Kotoko coach Mariano Bareto
•Kotoko finished second to Hearts of Oak in the league and also lost to Berekum Chelsea in the FA Cup
•Barreto has identified the problems that crippled their season
•He partly blamed the supporters for their incessant attacks on the players
Mariano Barreto, the head coach of Kumasi Asante Kotoko has enumerated a number factors responsible for the club’s poor performance in the 2020/2021 GPL season.
Barreto in an interview with Max FM, said that the club’s title chances were crippled by a number of issues.
He lamented the state of the club’s training centre at Adako Jachie in Kumasi which he said lacked basic amenities such as washrooms.
He also complained about the lack of proper dressing rooms for the team and also criticized the supporters for their vile attacks on the players.
“All the conditions we have are not proper for a professional club but the coach never said anything. We always try to convince the players to give their best and most did it. But we still had some players not performing and not working.
“Kotoko is one team in the world that played all their matches away from home but you never heard me speak. We fought for the title but the people have to know the reality. We have no dressing room or washroom at Adako Jachie but some people just insult players because they don’t know all these,” he said.
Hearts of Oak annexed their first league title in twelve years and increased their tally of GPL trophies to twenty-one.
The Porcupines’ title hopes for the season also came to an end following a 5-4 shootout defeat to Berekum Chelsea in the MTN FA Cup.
That notwithstanding, Nana Yaw Amponsah, the Chief Executive Officer of the Club believes the season was a successful one for Kotoko.
“We were successful in the just-ended season but that wasn’t our target,” he told Kumasi based Oyerepa FM.
“The target was to at least win the league title. We had a better away results than Hearts of Oak but our home performance wasn’t the best. Playing our games in Accra and Obuasi didn’t help us. We paid Gh¢10,700 per each home game at the Len Clay Stadium in Obuasi,” he added.