Former Asante Kotoko assistant coach and current boss of Northern City, Abdulai Gazale, has explained that a rift between him and his then-boss, Prosper Narteh Ogum, led to his exit.

After coming into his position for the second time, Ogum said he couldn’t work with Gazale again for reasons unknown.

Gazale joined the Porcupine Warriors in 2019 to serve as the assistant coach to Maxwell Konadu, but he was left on his own at the club following the exit of his boss and was subsequently tasked with handling the club's youth side.

He has done that for the past few years and occasionally joined the first team, especially two seasons ago, where he served as the club's stop-gap coach in the middle of the campaign after the sacking of Burkinabe gaffer Seydou Zerbo.

Abdulai Gazale has now explained what happened between him and Ogum in training that led to him stepping down from his position before the start of last season.

"Initially, Ogum never doubted my capability, but at a point, some of the players told me that any time we are in training and I correct a mistake in them, Ogum's posture doesn't look good. The senior players told me this, but I told them I had not been observing that. Remember, I had worked with some of the players under Maxwell, Smith, and Barreto, and they were used to me,” Gazale told Tamale-based Sagani TV.

"It went on for a long time, and I finally noticed it. It came to a point that if Coach Ogum and the other assistants were planning a training program, they would not even allow me to see what was going on.

“From then, I called for a meeting with Nana Yaw Amponsah, saying that I wanted to step down and didn’t want to be part of the team anymore. Nana Yaw Amponsah declined my request. It continued, and before Ogum could tell Nana Yaw that he couldn’t work with me anymore, I had already stopped going for training.”