Following his appointment last year, the club opted to host their home games at the Accra Sports Stadium and later Len Clay Sports Stadium in Obuasi since Baba Yara Sports Stadium was under renovation.
As a result, the club failed to achieve its targets last season. However, they have been given the green light to return home after one year and seven months but it comes with obligations since they can’t allow a full capacity due to the COVID-19 protocols.
“We are all excited about the fact that we are going back to the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. Unfortunately, we have only 25 per cent at the moment but we need to prove to the government that we are capable of maintaining sanity and discipline at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium,” Amponsah said.
“I will urge all of us that even as we are going back to Baba Yara we are only capable of hosting 25 per cent of the capacity of the stadium with 10,000 people out of 40,000 so we should not waste the opportunity to remain at Baba Yara because if we go overboard we will have sanctions from the authorities and may have to move away from our home grounds from Babayara. I think nobody wants that.
“Then again, if we don’t maintain sanity, we don’t observe the protocols of the COVID-19 then we will have the government on our hails and at the end of the day, we will be able to justify that.
“We should be capable of maintaining law and older and therefore many more people to come to the stadium. I will plead with all of you in as much as we want to have all of you there we can’t because even with the full capacity of the stadium is allowed it can only be 40,000 in there and we have millions and millions of supporters.
“I will urge you that if you are not able to be at Baba Yara on Sunday we would prefer that if you able to come then support the team from home and wherever you are so that we can continue to convince the government that we are capable of observing the protocols and maintain good health and they will give us even an increased capacity going forward. So I will like to welcome you all once again to a new season, it going to be exciting,” he added.
Amponsah also shed light on the players and why he believes the core of the team is still intact to achieve something this season.
“We believe very much in this team,” he said.
“For instance, if you look at the old players – those who were there before this season – about 15 of them were all active in the first eleven during last season so it is not as if it’s a completely new team.
“The core of the last season’s team is there and we have introduced it with some qualities as well so we believe that the league is a marathon. We’ve just played one game out of the 34 so there are 33 more matches to go.”