Former Asante Kotoko assistant coach and current Northern City boss, Abdulai Gazale has revealed that a rift between him and his then-boss Prosper Narteh Ogum led to his exit from the club.
Gazale joined Kotoko in 2019 as assistant coach to Maxwell Konadu, but after Konadu's exit, he was left in charge of the youth side before occasionally joining the first team as stop-gap coach.
Gazale explained that the rift started when senior players began to doubt his corrections during training sessions.
"Initially, Ogum never doubted my capability but at a point, some of the players told me that any time we are in training and I correct a mistake in them, Ogum's posture doesn't look good. The senior players told me this but I told them I have not been observing that. Remember, I had worked with some of the players under Maxwell, Smith and Berreto and they were used to me,” Gazale told Tamale-based Sagani TV.
"The senior players told me this but I told them I have not been observing that. Remember, I had worked with some of the players under Maxwell, Smith and Berreto and they were used to me."
Gazale claimed that the situation continued for a long time, and he eventually noticed that Ogum and other assistants would not even involve him in planning training programs.
"It went on for a long time and I finally noticed it. It came to a point that if Coach Ogum and the other assistants were planning a training program, they would not even allow me to see what was going on.”
"From then, I called for a meeting with Nana Yaw Amponsah that I want to step down and I don't want to be part of the team anymore. Nana Yaw Amponsah declined my request. It continued, and before Ogum could tell Nana Yaw that he couldn't work with me anymore, I had already stopped going for training," Gazale said.
Gazale also claimed that he was not given a chance to discuss his grievances with Ogum, and eventually decided to step down from his position before the start of last season.
