After 8 years of no league title, coach Prosper Narteh Ogum has appeared to be the missing piece in Asante Kotoko’s quest to become champions of the Ghana Premier League again.
Since coach Didi Dramani led the Porcupines to win the Ghana Premier League title in the 2013/14 season, the Kumasi-based club’s effort to win
Despite winning the FA Cup in 2017 with coach Steve Polack and the Normalization Committee’s Cup in 2018 with coach C.K Akonnor, the biggest desire of the club has always been to lift the domestic league title.
Especially as their sworn rivals Hearts of Oak braced through the storm to beat them to the league title last season, the Porcupines have waited earnestly for this day.
From having 8 coaches in the last 8 years, each coach has done his best in attempting to win the league title but coach Prosper Narteh Ogum has proven to be the man with the Midas touch.
Leaving fellow GPL side West African Football Academy to join the Porcupines, Ogum hit the ground running with some big signings, including Cameroon duo Frank Etouga Mbella and Georges Mfegue.
The team later travelled to Dubai to kickstart their pre-season which came under high criticism as the Porcupines failed to win a game in 3 matches but Ogum kept doing his work in the background.
With the departure of their top striker Kwame Poku and the exit of their number one-shot stopper Felix Annan, it appeared the season was going to be tough for Kotoko but that wasn’t the case.
Kotoko started the league with 4 consecutive wins before being brought down by King Faisal. From then, the Porcupines dipped and got knocked out of the MTN FA Cup but returned to winning ways in the league.
Even with the departure of his most trusted goalkeeper, Razak Abalorah and the injuries to key players, Fabio Gama and Isaac Oppong, Ogum managed to raise a team that beat Hearts of Oak at the Baba Yara Stadium before going on to earn 60 points to be crowned as champions of the league with 3 games to spare.
With Ogum at the helm, Kotoko became the team with the most wins away, second best home with 11 wins as well as having the league's top scorer and the player with most assists.
Although it may appear ordinary, here is why Ogum has the Midas Touch.
A season before arriving in Kumasi, Ogum was the head coach of WAFA and led the Academy Boys to finish 3rd on the league log.
Ogum won 16 incredible games with the Sogakope-based club including victory over league champions Hearts of Oak in their coronation match. His new club Asante Kotoko also failed to win a game in both legs against WAFA.
However, following his departure from the club, WAFA has retrogressed from being a force to reckon with in the league to becoming a relegation battling side.
WAFA have lost 14 matches, drawn 11 with just 8 wins in the current season as they lie 17th on the league log. It would take a miracle for WAFA to escape relegation on the final matchday with Ogum no more at the club.
Thanks to Ogum's Midas touch, Kotoko have won matches at 3 venues Aduana, Tarkwa and Sogakope they never won a match at in several years.
Coach Prosper Narteh Ogum
