Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Great Olympics will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mas´ud Danjuma provided it, and the 8.91 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fred Dabanka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Bernard Asante after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Great Olympics, and both men came out saying it was fine.
0‑5 against Wa All Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Great Olympics will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Great Olympics this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Assifuah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Bernard Asante to a room that had heard them before.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Great Olympics will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Great Olympics this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Fred Dabanka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Bernard Asante was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Great Olympics dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Aduana Stars? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Wa All Stars in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Great Olympics will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fred Dabanka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Great Olympics, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Great Olympics will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Great Olympics are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Assifuah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Simon Obonde and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Great Olympics, another week without a signature from Oluwaseun Oladimeji.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bernard Asante after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Justus Ohanu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Great Olympics, another week without a signature from Chinedu Chukwu.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Bernard Asante to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Great Olympics will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Chinedu Chukwu was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Fred Dabanka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Bernard Asante after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Great Olympics will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It finished 3-6. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Great Olympics have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Wasiu Jimoh and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Great Olympics will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Fred Dabanka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gladson Awako’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Great Olympics needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Hearts of Oak
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Great Olympics will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ebenezer Ackahbi is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ebenezer Assifuah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fred Dabanka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Bernard Asante left the room before anybody could ask which.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutEvans Oppong asks for a word with the manager
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 92 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Wasiu Jimoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ebenezer Assifuah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad28 Sep 2026
16 new faces, and Great Olympics are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Bernard Asante left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody at Great Olympics is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Simon Obonde has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutEvans Oppong wants a proper job in this side
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Imamu Bala
Player ratingsThe whistle followed Fred Dabanka around
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 100 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Great Olympics scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 108 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Marked 9.55 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
A 3‑1 win over New Edubiase United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Fred Dabanka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Bernard Asante could afford to be generous.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Great Olympics can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Great Olympics close the window on a squad of their own making
30 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Great Olympics this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Great Olympics asked and Bendel Insurance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Jonah Aryeetey has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Great Olympics, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $20.0K — a club that wants Isaac Addo enough to be asked twice.
The offer went to Hasaacas this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fred Dabanka is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and Great Olympics go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Justus Ohanu has just signed for Great Olympics, and for once the answer mattered.
Great Olympics had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Hearts of Oak, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Fred Dabanka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Great Olympics asked and Liberty Professionals said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Great Olympics will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
A loan enquiry to Rangers International: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Wasiu Jimoh has, at Great Olympics, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Wasiu Jimoh was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Assifuah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Bernard Boakye has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Amos Ofori has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Great Olympics this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Assifuah is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Great Olympics were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Hearts of Oak have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Bechem United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.