Medeama all of a sudden seem to be on a roll. The 2-0 victory over Eleven Wonders in midweek saw the Yellow and Mauves record a third consecutive victory in the ongoing campaign and it is now four in five for the Tarkwa based outfit with the only blot in an almost unblemished run coming in the 1-0 reverse vs King Faisal in Techiman.
Hearts of Oak, Bechem United and the aforementioned Eleven Wonders were all seen off with aplomb at home with the impressive win away at Elmina Sharks sandwiching those victories. It is the best spell of form for Medeama this season and a very welcome one as such considering the indifferent start which threatened to torpedo any chances of contending for the title this season.
However, just when it looked like Medeama for the very first time this season could ready themselves for a proper title tilt, lightning has struck, one they could ill-afford at this juncture of the season. Hot on the heels of the victory against Eleven Wonders, word began coming out on the streets that head coach of the club Samuel Boadu had asked to leave citing personal reasons. Club officials would indeed later confirm the news in what is a huge blow for the club at a very inopportune time. With the dust now beginning to settle, it is time to address the elephant in the room: what next for Medeama and where does the outgone gaffer’s departure leave the club?
Coach Samuel Boadu joined Medeama in 2017 as a relative unknown having cut his coaching teeth at Kumasi based second-tier side Asokwa Deportivo. The club had parted ways with then coach, Evans Adotey and were on the look-out for a young vibrant coach to help spearhead a project which was just about to kick-start. The club were readying themselves to institutionalize a youth policy where they would end up giving loads of first-team opportunities to very young players who would be snapped up, both homegrown (chiefly from the academy or Tarkwa based) as well as other players from the length and breadth of the nation with the hope that these players would later develop and blossom to allow the club sell them off to certain clubs in Europe, where the President of the club Moses Armah (Mospacka) had established contacts with.
Coach Samuel Boadu, a proponent of youth development was also looking to get himself into prominence and carve a niche for himself with it believed that a stint with a top-tier side would help propel his burgeoning coaching career. It all turned out to be a match made in heaven with Medeama producing one young player after the other and playing a brand of football which became the envy of the entire landscape in the three-year marriage.
The 2018/19, 2019/20 seasons in case study represent the heights Medeama reached under the tutelage of Coach Boadu. Both seasons ended prematurely for varying reasons and at a period where Medeama found themselves at the very top of the pile and in pole position to claim the ultimate. The search for the very much elusive first title still lingers on for Medeama (since the takeover from Kessben) and it is now time to move on and quickly nip the issues surrounding the Samuel Boadu resignation in the bud. There are a million reasons why.
Medeama somewhat find themselves at a crossroads now. The groundbreaking financial backing from Goldfields Ghana Ltd which landed just before the commencement of the season has brought with it a great weight of expectation, one which has been quite heavy to carry for Medeama at times this season. If it was already thought that the Yellow and Mauves have one of the best squads on the land, the additions of Benjamin Arthur, Zakaria Mumuni, Prince Opoku Agyemang and Ahmed Toure will definitely give such claim further credence. One of Medeama’s chief problems at the beginning of the season was a lack of a consistent source of goals and they have moved quickly to address that seemingly.
Ahmed Toure immediately hit the ground running on his debut with a brace vs Sharks with Prince Opoku Agyemang also getting in on the act vs Eleven Wonders last time out having made his return to the club after a brief stint at South African side Cape Town City FC. Put the midfield combination of Justice Blay, Akwasi Donsu, Rashid Nortey and Zakaria Mumuni behind the strike pair and Medeama could be set to lay waste to rival clubs in the weeks ahead.
But the first order of business is to name a substantive new coach for the club and it’s important they get the decision right. It’s a decision which has the potential to make or unmake the club at this very important juncture where the club is seeking to elevate to an elite level by winning trophies. The margins between success and failure gets finer by the year and the club needs to knuckle down, firmly put Coach Boadu’s departure behind them and steer the club towards the success it has been craving for years.
Maxwell Konadu, Yaw Acheampong and Ibrahim Tanko are some of the names that have been sounded out as the earliest frontrunners but whoever assumes the reins as the next coach of the club will have his work cut out no doubt. It should not be lost on him the mammoth task ahead to propel the club from perennial also-rans to an elite football club.
The people of Tarkwa and its environs, Wassa as well as Goldfields Ghana Ltd have their hopes banked on that and it is important the club deliver accordingly. The first step to appoint a new coach could turn out to be the most monumental.
