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.
Morifing Donzo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Asante Kotoko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Cletus Nombil arrives at Asante Kotoko with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Asante Kotoko. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asante Kotoko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paschal Durugbor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Asante Kotoko, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Samuel Djiku after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Peter Amidu Acquah 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.
In brief
The dugoutKwame Opoku dropped after a run of poor form
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asante Kotoko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Asante Kotoko, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Samuel Djiku after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
32 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Asante Kotoko lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Asante Kotoko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
Asante Kotoko have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Ajax Cape Town 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.
Asante Kotoko had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Mamelodi Sundowns, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Add another name to the list: BA All Stars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emmanuel Antwi. The answer from Asante Kotoko has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Asante Kotoko has been clear about where Inusah Adam stands, which is more than many ever get.
In brief
The dugoutHenry Ansu asks for a word with the manager
This is the season the town will measure the next twenty against. The trophy travels home with the squad, and the route through the streets was agreed days ago.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
63 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Asante Kotoko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gbolagade Adelowo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Asante Kotoko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Asante Kotoko have had the benefit of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Olanare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The deal that would have taken Musa Hamzata to New Edubiase United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Asante Kotoko with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Asante Kotoko can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mamelodi Sundowns keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Paschal Durugbor 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 Dean Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kaizer Chiefs 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.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
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.
“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 Asante Kotoko will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Asante Kotoko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Asante Kotoko. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asante Kotoko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Asante Kotoko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Chigozie Ani was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Asante Kotoko, another week without a signature from Chigozie Ani.
“I watch every Asante Kotoko game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Zeleznicar Pancevo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mohammed Galadima trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Something was said to Philip Amoh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Position 1 on 63 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Kwame Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Aaron Olanare will call it something else in private.
“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 dugout26 Apr 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Samuel Djiku to a room that had heard them before.
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 Elvis Baffour is on it.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Kwame Opoku
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Musa Hamzata will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Asante Kotoko the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kwame Opoku 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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Chigozie Ani 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.
Liberty Professionals next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Asante Kotoko pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asante Kotoko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Asante Kotoko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kwame Opoku 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
Marked 7.42 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match3 Apr 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Asante Kotoko. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.08, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Asante Kotoko will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I watch every Asante Kotoko game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Great Olympics runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Zakaria Fuseini has his answer from Asante Kotoko; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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 Elvis Baffour is on it.
Wa All Stars next, and one man in the Asante Kotoko dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Asante Kotoko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Two goals and a mark of 9.32 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Asante Kotoko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Asante Kotoko they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aaron Olanare and Asante Kotoko agree another 2 years.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.93 beside his name.
Kwame Opoku 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
Kwame Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Something was said to Philip Amoh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Kwame Opoku
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Asante Kotoko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Asante Kotoko have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Asante Kotoko is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Asante Kotoko offered $1.8M; Berekum Chelsea said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
New Edubiase United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Asante Kotoko were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Asante Kotoko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Kwame Opoku takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwame Opoku provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
14 goals and a season average of 7.23 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dean Grobler 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.
Marked 8.37 — 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.
In brief
Player ratingsPaschal Durugbor was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Musa Hamzata
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Asante Kotoko people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Add another name to the list: Heart of Lions have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Peter Amidu Acquah. The answer from Asante Kotoko has not changed — yet.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Isaac Mintah was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Kwame Opoku 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 Dean Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dean Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 23 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Saaka Dauda was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.68. 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Kwame Opoku in the middle of it, and Great Olympics unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Liberty Professionals next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
In brief
The dugoutAaron Olanare dropped after a run of poor form
Paschal Durugbor and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Dean Grobler 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.
Marked 7.98 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Asante Kotoko had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Aaron Olanare
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Samuel Djiku on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Asante Kotoko, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Great Olympics in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aaron Olanare 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Asante Kotoko will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Emmanuel Antwi decided nobody was going anywhere. BA All Stars had no time left to answer.
Kwame Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
Marked 8.05 — 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Asante Kotoko know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Samuel Djiku kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Chances created: 9. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
Kwame Opoku 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.
Match21 Nov 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Asante Kotoko. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Grobler 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lord Hilary Adabo and Asante Kotoko agree another 3 years.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Samuel Djiku kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Aaron Olanare 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kwame Opoku. 2‑1 against Hasaacas, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for Asante Kotoko. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Out, 0‑0 to BA All Stars, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Up for the corner, and Andrews Ntim delivers — 7.19
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Andrews Ntim scored, was marked 7.19, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Dean Grobler 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.
A 2‑0 win over Heart of Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Kwame Opoku and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Aaron Olanare 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.
A 2‑1 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Saaka Dauda is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Two goals and a mark of 8.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two of the goals had his name somewhere on them, which is the afternoon a manager wants from anybody asked to both create and finish. 7.74, and 2 involvements.
Kwame Opoku 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Dean Grobler 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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
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.
4‑0, and Saaka Dauda took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Asante Kotoko tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Saaka Dauda takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saaka Dauda provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Asante Kotoko, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chigozie Ani 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Saaka Dauda in the middle of it, and Bechem United unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Sep 2026
8 new faces, and Asante Kotoko 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.
“I did not go to Great Olympics to sit and watch. I want to come back to Asante Kotoko and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 19 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
The offer from BA All Stars for Walid Fuseini was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The deal that would have taken Isaac Mintah to Inter Allies has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Asante Kotoko with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Dean Grobler 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Christian Mohammed is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The plan went upstairs and came back down. Nothing about that will make a headline anywhere else, and everybody who works at the training ground will remember it for years.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chigozie Ani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The offer from Shooting Stars for Mohammed Yahaya was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Asante Kotoko can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Aaron Olanare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Asante Kotoko have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Dean Grobler from Free State Stars for $6.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
The name of Hubert Gyau has come up in conversations Asante Kotoko were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Dean Grobler 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.