Hearts of Oak coach Kenichi Yatsuhashi has revealed that the severest criticism he has ever received in his life as a coach was when he decided to take up Hearts of Oak coaching job.

The Japanese trainer was appointed to take up the coaching job of the Phobians after the dismissal of Coach Herbert Addo with eight matches to end last season.

The move attracted a lot of sour comments from football pundits, supporters of the club and past directors as they believe the 46-year-old trainer is inexperienced to handle Hearts of Oak.

“I was very shocked on the first day,” Yatsuhashi recalled in an interview

“This was the first time I was ever criticized this much before my first day training.”

“But there are also some people who are really supporting me.”

“The attention that I am getting on the television, the radio, the Internet, the print media—my picture is there every day.”

He added: “I never coached a professional team before. This was the first time an Asian coach has come to coach a Ghanaian team. So people are very, very critical.”

“But when I woke up on the second day, I started to enjoy the pressure. From that moment on, anything people said, either positive or negative, I have been able to convert that energy positively into my motivation, so it's been good.”

The American-trained Japanese is yet to win a game in the pre-season after suffering a heavy 4-0 defeat to WAFA and losing on two occasions to Libyan giants Ahli Tripoli.