The Management of Asante Kotoko has settled on augmenting the club’s technical bench with club legend Malik Jabir.
Jabir, after stints with Bechem United in recent seasons, returned to the porcupine club in the capacity of a Youth Development Manager, according to ghonetv sources.
But with the current struggles of the record league winners in which they have gone winless in four straight games of the ongoing Ghana Premier League, the under-pressure Opoku Nti-led management team is digging deep for an experienced brain to help stabilize matters.
This, ghonetv.com is informed, led to the need to tap the expertise of Malik Jabir who has served the club in all capacities. The 71-year-old featured for Asante Kotoko during his hay days as a striker before going ahead to coach the side in the early 2000s and has also worked as an administrator.
“We are not now hiring Mr. Malik Jabir. He has been with the club since the beginning of the season. As part of the requirements of the club licensing programme, every club is to have a Youth Development Manager and that is what we engaged him for,” a management source explained.
The source added: “He [Malik Jabir] also doubled as one of the technical brains monitoring opponents for us this season.
“We all know his rich experience as far as the game and terrain is concerned so more or less, what we intend doing for the rest of the season is what you can term some internal restructuring. We are seeking approval to have him join acting head coach Michael Osei and his assistant Godwin Ablordey in the senior team.”
It has also been rumoured that the club has made contact with German-Turkish trainer Can Vanli who had a brief stint with rivals Accra Hearts of Oak last season but the source debunked the claims.
“Ignore talks of employing foreign hands at the moment. Kotoko is not out looking for any foreign technical director. If we are to strengthen our bench, it is this restructuring that we would likely do.
Asante Kotoko began the season poorly and at a time placed bottom of the 2015/16 league log. The positioning led to their parting ways with Coach Duncan. His assistant Michael Osei was subsequently handed an interim role. The club’s fortunes sharply improved but has taken a nosedive since the second round of the league began. Kotoko, who were closely chasing for the top spot have now dropped to fifth position with 8 games to end the season.
Credit: ghonetv.com