Great Footballers In Ghana Who Warmed The Bench After They Were Poached
Yaw Asamoah – Eleven Wise to Asante Kotoko 1985
Sam Boateng – Hasaacas to Asante Kotoko 1985
Emmanuel Acheampong – Bofoakwa Tano to Asante Kotoko 1985
Atta Kofi -B.A United to Asante Kotoko 1985
Anane Kobo – Real Tamale United to Asante Kotoko 1985
Emmanuel Aidoo – Arnold Warriors to Hearts of Oak 1987
Kwaku Menka – 1985
Kofi Bekyi – 1984
Marlon Quarshie – Agaza Club, Togo to Hearts of Oak 1985
George Kennedy – Asante Kotoko 1984.
Addison Menya – Okwahu United 1986
Aboagye Dacosta – Okwahu United to Asante Kotoko 1987
Joseph Mensah – Standfast to Hearts of Oak 1989
Anane Kobo after winning the top scorer award in the 1984 league season with RTU was poached by Asante Kotoko. He got an early injury which put him out of the game. Yaw Asamoah was a great midfielder with Sekondi Eleven Wise who was bought by Kotoko but he never played in his new club.
Samuel Boateng is the brother of left winger Asare Boateng, both of whom joined Asante Kotoko from Sekondi Hasaacas. Sam who played the no8 position was hardly featured but Asare broke into the first team of Kotoko and became a regular of the Black Stars.
Emmanuel Acheampong was the captain of Bofoakwa in the early 1980s. He also made it to the Black Stars list. At Kotoko, he hardly got playing time until his name fizzled out. Aboagye Dacosta was a pillar at the left full-back position for Okwahu United in 1986, the year Okwahu reigned supreme.
He was transferred to Kotoko in the 1988 season but joined the ranks of the second-string team, occasionally called to duty when the going got tough for Kotoko.
Whilst Kotoko benched Atta Kofi most of the time upon his arrival from BA United, the center-forward burst from obscurity to the limelight when he joined Okwahu United in 1986, becoming one of the club’s top scorers. Joseph Mensah was a nimble-footed dribbler who joined Hearts of Oak with others en masse from the relegated Accra Standfast in the 1989 league season.
Great as Joseph Mensah was, he was overshadowed by Osumanu Iddi and Osumanu Sackey who were part of the group that made it to Hearts from Standfast. Strange it was.
Emmanuel Aidoo was a fluid left-winger with Apeguso Arnold Warriors. He was part of the new entrants to Hearts dubbed the twinkle twinkle little stars in 1987. Predictably, he was featured in the early matches of the transformed side but got missing well in advance of the end of the season.
George Kennedy, Kofi Bekyi, and Kwaku Menka were unsung heroes of Asante Kotoko who were used as substitutes. Their full-time play was in less-fancied or exhibition matches. Though they were great, the preponderance of heavyweight players at the time gave them a dog’s chance in the first team.