Duncan as Kotoko coach – my expectations

Coach David Duncan.

Coach David Duncan is officially Kotoko’s Head Coach now. As of press time, he was formally being introduced to the media at the club’s secretariat in Kumasi. At that event, Coach David Duncan was also expected to be quizzed somewhat or largely by the Kumasi media.

Before the coach’s introduction on Thursday, he signed the two-year contract agreed upon on Wednesday afternoon. It was after that, questions over what targets have been given him by the Kotoko management began to pop up in not alone in the media but also within the supporters’ rank and file.

Colleagues and supporters I have spoken interviewed appear to have extremely different expectations of the former Hearts of Oak, Ashgold and Great Olympics coach. Limited space and time, won’t allow me to enumerate all but one thing that runs through the expectations is that, many want Duncan to succeed at Kotoko. Even his critics and the neutrals want that.

There have however been remarks to the effect that, David Duncan is one coach who has had chances at Hearts of Oak and Ashantigold especially to win the league titles but he never was able and that winless title tag could be his undoing at Kotoko. Some wonder if Duncan actually has the wherewithal to achieve anything better than what he did at the other clubs.

While it’s right to argue that, Coach Duncan came so close to winning the Premier League as coach of Ashantigold but he, in reality couldn’t do that, it’s not entirely correct and fair to use that as basis to determine or in fact, conclude that, he can’t do anything positive at Kotoko.

I will ignore the Ashgold bit on grounds that, the inputs a coach makes isn’t the single most important determinant as to whether or not a club in Ghana will win a Premier League title. More things go into a club’s league title success than we sometimes imagine. At Hearts, Coach Duncan’s transformational work was evident; evident not just to Hearts supporters but to all who cared to follow Duncan and Hearts’ relatively good exploits.

Duncan brought Hearts from the lower ranks of the league to a more dignifying position months after his appointment. I recall how he was hailed by jubilant Hearts fans when in the face of their team’s disappointing and underperforming record, Duncan led them to secure a goalless draw that actually looked like victory for Hearts fanatics.

Personally, I didn’t comment or assess Duncan’s work at Hearts then. I was naturally not interested or had too many Kotoko stuff to be concerned about. I was however one of the disappointed people when the Hearts leadership parted ways Coach Duncan and particularly the manner in which Duncan’s exit was handled. It was only fair that, Duncan fought back legitimately using the appropriate quarters to get justice.

Thus, my point is, Coach Duncan wasn’t given enough time to complete his job at Hearts. He now finds himself at Kotoko. I wish him well but then, it will not be out of place for me to share my expectations as he commences work at Ghana’s biggest football team.

With Kotoko occupying a demeaning 14th place on the Premier League table after 10 matches and 20 more matches to be played, it isn’t too much tasking David Duncan to secure Kotoko a dignifying top four position by the end of the season. Kotoko won the title last season.

If indeed things have gone that bad and therefore a successful title defence has eluded the defending champion, any other position within the top bracket must be acceptable. Again, as defending FA Cup champion, it won’t be over the bar if in the worst case scenario to task coach Duncan to at least get Kotoko an FA Cup final.

Africa: the CAF Champions League. It’s already the target of the club that, after two successive preliminary round exits in the last two attempts, qualification to the so-called lucrative league stage will this time be achieved. Kotoko have just started that campaign.

Coach David Duncan’s influence was noticeable in the MC El Eulma-Kotoko game in Algeria. With the return match fixed for April 5 and hopes of a league stage appearance in the final analysis, I think it won’t also be too much regardless of the short time to ask Duncan to also make that possible in his first season with the club.