“David Duncan is the best thing to happen to Kotoko,” were the words of General Manager Opoku Nti after confirming his appointment on 19 March, 2015.
Exactly 380 days down the line, Management has revised their notes and wants the ‘best thing’ to step aside for his understudy, Michael Osei to take over the technical affairs of the club.
Below are the five things that epitomized Duncan’s career at Kotoko.
1: DRAW IN FIRST MATCH
After several weeks of speculation after Coach Didi Dramani was given127 days accumulated leave, David Duncan traveled with the team for the first leg of their CAF Champions League tie against Algerian side, A.S Eulma.
He was not on the bench for the game but led the training in Algeria, thus, had a hand in the selection of the team that played. After a successful result, Kotoko fans started dreaming. Opoku Nti said he was the best thing to happen to Kotoko.
Hopes were sky high that post Didi’s era will be the end to their fruitless CAF Champions League run. He accompanied the draw in Algeria with a win in Bechem.
2: DARK SKY IN KUMASI
The usual Sunday fufu filled the gutters in the Garden City when Eulma came to Ghana for the second leg of their continental campaign.
With expectations high that the fortunes of their torrid season was over, Eulma stunned Asante Kotoko at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium. Obed Owusu’s 40th minute goal was cancelled after an hour and the comeback was completed late in the game.
Eulma broke on the counter, and punched out Kotoko out of the competition. There were murmurs because Didi Dramani never lost at the Baba Yara Sports Stadium.
Nevertheless, Duncan was the toast of the fans with some buying stickers of the coach as well as folding their white long sleeves which they popularly termed as the Duncan effect.
However, pressure began to mount on the team after a host of poor results. The team was largely inconsistent in the second round of the league and had a double header against AshGold and Hearts.
3: ENDING ASHGOLD’S DOMINANCE
With voices of frustration hovering over Duncan and his team for inconsistency, the former AshantiGold boss dropped his former employers dead. AshGold had dominated Kotoko in the Top 4-beating them home and away, and also winning the first game of the Ghana Premier league match in Obuasi.
But Dauda Mohammed poured ice on the nerves with a header to settle the tie. Fans cheered. He defeated Aduana Stars in the semi-finals of the MTN FA Cup, booking a ticket to the final at the Essipong Sports Stadium.
4. BEATING HEARTS IN ACCRA
No matter the poor results Kotoko accumulates in a season, victory over Hearts of Oak is one fans will relish any day. After reports of an alleged robbery attack on the team at their hotel base in Accra in the early hours of the match day, Duncan and his boys walked on the Accra Sports Stadium pitch looking to avenge the defeat they suffered to Hearts earlier in the season which got Coach Didi Dramani sacked.
Dauda Mohammed who had been brought from the club’s youth set up, lightened up the Accra Sports Stadium with a double. Duncan wrote his name in the pantheon books of coaches to have led Kotoko to a victory in Accra over their bitterest rivals.
The win was more sweeter because it dropped Hearts of Oak to the relegation zone, and fans sang ‘yaanom, bye bye ooo, bye by ooo.”
5: FA CUP DEFEAT
Kotoko’s miserable season was compounded in Takoradi when Medeama SC floored the then defending League and FA Cup champions at the Essipong Stadium in the MTN FA Cup final, having already been stripped off six points for fielding ineligible player in the leahue win over Hearts of Oak.
6: KOTOKO’S WORST START
2015/16 Ghana Premier League was a season Kotoko fans anticipated much, but it has became a season some of them have never experienced – the team went four league matches without a win – their worst start in 42 years.
Mr. Duncan said this season was nothing new to the team, and that, last season was worse, but unbeknownst to him, Kotoko had amassed two wins and a draw under his predecessor, Didi Dramani at that stage.
6 Things That Epitomized Duncan"s Kotoko Career
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