Hearts of Oak captain Gladson Awako believes the performance of the club dropped sharply after the departure of Serbian tactician Slavko Matic during last season’s Ghana Premier League campaign.
Matic was appointed as the replacement of Samuel Boadu who left the club following a poor start to the season. Matic began on a good note with the Phobians but failed to maintain the positive form which left fans disappointed.
As a result, a section of the supporters of the club denied the coach entry to the training grounds before their crucial game against Asante Kotoko which made it inconvenient for him to continue leading the team.
Matic eventually departed leaving the role for David Ocloo to continue as an interim boss who eventually guided the 2020/21 champions to a 12th-place finish narrowly escaping relegation.
“Too many changes in coaching impacted negatively on our performance last season. We started with Samuel Boadu, then later Matic who didn’t last long, followed by David Ocloo. All these coaches had different philosophies which warranted time for players to adapt and this affected our performance,” he told Akoma FM.
“We were improving under Matic, it was just unfortunate that he left, David Ocloo tried his best but because the pressure was too much it couldn’t work.
“Coaches need time, you can’t appoint them and expect magic or instant results, so I feel the changes on the technical side and injuries affected our performance.
“Yes, the departure of Slavko Matic really affected us and it didn’t help at all. Before Matic, we were at the 12th position but we moved to the 3rd position with him in charge and now see where we ended the season.
Meanwhile, Ocloo’s departure was confirmed by the club on Wednesday with the club expected to announce a new coach ahead of the new season in the coming days.
