480 games have come and gone, now we have a winner:

Hearts of Oak.

They beat Sporting Mirren 2-0 at the Ohene Djan stadium to make it. Mirre, sadly, have gone the other way and would be relegated.

That notwithstanding coach Emmanuel Afranie takes solace in building a formidable squad.
“Mirren is the most exciting side in the Premier League and it is a shame they have been relegated,” Afranie said.

“Inexperience caused us all this while but am happy that I have been able to build a team capable of doing many things in the future.

“I have a good team now and the future is very bright if the boys are kept. I am very sure they will come after one year. ”

About his reputation as a relegation specialist: “If there are no materials there is nothing a coach can do,”

“We just did not have the experience to compete at this level.”

But his captain Frank Boateng disagreed, claiming many of the players have played in the Ghana Premier League in the past.

Mirren is the latest club managed by the Metro TV group to be relegated after Zaytuna went down 12 months after they had been taken over by the media group.

Second place went to Kotoko, who drew 2-2 with King Faisal at home. They’ll settle for a continental spot.

Mirren were joined in the relegation places by All Blacks and Tema Youth. Tema Youth are swearing blood and thunder to fight the decision that shed them off what they feel is 6 hard earned points.

Said CEO Winfred Palmer: “If this is the way the fate of teams are decided in Ghana football fans will not turn up for matches

“For the sake of those fans and our teeming supporters we must go all out to ensure that the right thing is done.

“We are not ruling out any method including legal channels to seek redress.”

Tema Youth’s fate was decided after they were ducked six points and six goals by the Disciplinary Committee from their accumulated tally.

The Disciplinary Committee’s decision is as result of two cases brought against the Tema side by Berekum Arsenals and Eleven Wise over the eligibility of player, Emmanuel Clottey.

The GPL, don’t forget, has been exciting but that hasn’t stopped King Faisal boss Gruzah from smearing the league in mud. Says he:

“We should not hail a league that is the most corrupt league in the world as perfect

“We have seen that with many clubs involved in the relegation fight phone calls are being made here and there.

“Anybody with an objective eye will see that there is massive corruption in the league. If we are brave we should bring in an independent person to observe.”

This year’s competition has been touted as the best in many years with the league title race and relegation fight going down to the wire.

As many as five clubs are involved in the relegation dogfight while Hearts of Oak need a final day victory to take the league for the 20th time.

And speaking of relegation, Tema Youth have become the second side – after Mirren – to be relegated after being docked points by the FA’s disciplinary wing. They fielded Emmanuel Clottey in a league match after two sides contested his eligibility.

Clottey signed for Tema Youth during the mid-season transfer window but his previous club Great Olympics claimed his registration was not proper.

Clottey has since been given a one-year ban. Full details here.

Thus, we are left with – technically – 14 teams in the league. Tema Youth play All Blacks who are not in a not-so-good-position themselves in 15th.

All the games

Hearts of Oak – St. Mirren
Chelsea – Liberty
All Stars – Hasaacas
RTU – AshGold
Kotoko – Faisal
Tema Youth – All Blacks
Eleven Wise – Kessben FC
Heart of Lions – Arsenals

Italicised teams are already relegated.

The league has been called several names, but now it is the:

That’s right. And television leverage has been one of its biggest problems.

Earlier in the week, Ghana’s information minister was roughed up a bit by the Minority in Parliament who claimed she provided unsatisfactory answers to questions on the floor of the House.
The Glo Premier League was top of the agenda as Zita Okaikoi was in the House to answer questions relating to her ministry.

Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah, MP for Takoradi, had tabled a question before the House on when Ghanaians across the nation will be able to watch the GPL live on Ghana Television, the state run broadcaster.

At the moment, the station is the only one that has nationwide coverage.

According to Joy FM, the minister had told the House the state broadcaster intended to telecast “all 36 league matches” of the Glo Premier League currently in its final stages, however it failed, along with other stations, to win the bid for the rights.

Optimum Media Prime – Talal Fattal’s baby – currently has the rights and until it expires, not much can be done.

The minority pounced on the answer, arguing that the minister had misinformed the House because the matches in the league are far in excess of the 36 she quoted.

Indeed the Ghanaian League is a 16-club league in which each club plays the others in a two-tie, home-and-away basis. That makes a total of 480 matches.

Away from the drama in Parliament, Metro TV (through which OMP shows the games) shows at least one live game every week. They also record 4 matches within the same period and try to show delayed telecasts later.

This means that only few of the usual 8 matches played at a time are shown at a go. Even on days that fewer than eight games are played across the country, the network is unable to show more than one live game at a time.

