Patience, please, patience!

Cheerful Kotoko fans at the stadium.

I know it’s difficult. Very difficult! But it’s the way to go. Another defeat in our basket. This time 2-1 at home to Edubiase. The other time, it was 3-1 away to Heart of Lions. In purely football sense, defeats are normal but at Kotoko it’s not always the case. Defeats can cause so many problems at Kotoko and they’re far too obvious and many to list.

This is a club that has very high standards. Everything may not be right with or at Kotoko but the supporters’ never-ending demand for victory can hardly be faulted. It’s difficult to accept or understand that “thing” about Kotoko supporters that makes them averse to defeats. Yet the reality is that, Kotoko supporters hate to see their team lose.

I’m one of them. I don’t love to see Kotoko lose but I love to react to Kotoko defeats differently. That explains why I’m calling for patience. Why I’m urging fans not to give up on the team. Don’t give up today or tomorrow. Don’t give up because the team isn’t performing well. Don’t give up because the team isn’t winning. Just don’t give up because the team is losing.

I’m not saying supporters should rejoice at defeats. I’m only saying that, regardless of the disappointment, we still have to support the team. The pain supporters are experiencing as a result of the continuous non-performance is understandable we need not give up on the team.

Truth be told, I was surprised to see Kotoko lose to Edubiase at home. My reaction stemmed from the thought that, given how frail the Porcupines were in Kumasi in the first round, their resolution that, a different story will be told in the second round was easy to believe.

I recall an interview with Coach David Duncan at their camp in Tema, where he termed Kotoko’s losses at home as an “abnormality”. The coach agreed that, it wasn’t something to be entertained. It didn’t have to happen, said the Kotoko coach. It wasn’t as if Coach Duncan didn’t know there could be home defeats; he understood the fact that, Kotoko losing in Kumasi wasn’t right.

His resolve was to change things. “It is not a question of seeking to. We don’t have a choice. I won’t be seeking to change something that’s good. It’s bad. Definitely, we would like to change that trend at home.  That is exactly what we will do” he said.

Duncan continued: “Under normal circumstances, Kotoko is supposed to be picking points – even away. So if at the place where you must be guaranteed your three points, you don’t get them, I consider that an abnormality. It’s absurd! It didn’t have to happen in the first place” he added.

“We definitely would have to just ensure that, we turn that kind of situation around” Duncan concluded in an answer to my question on the team’s performance at home. Clearly, the first attempt by Coach Duncan to walk the talk of winning at home has hit a rough patch. It doesn’t mean subsequent attempts will also follow that, so let’s not give on him or the team.

Things will change. That’s why I’m suggesting that, we don’t give up. I don’t want to be in the shoes of Duncan. Neither would I want to be in the seat of management nor that of the players. These are difficult times for them. The best we can do as supporters is to rally behind them. They have sworn to positively turn things around immediately.

Giving up on them amounts to losing hope. We need not do that. Our reaction to defeats must change. We can criticize. It’s fair to do that but not resort to physical assaults. It can’t be that, in expressing our disappointment; or in venting our spleen as they say, we resort to violence and indeed assault the very people from who we are demanding better performance.

Let’s exercise restraint. Let’s stay calm. Let’s be patient. Let’s demand the best from Coach and the players but in doing that, let’s show civility and believe that, very soon, things will change. I rest my case. Patience is needed here. It’s necessary at all times; in or outside football.