Supporters of Accra Hearts of Oak have been urged to rally behind the club and save it from visiting the drop.
The call was made by a divisional chief of Nungua, Nii Abekunane Mantse, Nii Otu Kwei II, who told the Times Sports yesterday that “it would be an embarrassing shame if we sit unconcerned and allow the club to go on relegation.”
Nii Abekunane is a long-time disciple of Hearts who, in private life as Emmanuel Otu Quaye in October 2006, went to court to seek an explanation over some provisions in the GFA’s new laws on player registration.
Subsequently, the premier league was suspended for several weeks before an out-of-court settlement was reached.
“What we need now is unity. We should all bury our differences and put our shoulders behind the wheel to ensure Hearts remain in the top-flight – First Capital Plus Premier League (FCPPL),” he asserted.
Hearts are currently placed at the last-but-one position (15th) and will take on 10th-placed Liberty Professionals in a crunch game at the Carl Reindorf Park this afternoon.
The Abekunane Mantse, who is also the Akutsotse of the Odaiteitse-we clan, made a passionate appeal to all that sincerely love the club to show up now in their numbers in Hearts’ remaining games and contribute their quota to ensure the club survive.
According to him, what the Hearts players would want at this crucial moment is to see disaffection and disunity amongst the management and chieftains of the club, adding “that will be suicidal if that happens.”
Nii Otu Kwei expressed his displeasure at the verbal attacks on the club’s owner Togbe Afede XIV over Hearts’ precarious position, contending that he could not be blamed for the club’s predicament.
“This is not the time to apportion blame. It is time to hold the bull by the horn and fight on until victory is ours,” he said, insisting that “with a unity of purpose, Hearts will survive the tempest.”
He lauded former management members of the club in the persons of Gbese Mantse Nii Ayi Bonte II (Thomas Okine), Harry Zakour, Akwetey Steven and Isaac Tetteh (TT Brothers), among others, for their “unalloyed commitment and dedication” to stir the club out of relegation.
“These people have shown true love for Hearts and that should be the spirit that the club needs now to be safe,” he added.
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