And even with the games that are shown, there have been complaints about the mode of match selections. Someone noted the other day that Sporting Mirren – who did well to languish at the bottom of the league nearly the whole season – matches receive a goodly amount of airtime to the detriment of more ‘exciting teams’ in the middle of the GPL league table.

I sit back and say, Mirren is Mr. Fattal’s team, no? And the station that shows the GPL is his as well, no?

There you are!

Anyway, the result of this one-live-game-at-a-time thing is that there are several great games in the GPL that have been missed by the populace except those who could trek to the stadia.

Sadly, that number is not much, anyway. My people tell me that on a good day, Accra’s Ohene Djan stadium sees a capacity crowd of – wait for it – seventy (70).

Despite this decidedely gloomy picture I’ve been painting, we must admit that the GPL coverage on Metro TV is the best Ghana can get at the moment, because GTV simply cannot afford that extra cost.

Private ownership of the coverage is all we have and we have to make do with it. However, and I say this with misgivings, GTV and Metro TV could come to a certain agreement.

They could agree that to make the matches more accessible to the general public and for the good of the game, the two entities could split the rights in the following way:

Metro TV and GTV would each take 4 games every week to show. These four games would be evenly distributed such that no one station gets the ‘juicier’ games.

That, I believe, can easily be arranged.

Gamba All Blacks won 1-0 to grant themselves a temporary reprieve down there. The game was declared outstanding due to security fears.

The Black Magicians must now win their last match against Tema Youth to stay in the elite division. Eleven Wise are in danger and are just one point above the relegation. They need to win against Kessben on Sunday to stay safe.

Meanwhile, the executive committee of the Ghana Football Association has decided that the head-head rule will apply in relegation battles.

The GFA had decided before the start of the season that the rule will only be used in determining champions but after a meeting on Tuesday, the GFA says it will use the system to determine all sixteen places on the Premier League.

GFA president Kwasi Nyantekyi says the body decided there must be some uniformity in deciding the placings.

Sporting Mirren are already relegated but Liberty Professionals, Eleven Wise, Sekondi Hasaacas, AshantiGold, Real Tamale United are all not safe heading into the final day of competition on Sunday.

Nyantekyi also says the football association will clear all cases involving Tema Youth and Berekum Arsenals that could have a bearing on the standings of the League by tomorrow.

The latest to be embroiled in the bribery rumour mill are Berekum Arsenals. They drew 1-1 with Hearts on Sunday and the whispers permeating all corners is that the game had been fixed.

Don’t forget that Hearts needed to avoid a draw at all costs and for some, Berekum Arsenals should have won that game considering how the Phobians played. And also that Arsenals played at their Golden City Park home which has been impregnable for the better part of five years.

Yet the Arsenals have thrown out these potentially-damaging suggestions being aimed at them. Some theorists have even ventured as far as saying that before the match, the Gunners had been paid 40,000 Ghana cedis by Hearts. That’s in the region of $30k.

The 1-1 result sent the Phobians above their rivals Kotoko and hold a slim one-point lead at the top. Arsenals team manager J.A Awudu told Joy FM in Accra:

“All these are allegations! Kotoko lost four matches in Kumasi: were they fixed? Hearts of Oak lost in Accra, were they fixed? Why should people have that perception?

“It’s football and the whole of the 16 teams are in competition and everybody spends money on his club and nobody will sit down to say ‘I will spend money and try to go back to relegation or first division.’

“It is very difficult. They are all allegations and illusions that people rally around – they are perceptions.”

In Ghana, the last five-ten games in the season is a time to make money. For those clubs comfortably out of the relegation zone at this time, they can afford to ‘sell’ their games for badly needed revenue to keep them afloat in the coming seasons.

And since relegation to the Division One is almost suicidal, lower-placed teams also do all they can – including exchanging envelopes – to avoid the drop.

In looking ahead to what should be a thrilling finale, here’s the league log.

Club (points)
1. Hearts of Oak (49)
2. Asante Kotoko (48)
3. Heart of Lions (46)
4. Chelsea (41)

and now the bottom dogfight? As many as six (6) teams could be relegated, make no mistake! This is how it looks like…

11. Hasaacas (37)
12. Eleven Wise (37)
13. AshantiGold (37)
14. RTU (35)
15. All Blacks (34)
16. Sp. Mirren (20)
____

Hi everyone. I have been unable to be here because my office was gutted by fire. Hence my absence. Thanks for understanding.

USA’s President Obama was in Ghana for the weekend and the whole freaking country was at a fumbling standstill. And they say it was due to security arrangements.

