17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Great Olympics lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaiah Ejeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Great Olympics the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Francis Bukari 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.
Everything agreed with Ashanti Gold, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The offer went to New Edubiase United 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Heart of Lions have kept their man, and Great Olympics go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Ekuban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Great Olympics lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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 The request is on a desk at Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Asante Kotoko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Liberty Professionals is saying, and nobody at Great Olympics is enjoying the guessing.
Great Olympics have gone to Heart of Lions with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The offer went to New Edubiase United 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.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Great Olympics lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Ekuban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 6.76 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Marked 8.20 — 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 words a physio says slowly. 52 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.
“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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Great Olympics they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The words a physio says slowly. 59 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Benjamin 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.
1‑3 to Liberty Professionals, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph Ekuban 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Great Olympics lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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 words a physio says slowly. 87 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaiah Ejeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Great Olympics the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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. 7.90 beside his name.
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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
David Benjamin 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 Kwesi Asmah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Kwesi Asmah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 73 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Ekuban 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 dugout16 Oct 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Baba Mensah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Evans Mensah is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Joseph Ekuban signs something — a contract at Great Olympics or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Great Olympics will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Isaiah Ejeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Great Olympics the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Benjamin 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.
Berekum Chelsea left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Kwesi Asmah 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Medeama waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 14 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Okai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Great Olympics the goodbyes have quietly begun.
David Benjamin 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.
The offer went to Inter Allies 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 35 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Great Olympics is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Kwesi Asmah 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 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.
David Benjamin 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.
$13.0K on the table at Bechem United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Great Olympics offered $15.0K; Inter Allies 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.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Kwesi Asmah 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 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 Isaiah Ejeh is on it.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Evans Oppong will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Great Olympics the goodbyes have quietly begun.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Great Olympics have done the hard part with Medeama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abubakar Taheer and Great Olympics agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Simon Obonde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Asmah 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 at Great Olympics 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.
Position 14 and 24 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Everything was agreed with Medeama and then the doctor spoke. Great Olympics have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The phone has started ringing about Isaiah Ejeh again, and this time the name on the line is Hasaacas. Great Olympics are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
David Benjamin 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 Kwesi Asmah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Great Olympics people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Great Olympics have done the hard part with Medeama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 Isaiah Ejeh is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Michel Babatunde trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Great Olympics people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
Bashar Musa 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Asmah 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Samuel Boamah Quansah has his answer from Great Olympics; 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 Joseph Ekuban is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Tusker waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Heart of Lions will make the call about Isaiah Ejeh this week. Great Olympics have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Asmah 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 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.
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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Great Olympics have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Hapoel Kfar Saba for Evans Oppong 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.
Great Olympics asked and Medeama said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kwesi Asmah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amadu Abdulai 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.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lindokuhle Chonco, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Jun 2028
Seidu Ismaila 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.
In brief
The dugoutFrancis Bukari asks for a word with the manager
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.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Medeama waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Great Olympics is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal with Asante Kotoko is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Ekuban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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.
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.
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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Asmah 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 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 Isaiah Ejeh is on it.
The dugout29 May 2028
Seidu Ismaila 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.
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 Samuel Okai has written the date down.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Damien Bricks are not good
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 44 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Everybody at Great Olympics saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Squad15 May 2028
Kwesi Asmah 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 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.
Simon Obonde 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.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Matthew Agama 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.
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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Great Olympics has been clear about where Seidu Ismaila stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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.
Abubakar Taheer 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.
Joseph Ekuban scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Bechem United, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Joseph Ekuban 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.
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.
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 whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Joseph Ekuban and Great Olympics agree another 4 years.
David Benjamin 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.
Marked 8.08 — 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Great Olympics pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Rory Leech
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kwesi Asmah. 2‑1 against Ashanti Gold, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I did not go to Dewa United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Great Olympics and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 28 matches say the rest.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amos Asante on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Francis Bukari.
In brief
The dugoutGeorge Micheal has become a man the manager trusts
SquadGodfred Asiamah falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lerato Ntamane
David Benjamin 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 6 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Joseph Ekuban 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 easiest signature of my career.” Hakeem Otuyiga and Great Olympics agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“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 Taofeek Otaniyi.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Abubakar Taheer has come out of that comparison in the side, and Great Olympics have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutIsaiah Ejeh has become a man the manager trusts
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Medeama kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Great Olympics will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“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.
Position 14 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
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.
Everybody at Great Olympics saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kwesi Asmah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
That is the business done at Great Olympics until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
David Benjamin 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 Joseph Ekuban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with New Edubiase United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Asmah 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Heart of Lions scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
“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 Great Olympics, and 4 appearances in 20 say he has earned the hearing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Great Olympics and Asante Kotoko have settled on $250.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The deal with Hearts of Oak is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joseph Ekuban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 6.69 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Great Olympics know which stage they are at.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Great Olympics scored in the 99th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
A brace, and Joseph Ekuban takes the afternoon — 8.83
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joseph Ekuban provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wa All Stars have kept their man, and Great Olympics go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings3 Jan 2028
Evans Mensah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.32. 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kwesi Asmah 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.
Half the programme played, position 14, 12 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
“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 Great Olympics, and it is not being withdrawn.
Position 14 and 12 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“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 Great Olympics, and 4 appearances in 16 say he has earned the hearing.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Great Olympics 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Amos Asante after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
At 34 he has made the position his own, and the man he took it from has to find something to say about it. Great Olympics have a decision that made itself.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.20 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings8 Nov 2027
Up for the corner, and Baba Mensah delivers — 7.78
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Baba Mensah scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“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 Great Olympics, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Great Olympics are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Matthew Agama 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 brace, and Amadu Abdulai takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amadu Abdulai provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Lindokuhle Chonco has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
David Benjamin 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Okai and Great Olympics agree another 3 years.
“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 Great Olympics, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Great Olympics has been clear about where Seidu Ismaila stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
Hearts of Oak next, and one man in the Great Olympics dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gideon Asante Yeboah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.