“Polo and Shamo Quaye Inspired My Generation” -Amankwa Mireku

2004 Confederation Cup winner and former Accra Hearts of Oak captain Amankwa Mireku says his generation of players at Hearts of Oak were inspired by the qualities of their legends, notably Mohammed Polo and Shamo Quaye.

Speaking exclusively to Skyy Power FM, Amankwa Mireku made profound observations about the qualities of his senior colleagues describing them as models of inspiration to his generation.

“We took inspiration from Polo and Shamo Quaye, that though they had better quality than our generation but couldn’t win the Champions League. We vowed to win the Champions League; it’s not only about playing, it’s about commitment and what you inject into what you were doing”, he told Skyy Power Sports, Takoradi.

Known as the Dribbling Magician, Mohammed Polo, alongside Peter Lamptey, Mama Acquah, Robert Hammond, Anas Seidu constituted  the “Fearsome Five” and formed the backbone of the Hearts of Oak team during his career days at the club. Shamo Quaye (late), affectionately called ‘Shamo Leather, a sublimely skillful schemer, was a member of a batch of multi-talented young players of Hearts of Oak constituted by Nyaho Tamakloe and nicknamed the Musical Youth which blazed the trail in the GPL in the late 80’s up to the early 90’s. Other notable members of the group were Sam Johnson ‘Foyoo’, Emmanuel Armah ‘Senegal’, Eben Dugbartey, Joe Addo, Anthony Tieku, Ibrahim Labaran, Ablade Kumah etc.

Mireku won quite a number of domestic trophies with the Hearts of Oak, including the CAF Champions League, Super Cup in 2000 and 2001 respectively, after which he captained Hearts of Oak to win the 2004 Confederation Cup.