Kumasi Asante Kotoko, arguably the best supported football club in Ghana is going to get rich courtesy a sumptuous sponsorship deal by communications giant Millicom operators of Tigo Mobile phones, worth nearly two million dollars. But the snag is that opinion is sharply divided on how the funds should be invested.

Club chairman Sylvester Asare Owusu suggests some of the cash should be used to revonate the club’s secretariat in Kumasi to befit its status as one of the best in Africa. But the Akyempinhene Nana Adusei Poku, a patron of the club thinks the money should be invested in players’ welfare and playground facilities

There is no doubt that good footballers that are well motivated make a team tick. English premier club Chelsea owner Abramovich has proved this by turning the otherwise drab West London club into a formidable force by investing in talented players.

I back the Akyempinhene’s suggestion. Kotoko should invest in quality players and pay them well. If the club continues to play well like they are doing this season their massive supporters will continue to fill the stands and that means a lot of funds in the coffers.

Sunday’s match in Kumasi against close rivals Hearts of Oak, for instance fetched a record two hundred and ten thousand Ghana Cedis (GHC210,000) which is the highest gate takings in the 50 year history of the national league.

I would like to add that some of the funds should be spent on training grounds a facility most Ghanaians don’t seem to attach any importance. Check where the so called top clubs train. It looks like a Ghanaian disease. No wonder the CAF had to sit on the organizers of the recent Ghana 2008 to work fast on training pitches. What most people lose sight of is that footballers and for that matter all sportsmen spend more time on training pitches than the actual venues of competitions.

Lets get our priorities right and learn from our counterparts in Europe and the Americas and all will be well.