Former Hearts of Oak coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi says it took the timely intervention of Ghanaian coach Yaw Preko to stop him from getting killed during his time in Nigeria.
The pair worked together for Nigerian Premier League side Ifeanyi Ubah in 2016 following a successful short stint with Ghanaian giants Hearts of Oak.
“I can’t tell you everything,” Kenichi told footballvsoblivion. “Bottom line, it was my assistant coach at Hearts of Oak who asked me to come with him. He was offered an assistant coaching role, on the condition that I would be the head coach, because of the success we’d had at Hearts of Oak in Ghana.”
He continued; “Myself and Yaw Preko, my assistant coach at that time, felt that it was a matter of life or death, seriously, for me to get out of the country and be safe,”
“I can’t really elaborate more than that, but, if it wasn’t for him coming between me and many people, I would have been dead with anyone even knowing.”
The Japanese trainer left the club for fear of his life which had come under constant threat.
He is currently the coach of the Indian side Lonestar Kashmir with his then assistant Yaw Preko now coach of Medeama SC.