Head coach of Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs, Ernest Thompson-Quartey has opined, resuming the Ghana Premier League behind closed doors will be virtually impossible, considering the financial distress the clubs are already going through.
According to Ernest Thompson, almost all the clubs in the Ghana topflight rely heavily on gate proceeds for survival, hence, continuing the 2019/20 season without financial cushion from government of Ghana or the Ghana Football Association will prove to be difficult for the clubs.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Stephen Zando on Kumasi based YFM, Ernest Thompson, whose team, Dwarfs was languishing in the bottom three on the log before the league was suspended contributed to the discussion surrounding the future of the current campaign saying, the league should only continue when government comes to the aid of the clubs.
“My brother to be very frank with you, you know that our clubs rely on gate proceeds a lot and all that so should the league resume behind closed doors and there are no supporters coming in, it is going to pose a lot of problems for most of the teams including Dwarfs.
“You know, we don’t have as many sponsors and support as other teams have so that’s really going to be a problem but if you ask me, I think if the government or the GFA should come in to support the teams financially, then I will be fine if they ask us to go and play.
“If we are asked to go and play and with all the protocols put in place to ensure, no player or technical team member don’t contract the disease, then that’s fine by me because we are ready to play anytime.” He said.
Despite this suggestion, Ernest Thompson admitted, the final decision lies with the Ghana Football Association and the sports ministry, hence, he will welcome any outcome whether to truncate or continue the league season.
“We should be very careful with the decision, any decision that comes from the powers that be, we are ready to adhere to it so if they ask us to go and play, we will only ask them for some time to go and prepare, if they also say we are truncating the league too, Hallelujah, why not? We will heed to that so the decision lies with the powers that be.” He added.
Cape Coast Ebusua Dwarfs before the league was suspended in mid-March were on sixteenth position on the league log with fifteen points after fifteen matches.
Source: Stephen-Zando/YFM