Tamale, June 2, GNA - The National Channels Council (NCC), a supporters=92 wing of Real Tamale United (RTU) has expressed its gratitude to Wienco Ghana Limited for increasing its sponsorship package to the club up to 900 million cedis this year.

The NCC said the package had come at an opportune time when the Club was "passing through a difficult time resulting in the furore of supporters out of the abortive sponsorship deal with Mr. Herbert Mensah".

The supporters commendation was contained in a press statement issued in Tamale on Friday and copied to the GNA Sports that was signed by Mr. Adam Nantogmah and Mr. Jawhari Baba-Duah, Chairman and Programme Coordinator of the NCC.

The Council also expressed its gratitude to Wienco for showing its interest in helping to construct a temporary 3,000-seat capacity stand at the Kaladan Park for RTU.

They lauded Vice-President Alhaji Aliu Mahama, a former Board Chairman of RTU, for donating a bus worth 18,000 dollars to RTU and expressed the hope that his gesture would inspire other Board members to live up to their financial commitments as shareholders of the Club. The statement supported the call made by the acting Board Chairman of RTU, Lepowura Alhaji Nurudeen Jawula for a reshuffle of the Board to make the members more responsive to their obligations. It commended the significant role the out-going Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Abubakar Saddique Boniface and his Deputy Mr. Mohammed Amin Adam, played towards the launch of identification cards for supporters of RTU.

It added that; "Their views and suggestions on that day put the general support for the Club back on a high pedestal". The NCC welcomed the new Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Mustapha Ali Idris and his deputy, Mr Issah Ketekewu to the region and expressed the hope that as soccer enthusiasts and fans of the RTU, they would contribute to uplift the morale of the Club to achieve further successes.

It said that the way forward for RTU rested much on the supporters and made a passionate appeal to both the Board and Management of the Club to encourage the fans and stakeholders to project the image of the Club to an enviable position in Ghana football.