Amankwah Mireku – Adomonline.com

Amankwah Mireku blames Hearts of Oak’s struggles on players, defends coach

Samuel Appiah — Wed, 09 Apr 2025 11:33:58 +0000

Former Hearts of Oak defender Amankwah Mireku has placed the blame for the club’s recent struggles on the current playing squad, rather than head coach Aboubakar Ouattara.

Hearts of Oak ended a four-game winless streak last Sunday with a hard-fought victory over Medeama SC at the Accra Sports Stadium in the 2024/25 Ghana Premier League. Despite this win, the Phobians currently sit 5th on the league table with 40 points after 25 matches.

Mireku, a member of the club’s historic 1999/2000 “Invincibles” treble-winning team, believes the real issue lies with the players and not the coach.

He argued that fans are quick to blame Ouattara when results are poor, overlooking the players’ responsibilities on the pitch.

“The coach works with the players all week, but once they step onto the pitch, he relinquishes control. If things go wrong on the field, it’s more about the players than the coach,” Mireku said.

While acknowledging that coaches can make mistakes, he criticized the growing tendency to scapegoat them for the team’s poor performance.

“For me, I don’t understand this narrative. The coach is human; he has his responsibilities and limitations. But when players don’t perform, people immediately point fingers at the coach. It has become the norm in town; once results dip, they say the coach is bad,” he stated. “Of course, the coach may make mistakes, but even when a player clearly commits an error, people still blame the coach. That’s unfair.”

Hearts of Oak will next face Vision FC on Matchday 27 of the Ghana Premier League at the Nii Adjei Kraku II Sports Complex on Sunday, April 13.

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Sacking Samuel Boadu at the wrong time puts pressure on the new coach – Amankwah Mireku

Eric Owusu — Tue, 04 Oct 2022 10:40:00 +0000

Former Hearts of Oak Captain, Yaw Amankwah Mireku, believes the club chose the wrong time to part ways with Samuel Boadu.

The Phobians mutually parted ways with Samuel Boadu last week after a dismal start to the 2022/23 Ghana Premier League campaign, where Hearts of Oak picked just two points out of a possible nine in three league matches.

According to him, this will put pressure on anyone appointed to take the helm of coaching the team.

The Rainbow club has moved to appoint former assistant coach of Asante Kotoko, David Ocloo, as the Club’s new assistant coach. The former Liberty gaffer is expected to lead Hearts of Oak on Saturday, when they play Real Bamako in the CAF Confederations Cup.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with Kumasi-based Nhyira FM, the former Hearts captain expressed disappointment in the decision of his former Club to part ways with Samuel Boadu.

“I didn’t agree with the decision to sack coach Samuel Boadu because if you do the right thing at the wrong time, it won’t work but you can do the wrong thing at the right time and it will work.

“I don’t think the authorities can explain the reason for sacking coach Samuel Boadu because if you tell me you want a new direction as in what? Yes, a new direction is in progress and so, if that’s the case then why are you sacking him?

“And even if you are sacking the coach, you should look at the programme ahead of you. You are going to Africa so yes, you don’t want the coach, let him go but let the assistant, Hamza stay behind while you look for a substantive coach,” he stated.

Mireku, who won trophies with Hearts, is worried the new coach would be under pressure due to the timing of his appointment.

“The truth is that; I’m scared for whoever is coming in to coach Accra Hearts of Oak for now because the legacy Samuel Boadu has left behind brings a lot of workload and expectation on the new coach as he needs to perform more than Samuel Boadu,’’ he said.

Boadu joined Accra Hearts of Oak from Medeama SC in the 2019/20 and won five trophies for Hearts.

Kotoko players overly pampered- Former Hearts of Oak player

Adwoa Agyeman — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 19:05:57 +0000

A former player of Accra Hearts of Oak, Yaw Amankwah Mireku has said trolling by fans made him stronger.

According to him, fans of the Phobians always expect results thus will put pressure on the players to deliver results.

“Hearts of Oak fans from the moment you join the club will begin to mount a lot of pressure on you because they always expect results” he stated on Asempa FM’s Ultimate sport show Wednesday.

The situation, Amankwah Mireku noted, is different from their rival Kumasi Asante Kotoko.

He explained that, supporters of Kotoko give players time to establish themselves.

But Asante Kotoko fans on the other hand are very patient with their players and pamper them even when the results are not going well”, he explained.

“Asante Kotoko fans will only put pressure on the playing body only when they get fed up with their poor performances” the former Hearts of Oak captain added.

On the wayforward for Hearts of Oak, Amankwah Mireku urged the managment to move the team to Kumasi away from fans to enable them concerntrate on their upcoming game.

Social media killing local players – Amankwah Mireku

Adwoa Agyeman — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 18:58:54 +0000

Former Accra Hearts of Oak player, Yaw Amankwah Mireku has blamed the poor quality of local players on the excessive use of social media.

According to him, current players spend a lot of time on social media platforms like facebook, whatsapp and instagram than training on the pitch.

The effective on this, Amankwah Mireku stated on Asempa FM’s Ultimate Sports show Wednesday is the poor quality of players in the country.

“Technology is good but the abuse of social media by most of our players is killing their talent. Some of them do not have time to even rest but the job requires them to rest well and be disciplined so they are always fit to give out their best”, Amankwah stated.

The former Hearts of Oak team manager cited how he use to take mobile phones from players during training to help them concerntrate to butress his point.

Amankwah Mireku said he is not surprised local players dont get call up to the Black Stars.

“The players stay on social media for too long. Lack of discipline in general, commitment and dedication is killing our game hence I am not surprised our local players no longer dominating the senior national team”.