Former Hearts of Oak players, Charles Taylor and Don Bortey
There has been an existing feud between Hearts of Oak and a host of their legends, who resent the club.
The said legends attribute their resentment to various reasons as many of them point to unfair treatment.
These legends who achieved some great success with the club are pained that despite their strides for the clubs,
Read full articlethey don't get the needed recognition.
Charles Taylor
Kweku Charles Bismark Taylor Asampong joined Hearts of Oak in 2000 and spent three years in rainbow colours.
Taylor had his major success in football at Hearts Oak, where he won almost all major trophies available.
He won the Ghana Premier League back-to-back-to-back from 2000 to 2002. He won the FA cup in 2000, CAF Champions League in 2000, and CAF Super Cup in 2000.
Despite the success, Taylor holds bitterness against the club.
According to Taylor, the club made him look evil in the eyes of the fans and also prevented him from showing his talent to the world by rejecting a $400,000 offer from Italian side, Brescia.
"I wish I had luxurious things as people use to say I played better than others but they have more money than me. But in life, if somebody doesn't give you the opportunity you can't prove people wrong," he told Dan Kwaku Yeboah TV on YouTube.
"People keep saying they(Hearts of Oak) said they had a deal for me abroad but I rejected. Nobody got a deal abroad for me. I travelled a lot while I was at Hearts of Oak but I would ask, where did they get a deal for me that I rejected?" he added
He shared the untold story about his Brescia deal.
"The only foreign contract I had that involved money was a deal Stephen Appiah(Former Black Stars captain) got for me at Brescia...He took me there and I passed(the trials)."
"They gave Hearts $400,000 that if I perform, they will transfer me to Juventus...I was with Stephen, we went to a restaurant with Brescia CEO before Stephen called Hearts to discuss the deal."
"So I returned to Ghana to make preparations and go back to Italy to sign my contract. I went to see Tommy Okine(Former Hearts CEO) and he told me they had gotten a new deal in Switzerland and the money is USD$1 million dollars. So I agreed because the money was obviously more huge than the $400,000 and I wanted Hearts to make money."
"People have been saying I got a contract in Switzerland, I never had a contract in Switzerland."
Therefore, according to Taylor, Hearts management used Switzerland to turn down his much-desired Brescia deal.
Ali Jarah
Former Hearts of Oak goalkeeper, Ali Jarah, has been one of the critics of Hearts of Oak, claiming the club do not treat their legends well.
He justified his statement in 2015. He explained that while he served as goalkeeper's trainer, the club removed him from the payroll without giving him notice.
"I trained Sammy Adjei and Sannie Mohammed when I was the goalkeeper's trainer of the club and they all became the best goalkeepers in Ghana, but the management of Hearts of Oak failed to give me the credit for that," he told Sika FM.
He continued that "instead, I went to check my account one day and it was empty, so I called to ask about my salary and I was told that my legs are not good to deserve the goalkeepers' trainer of the club," he revealed.
Jarah added that no Hearts official attended the funeral of a former Hearts of Oak player, Santrofi Acquah.
"Even when Santrofi Acquah, a former player of the club died no Hearts of Oak official was at his funeral."
Eben Armah Dida
Eben Armah Dida is regarded as the greatest goalkeeper Hearts of Oak have ever had.
He is the most decorated goalkeeper in the club's history. He won 8 GPL titles, 1 CAFCC, 1 CAFCL, 1 CAF Super Cup and 2 FA Cups.
Due to his success, Ben Dida would have had one of the most affectionate relationships with the club, but he rather resents Hearts.
In an interview with Kessben FM in 2021, he explained why he resents Hearts of Oak while comparing the Phobians to their rivals, Kotoko.
“At Kotoko, former players are always well treated because the club goes further in helping some of them acquire coaching and other related certificates. This allows a good number of the former players to return to the club and perform several rules. As I talk, if I were a Kotoko fan, by now I would have been helped.”
“But when you come to Hearts, no one will notice your presence, let alone assist you. So I think Kotoko invests a lot into their former players better than my own Hearts of Oak. Sincerely, I am not expected to compare the aforementioned clubs due to their rivalry but I have no option because they are the only two biggest clubs in our country,” Eben Armah Dida added.
Mohammed Polo
Mohammed Polo is one of the few players who played for Hearts of Oak and came back to serve as a coach.
Polo was a great player and was loved by the fans but the story changed when he became a coach.
The former Black Stars player managed the club for one-and-half-season after taking over from David Duncan during the 2012/2013 season.
He led the club to a third-place finish in the 2013/2014 season. He resigned at the end of the term because he felt sabotaged and betrayed by the supporters.
He vowed not to become Hearts manager ever again.
“I toiled with everything that I had in me last season to help the club achieve success but what happened? My own supporters were wishing for my downfall which hurts me so bad to date. I've decided not to coach Hearts of Oak again even if I’m given the chance in the future,” Polo told Goal Ghana.
“I played wholeheartedly for almost 21 years for the club’s success but because [David] Duncan was sacked my own people sabotaged me and wished my downfall.”
He added: “I’m their own and they should have put the past behind and supported me because, in spite of all these, I was able to finish third on the log which means I could've done a lot more than what I did with their support.”
Don Bortey
Bernard Don Bortey served Hearts of Oak for 9 years, winning 4 Ghana Premier League titles and 1 Confederations Cup.
Bortey is adored by Hearts of Oak supporters, but they turned against him when he graced rivals, Asante Kotoko's coronation on June 12, 2022.
After he was hailed at the Kotoko event, Bortey said he regrets not playing for the Reds in his career.
"To be frank, I'm telling you the truth today I regret not playing for Kotoko. But all the same, my son will play for them," he said in audio aired on Accra-based Angel FM.
Explaining why a Hearts legend would say such about their arch-rivals, he said, unlike Kotoko, Hearts do not accord their legends to their legends.
"I don't think the current leaders of Hearts of Oak understand football. They don't allow the old players to get closer to the team. I don't think the current players know some of us."
