The Executive Board of Hearts of Oak have responded to former coach Martin Koopman’s allegations of interference in player selections during his spell at the club.
The Dutch gaffer, who was appointed ahead of the 2023/24 season, claims the Hearts board asked him to not use seven players for the team’s matches.
“The board members told me to not use seven players in the squad, Dennis Korsah, Ibrahim Salifu, Suraj Seidu, Richard Attah, among others.
“I refused to adhere to their decision because I saw their training and they trained well,” Koopman said in an interview with Ghanasportspage.
“For a player like Salifu who was the best player in Ghana two seasons ago, how do you say he’s not good and needs to be benched?”
In response to the claims, the Hearts Executive Board, in a press briefing Monday afternoon, has refuted the coach’s claims.
“The Board finds Koopman’s statement very distasteful. The Board has never said to any coach or Koopman that he shouldn’t use the players he mentioned.”
“On Koopman’s player selection allegation, we want to put on record that by the time we played our seventh league match, Koopman had used 28 players except two who were on the injury list.
🔴🟡🔵 || PRESS BRIEFING
The negative comments will not deter us from achieving what we have set for ourselves.
— Hearts Board. pic.twitter.com/F6gIFchzuS
— Phooobia! – #WeNeverSayDie 🏅🏆 (@HeartsOfOakGH) December 4, 2023
“Koopman was solely in charge of player selection in the team. He was given full responsibility.”
“We went in for Koopman because we were looking for a coach with maturity and a coach with experience. He came up on top of the list of coaches before he was hired.
Rene Hiddink
The board continued: “When René (Technical Director) arrived at Hearts he was impressed by the facilities, and said any player who fails to succeed at Hearts would have himself to blame..
“The negative comments will not deter us from achieving what we have set for ourselves.”
The Phobians are yet to appoint a new head coach after three weeks of parting ways with Koopman.
However, Koopman’s assistant Abdul Rahim Bashiru, remains the interim gaffer.
