The Ashanti Regional Director of the National Sports Authority (NSA), Kwame Baah Mensah, is calling on Asante Kotoko to accord respect to the outfit described as ‘landlords’ of the Baba Yara stadium.

Kotoko has been at a crossroads with the NSA after the Authority announced a review of user fee charges for use of the Baba Yara stadium beginning the 2024/25 football season.

The changes include Kotoko paying for refreshment of VIPS and security on match days, charging the club Ghc5,000 before each game, the NSA mounting pitch panels and advertising their sponsors on the scoreboard, 10% deductions from gate proceeds as well as closing the stadium in the month December for other commercial activities.

But this user fee review has not been received well by management and fans of Asante Kotoko with some supporters threatening to lock up the stadium in December to stop the National Sports Authority from using the facility during the yuletide for musical concerts and other non-sporting activities.

Speaking to Luv Sports Delali Atiase in an interview, the Regional Director of the NSA, Kwame Baah Mensah stressed the need for Asante Kotoko fans to show some respect to the Authority as owners of the facility.

“This is a matter of a landlord and tenant situation. It is true the government appreciates the efforts of club owners and all stakeholders and in fact the sporting fraternity is one key area that the government really has a lot of attention on. But we are saying that we do not want a total breakdown of our facilities but please we should be respected somehow as landlords who want our property to last beyond generations. And so, we are pleading with all our stakeholders including those who want to use our facility as their home grounds that we can all come together at a roundtable to see how we can get the best out of the facility,” he stated.

Meanwhile, the NSA boss is also calling on Kotoko to collaborate with his outfit to devise ways of mobilizing their supporters to the stadium in order not to have difficulty in paying the Ghc5,000 charge for each match day.

“We want them [Kotoko] to use their various platforms to encourage their supporters to attend matches because I think these are all critical issues that all our stakeholders including Asante Kotoko should pay more attention to. How do you get supporters to the pitch? Kwame Baah Mensah quizzed.

“We are here and ready to partner with them in whatever way and manner to get the spectators back to the pitch. If we have the stadium filled, I don’t think Ghc5,000 is anything to our dear Asante Kotoko. We want to read more from Asante Kotoko on strategies in bringing back spectators to the stadium. I think this is an area we need to pay attention to,” he stressed.