The management of Hearts of Oak feel slighted by what they described as deceit by Coach Kim Grant over his inability to produce his license A more than a year after securing the Hearts coaching job, an official of the club has disclosed.
Prior to his appointment in November, 2018 by the former Managing Director of Hearts, Mark Noonan, Grant reportedly assured the club that he had completed the UEFA License A course awaiting the award of his certificate. This assurance, according to the Hearts officials, compelled the club’s management to hand over the job to the coach.
However unknowing to the Hearts management, the coach had not obtained any such certificate because almost a year of waiting the coach was unable to produce his license despite assuring his employers it would be ready soon.
“Initially, he told us he has a License B and that he has sat and passed the examination for the License A, and based on that, he was giving the job thinking that within a short period he would get the certificate.
“Then a whole year past, no certificate has come and later he told us that there was something he still has to do and he has done that now and within 30 days the certificate will come,” the Hearts officials explained to the Graphic Sports on condition of anonymity.
This assurance, according to the source, also encouraged the Ghana Football Association (GFA ) to pass him to handle the Phobians for the 2019/20 Premier League season in the hope that within 30 days, Grant would be ready with his certificate in fulfilment of Club Licensing Regulations.
But after the 30 days elapsed without Grant producing his certificate, the GFA reportedly wrote to Hearts threatening to sanction the club if their coach did not meet the mandatory licensing requirement to coach a premier league team.
“Based on that, the FA also gave him the benefit of the doubt. Now the certificate hasn’t come and a couple of days ago the FA wrote to us that if by the end of this month the certificate A doesn’t come then Hearts shall be sanctioned.
“It would be stupid on our [Hearts management] part to sit down unconcerned so we had to take a decision than to wait for the whole club to be sanctioned”, the source intimated.
According to the source, the coach who was paid $10,000 each month had also not displayed any depth of knowledge in the job and even if he was able to secure the certificate now there was no way the 47-year-old coach will be re-engaged by the club.
Coach Grant refused to react to the allegations when the Graphic Sports contact him except to say that he was not granting any interviews to the media.