So much so that blogging was virtually an impossibility. Goodness…

Anyway, that aside the Glo Premier League train still rolled on. Now as it stands the league title will be decided on the final day of the season.

Yesterday’s games saw to it that the point’s difference between clubs makes it difficult determining who gets relegated. The struggle to avoid the drop however remains uncertain.

Two more clubs would be joining Sporting Mirren and that would be decided on the final day.

Accra Hearts of Oak returned top of the league and now they just need to win their final day game to seal league title number 20.

But that may come at a high cost as the Phobians extended their winless run to nine games. At the Golden City Park they could only manage a draw with Berekum Arsenals. Now they have a slim one-point ahead of Kotoko, who suffered a defeat.

Shocking as it was, I was surprised that they lost to AshGold, who are fighting a serious relegation battle down there. Suffice it to say that AshGold played at the Len Clay Stadium but one would have expected the Reds to do better.

Kotoko would need to win their last game and hope for a Hearts of Oak defeat. That is highly unlikely. The last day’s fixtures reads like this for the two teams:

July 19th
Hearts – Mirren
Kotoko – Faisal

Imagine that! Mirren have already been relegated and have nothing but pride to play for. If Hearts lose, I shall personally endorse a public lynching of coach Nii Noi Thompson (just kidding!)

Kotoko, on the other hand, play a Faisal team that badly needs a win to really clamp their position for next season’s Caf Confederation’s Cup. As it stands, King Faisal are fourth on 45 points, just one behind Heart of Lions.

Now, a win for Faisal and they are through – comfortably – to Africa. Even a draw may suffice, as the team behind them – Bechem Chelsea with 42 points – will also be hoping Faisal stutter so that they may go to Africa on a possible goals aggregate.

Well, I should say that it has been years since I saw a league finish decided on the last day in such a fashion. Brilliant, I say.

Hasaacas improved their chances of beating the drop after winning 3-1 over Real Tamale United at the Sekondi Sports Stadium. The result rather sees RTU slip into the bottom three.

Liberty Professionals won 4-1 against Wa All Stars. The Liberty guys are still escaping relegation.

Don’t forget about the thing called ‘goal difference’!
____

Edmund Owusu Ansah to Petrojet? – GNA via Myjoyonline

Lloyd Owusu wants to move Down Under. – Ghanasoccernet

The same site also reports that troubled former Kotoko CEO has been granted bail.

Sporting Mirren failed in their bid to rise above the relegation zone after Kumasi based King Faisal held them to a barren draw yesterday in their 19 week Premier League game at the Ohene Djan Stadium. The clash, the final of the Week 19 fixtures ensured the newly promoted club is still firmly rooted at the bottom with 15 points from a potential 57.

Faisal who finished the game with a man-less after Abdul Samad Oppong was sent off in the 74 minute held their own against their hosts whose attackers completely lacked ideas in front of goal.

Earlier in the weekend, these were the scores of the other games:

Accra
Liberty 0 AshGold 1

Tema
Tema Youth 1 Eleven Wise 0

Sekondi
Hasaacas 1 Hearts 1

Wa
All Stars 1 Kessben 0

Tamale
RTU 2 Arsenal 0

Sunyani
Chelsea 2 All Blacks 2

Kumasi
Kotoko 0 Lions 1

And so at the end of week 19, Hearts of Oak are still top with 41 points, Kwesi Nyantakyi’s ever improving Wa All Stars are second with 32 followed by the solid Heart of Lions on 31.

Fourth place goes to King Faisal after their one point last night and then comes Tema Youth and Bechem Chelsea. At the other end of the table who would have imagined that Liberty Professionals would occupy the 12th spot?

Hasaacas are 13th, Gamba All Blacks follow with AshGold still at number 15.

Club (points)

Hearts (41)
All Stars (32)
Lions (31)
King Faisal (31)
Tema Youth (28)
Chelsea (28)
Eleven Wise (28)
Arsenals (26)
Kotoko (25)
Kessben (24)
RTU (24)
Liberty (22)
Hasaacas (20)
All Blacks (20)
AshGold (18)
Sp. Mirren (15)

What teams would be relegated in this year’s GPL(poll)

Still not sure? Here’s the table to help you make your decision!

Club (points)

1. Hearts (40)
2. King Faisal (30)
3. All Stars (29)
4. Wise (28)
5. Lions (28)
6. Chelsea (27)
7. B Arsenals (26)
8. Kotoko (25)
9. Tema Youth (25)
10. Kessben (24)
11. Liberty Prof (22)
12. RTU (21)
13. All Blacks (19)
14. Hasaacas (19)
15. AshantiGold (15)
16. Mirren (14)