Jerome Otchere writes: Notes for Coach Ogum to ponder

Ghanasportspage’s report on the Asante Kotoko vs King Faisal match day six fixture caught my fancy. It wasn’t just the headline, “Ogum lays Kotoko Faisal defeat on impatience” that tickled my interest. The lead also held me nicely and led to this piece. 

“Not tensed, not happy but not showing a sad mood, looking straight into the numerous journalists sitting before him and showing no signs of tiredness, Asante Kotoko coach Prosper Ogum Nartey seems to have prepared on the task of satisfying millions of the club’s ever-demanding supporters”.

This colorful opening paragraph by Patricia Adjei Yeboah compelled me to dig out what she was up to with her intro and of course, what Coach Ogum might have said or done. I wasn’t disappointed with my finding.

“I am impressed with the players, we outplayed Faisal, but they scored the goals. Lack of patience cost us” Ogum is quoted as saying in the story. He added that ‘it was exciting watching his players circulate the ball on the field, build attacks from the back and through the middle parts of the field to attack, something he is determined not to abandon, repeating the call [ for fans] to trust the process.’

Coach Ogum has succeeded in walking gently into the hearts of many Kotoko fans not just with results on the field but also with his press interviews. The report captured his composure at the presser quite well. The first note of advice is, he should continue to stay on the path of meaningful media engagement, giving useful soundbites or quotes to inform and educate the fans and the media at the same time.

His temperament. Every coach has his and it can naturally be displeasing and neither the coach nor the media can change that. Coach Ogum per the report was delivered to expectation. At Kotoko, you need that either as a manager or coach because anything contrary could sadly be the news and that can derail your focus.

The point about ‘satisfying the millions of the club’s ever-demanding millions of supporters’ brings into the picture impatience – the very thing the coach attributes the loss to. It’s worth noting that, Kotoko fans have generally accepted the defeat to our city rivals with little or no bitterness except the complaints about some of the referee’s calls. I decline to focus on the referee.

Coach Ogum must fix everything he found wrong with the players’ patience. It’s still early days but how, when, and where he’s able to deal with the impatience of his players, it will surely preempt supporters’ impatience, which is significantly harder to deal with. We’ve got confidence in Ogum but confidence wanes with disappointing results no matter what the cause is.

This is no criticism of the coach. It’s a soft reminder of how high the stakes are and will be as the competition grows. A date with Hearts of Oak lurks in the corner. Having been humiliated in Africa with baskets of goals (10 in two away games), Hearts will be on a redemption mission. It will be so nice to worsen their feeling with defeat in Accra but Coach Ogum must look deep into our own deficiency as he’s identified and fix it.