He believes former players of the Accra giants are ill-treated as compared to their bitterest rivals Asante Kotoko because the Kumasi giants sometimes assist their ex-footballers to acquire coaching licensing, but they are left to their own fate by the ‘Continental Club Masters’.
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Dida, a member of the Phobian squad that won the 2000 CAF Champions League trophy in an interview with Kumasi-based Kessben FM lamented that many of his colleagues including him regret being former players of the club due to the unhealthy treatments meted out to them by the club's hierarchy.
“At Kotoko, former players are always well treated because the club goes further in helping some of them acquire coaching and other related certificates which allows a good number of the former players return to the club and perform several roles.”
“As I talk, if I were a Kotoko fan, by now I would have been helped,” he said.
“But when you come to Hearts, no-one will notice your presence, left alone assist you. So I think Kotoko invests a lot into their former players better than my own Hearts of Oak."
"Sincerely, I am not expected to compare the aforementioned clubs due to their rivalry but I have no option because they are the only two biggest clubs in our country,” he concluded.
Eben Dida was a member of Hearts of Oak team that dominated the Ghanaian topflight league in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
In the year 2000, Hearts of Oak won a historic treble of CAF Champions League, FA and the Ghana Premier League.