Kickoff (Cape Town)
24 November 2008
The Administrative Manager of the Ghana League Clubs Association, Kurt Okraku, says it will be a disaster for clubs in the Professional League Board of the Ghana Football Association does not come up with a sponsor for the League by the end of the week.
The Ghana Premier League was hit by the late withdrawal of cellular phone company Onetouch two days before the start of the new season leaving the clubs without 40 per cent of their 150,000 dollars season take that they get from the 2.5 million dollar deal.
Okraku says the pull has obstructed the club's plans for the beginning of the season and says he hopes the PLB can find a solution as quickly as possible.
"It was an unfortunate decision," he told KickOffGhana.com.
"The clubs have been expecting the money as was agreed. We will be patient in the meantime even though many of the clubs are cash strapped and in need of money so anything short of a new sponsor by the close of the week could be a disaster."
Okraku feels all parties involved in the deal could have done enough to make the deal work but feels particularly hard done by the late pull out.
"I can understand Onetouch's issues but these things are reciprocal," he said.
"You don't wait at the last minute to drop this. If one party knew they were not in a position to do this the clubs would have prepared adequately. But this is too bitter a pill to swallow at the time it came.
"A lot of clubs budgeted for the money and built their winning bonuses and a lot of things around it. I don't know how most of them will survive without it."
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