Former Hearts of Oak and Ghana defender Amankwah Mireku believes the club has been woefully affected by the instability of their playing body.

Arguably the biggest club in Ghana, the Phobians have endured frustrating times in both domestic and international competitions since last winning the Premier League in 2009.

Their last FA Cup title came as far back as in 2000 when they won a treble of titles including the Caf Champions League.

“The real problem with Hearts of Oak has been consistency. The club has not been consistent when it comes to keeping players for long,” former Hearts captain Mireku, a member of the Champions League-winning team who also won the 2001 Caf Super Cup and the 2004 Caf Confederation Cup, said, as reported by Ghanasoccernet.

“I also think the players are not making good use of the Hearts of Oak platform or rather the club hasn't been able to take advantage of using the players well for a while.

“The players come and they leave within a short period and that has been the problem of the day for Hearts, they are not consistent.

"A player plays for a season or two and then he leaves, so it’s always about new players coming into the team. However, during our time, we had players who had been there for like three years, so there was consistency."

Hearts' performance in the league this year has been nothing but topsy-turvy as they currently sit ninth on the 18-team table.

On Sunday, the Phobians beat lower division side Danbort FC 2-0 to book a place in the Last 32 of the FA Cup.

Mireku was Ghana's first-choice right-back at the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) in Mali.