By S. Siapha Mulbah
The head coach of Bea Mountain Football Club, Robert Lartey, alias ‘Coach Pela’, has resigned from his post as manager of the Grand Cape Mount County-based first division football club at the Liberia Football Association national league.
After winning the league in 2022 with former champions, Watanga Football Club, Lartey crossed over to the “Gold Boys from Kinjor” the following season hoping to set a record of winning the league back-to-back with two separate clubs, but his dream did not materialize, despite the splendid performance of his new club at the time.
After his crossover to Bea Mountain in 2022 for the 2022/2023 league season, the team played in both national league and Orange Cup during the season. In the Orange Cup, they did not reach an advanced or appreciative stage but were in good form in the national league. Although his first season with the club, they remained unbeaten at the climax of their 26 league fixtures.
With the record of being the only team that was never defeated in the 2022 season, Bea Mountain still finished as runners-up to the Liberia Shipping and Corporate Registry (LISCR) Football Club, something seen by many as a result of what they described as unnecessary draws in crucial matches.
Fast-forward to the ongoing league season, Bea Mountain is currently in the sixth position on the 14-team league table after 15 league matches. The club has won seven games, drawn four, and lost four, to settle them in their place with 25 points, and they were booted out of the 2023/2024 edition of the Orange Cup by Shaita Football Club, a second division national league club, during the first phase.
With such scope of performance since his takeover of the club, it is presumed that the 2023 best coach award winner at the Liberia Football Association feels not to be achieving any new accomplishment and has alluded it to the lack of total support from members working along with him at the technical level of the club.
On Tuesday, January 28, 2024 in Monrovia, Ben Davis, President of Bea Mountain, in a media engagement, confirmed that the leadership of the club has received the resignation of Coach Lartey and is working on the necessary steps to have a suitable replacement on the touchline.
According to Davis, the resignation of the club’s head coach has been accepted by the management in good faith, though they trust and believe that he had an impressive work done with the club, despite his decision to quit the job.
