Former Black Stars and Accra Hearts of Oak midfielder, Laryea Kingston has revealed that his decision to remove his pants after scoring a winner against his former club Accra Great Olympics was unusual.
“Out of context. I do not really know why I removed my pants”.
After starting his career at the Accra based club, Laryea was transferred on loan from Great Olympics to Libyan club, Al-Ittihad Tripoli in 2000. A deal that did not work out for the Ghanaian as he was not paid for six months.
“Before joining Accra Hearts of Oak, there were a lot of problems. Olympics transferred me to Libya and things did not go on well there. I signed the contract and for six months I was not paid. I called the Olympics management to help me out but no one helped.
So after a while, I found my way back to Accra and as such, I left my ITC. And when came back, I went to Olympics and when they realized I had left my ITC, they left me out of the squad”.
The 39-year-old said due to the rejection from his parent-club, he started training with their cross-town rivals, Accra Hearts of Oak.
“Before joining Great Olympics, Accra Hearts of Oak were already interested in me so I started training with them. When I went to Hearts, the likes of Harry Zakuor, Ernest Thompson all invited and I told them about my situation and they agreed that we will not sign any official contract with me yet but they will accept me into the team and train with the team.
Ernest Thompson also went ahead to write to FIFA to fight for my ITC. So I stayed a full year without playing football but I was on the payroll of Accra Hearts of Oak. Had it not been the challenges with my transfer, I would have been a part of the team that won the 2000 CAF Champions League.
I was training with them, they were paying me regularly and with every international tournament, I will be a part of the team and all of that until my ITC came back to me”.
The former Black Stars star revealed that after receiving his ITC, Olympics tried battling with Hearts of Oak over his eligibility to play for them.
“So in the 2001/2002 season, after Olympics realized I had got it back, they took the case to Players’ Status Committee stating I was their player and not their rivals. In fact, they dragged the issue that after a loan deal, I had to return to them and not Hearts of Oak.
All of that generated a lot of issues and I am grateful to Abu Alhassan who stood in for me. He told the management team of Olympics not to disturb my life and that I was going to play a great part in the national team so they should leave me alone to focus on my career”
Laryea Kingston played for Accra Hearts of Oak for two seasons and got a move to the Israeli side, Maccabi Ahi Nazareth before subsequently joining Hapoel Tel Aviv the same season.