Marked for Eric Oteng
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Dec 2027
A fracture rules Mohammed Fatau out for 53 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match11 Dec 2027
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Hasaacas had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Ashanti Gold did not stop to explain themselves.
Squad13 Dec 2027
At 21 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Eric Oteng 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
Three points for Ashanti Gold, 2‑1 the final word against Hasaacas in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces13 Dec 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Ninety minutes of Hakim Sulemana at his very best
Marked 8.28. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Ashanti Gold.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ashanti Gold told Gopolang Taunyane something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Ashanti Gold will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Nov 2027
74 days out for Mohammed Fatau after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ashanti Gold will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ashanti Gold may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Nov 2027
The medical room confirms 18 days on the sidelines for Torric Jebrin, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Eric Oteng 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pius Ibrahim, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.06, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Mustafa Yahaya is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Pius Ibrahim
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match20 Nov 2027
It needed Boy Madingwana to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Wa All Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Mohammed Fatau out for 81 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad15 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Lwandiso Radebe asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
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.
Market15 Nov 2027
Ashanti Gold have made Eric Oteng available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Squad15 Nov 2027
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Nov 2027
A fracture rules Mohammed Fatau out for 89 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Eric Oteng goes up and wins it — 7.87
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.87 for the rest of it.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Ashanti Gold may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Isaac Hemans 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.
Match6 Nov 2027
A 2‑0 win over Berekum Chelsea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Match6 Nov 2027
Ashanti Gold keep winning on the road
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
Prince Badu gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Oct 2027
112 days out for Mohammed Fatau after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ashanti Gold will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match13 Oct 2027
Inter Allies go through and Ashanti Gold go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Isaac Hemans and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
A touch he did not mean and a goal that goes in the book with his name against it. Ashanti Gold will not blame him tonight and he will not need them to.
Match16 Oct 2027
It needed Abdullah Monkhallah to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against BA All Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad4 Oct 2027
A fracture rules Mohammed Fatau out for 127 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad4 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Torric Jebrin and Ashanti Gold agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Eric Oteng in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Oct 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Selasie Bakai. 2‑0 against Inter Allies, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Boy Madingwana
“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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
A mark of 7.85, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Richmond Lamptey is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Mohammed Inusah, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad20 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Mohammed Fatau out for 141 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match18 Sep 2027
5 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match18 Sep 2027
1‑2 to Bechem United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 1‑2 Mohammed Inusah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad20 Sep 2027
The formation has left Prince Badu behind
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Ashanti Gold will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Emmanuel Ntim gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Emmanuel Ntim is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Eric Oteng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Manuel Mantey 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Slavia Prague 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.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match10 Apr 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Itumeleng Khune 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Eric Oteng gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Joseph Ablorh
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
Hakim Sulemana has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ashanti Gold will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Torric Jebrin 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Baba Mensah
“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.
Match19 Dec 2026
Liberty Professionals left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The form table has caught Eric Oteng
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
Cemran Dansin has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Ashanti Gold will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Chances created: 7. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad30 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Thomas Agyepong
“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.
Match28 Nov 2026
After 4 games, Ashanti Gold finally taste it again
The first defeat in 4 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Heart of Lions; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Marked 7.64. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Hakim Sulemana is on it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Joseph George has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Ashanti Gold will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Match28 Nov 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Heart of Lions came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad9 Nov 2026
The match ball belongs to Ebenezer Assifuah, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 9.56 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Hakim Sulemana, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.67
A mark of 7.67 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Match7 Nov 2026
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Itumeleng Khune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
Ashanti Gold keep winning on the road
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Eric Oteng
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Selasie Bakai commits to Ashanti Gold for another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Emmanuel Ntim has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ashanti Gold know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
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.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ashanti Gold, another week without a signature from Abdullah Monkhallah.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Medeama: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.