Asante Kotoko management member Jerry Asare, in charge of operations, says he prefers the team does not venture into Africa where they qualify to play in the CAF Confederation Cup. Sullen and disappointed, Jerry echoed the desires of many followers of the team after they registered a cheerless 5:3 win over Great Olympics to finish third behind winners Hearts of Oak and Ashantigold on the Premier League. Going into the final games of the 2006/2007 league, Kotoko had hoped that a good win would see them pick the only remaining ticket for the CAF Champions League after Hearts of Oak booked themselves an early slot. But Ashantigold, the only threat to Kotoko’s hopes, were too happy with a narrow one-nil win over relegation candidates Fetteh Feyenoord, which ensured that they helped their own cause with the Champions League placing. Jerry Asare told Joy Sports there is a lot of work to be done on the playing body if the team was to go to Africa and he wished the rest of the management team would agree with him to suspend any campaign in Africa. He said ‘only the best is good for Kotoko’ and not only is the team’s leadership and followers disappointed at the failure to secure a Champions League slot, but they are also astonished by the poor standard of play of the team. He did not agree that the management rather failed the followers of the club after rumoured boardroom wrangling seemed to divide their front and dissipate their efforts. Jerry said management did its best except that they were not responsible for recruiting the players, while the technical team also saw some upheavals. Lawyer Kwame Boafo, also a management member of the team, had moments earlier expressed similar sentiments of disapproval for the team’s output and said he could not believe the team could concede three goals that cheaply. He attributed the poor output to injuries to a number of regular players as well as suspensions. On Friday, the All Sports newspaper said apart from player apathy and hasty changes in technical hands at the club, “a gigantic divide between the five management members of the club had ensured that the club's top officials had not met as a management body for more than two months because it might lead to a face-off between some members. All decisions on the forward march of the club for the past two or so months had been reached on phone among two or three of the management members, the paper reported. “While the mobile phone management style may be beneficial in terms of quick communication, it lacks the advantage of strategic deliberations and that seems to have been the bane of the club towards the final part of the season.” Kotoko had earlier in the league taken a command position and seemed all to prepared to retain the title. But according to the paper, mistrust and egocentrism had eaten so deep into the management that of the five members, Kwame Baah Nuakoh, the Director of Communications and George Amoako, the Director of Finance and Administration belonged to one faction. Sylvester Asare Owusu, the club's Chairman and Jerry Asare were also on one side. Lawyer Boafo, Secretary and legal brain was floating in the middle with a status akin to that of a referee. According to the All Sports, the last time all five members of Kotoko met was at a showdown meeting in Kumasi some time in February.