Departing Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder Gladson Awako, has opened up on the negative effect the sacking of Serbian Manager Slavko Matic had on the Phobians performance in the 2022/23 betpawa Premiere League season.
The Serbian tactician was fired after few months in charge of the club over seemingly poor performance.
Former deputy Asante Kotoko coach David Ocloo, Immediately took over the managerial role, where he put up an uninspiring display leading to the Phobians almost suffering relegation.
“Too many changes in coaching impacted negatively on our performance last season. We started with Samuel Boadu, then later Matic who didn’t last long, followed by David Ocloo. All these coaches had different philosophies which warranted time for players to adapt and this affected our performance,” He told Akoma FM in an interview.
“We were improving under Matic, it was just unfortunate that he left, David Ocloo tried his best but because the pressure was too much it couldn’t work.
“Coaches needs time, you can’t appoint them and expect magic or instant results, so I feel the changes at the technical side and injuries affected our performance.
“Yes, the departure of Slavko Matic really affected us and it didn’t help at all. Before Matic we were at the 12th position but we moved to the 3rd position with him in charge and now see where we ended the season.” the ex- Hearts captain concluded.
Meanwhile, FIFA recently ordered Hearts of Oak to pay an amount of $14,002 to Matic as compensation for a wrongful termination of his contract in March, 2023.
In a statement, the club said they had “already proceeded to pay Mr. Matic weeks ago the amount (less loans he took which he did not mention to FIFA).”
The 47-year-old, who succeeded Samuel Boadu in October last year, was forced out of the club by fans who stormed the training ground and prevented him from conducting training sessions following a string of poor results.
Matic was then relieved of his duties shortly after the incident, but the club failed to pay any compensation owed him in lieu of termination.
See the statement below:
