Marked for Vincent Sithole
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 May 2028
Supporters organise against the Ashanti Gold board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom29 May 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Ashanti Gold
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market29 May 2028
“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.
Market29 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Ashanti Gold is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 May 2028
Ebenezer Assifuah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The dugout29 May 2028
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.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincent Sithole 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.
Squad29 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gift Phiri commits to Ashanti Gold for another 3 years.
The dugout29 May 2028
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 May 2028
24 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ebenezer Assifuah commits to Ashanti Gold for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Richardson Denzell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincent Sithole 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 dugout8 May 2028
Naphtali Mokoena 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 dugout8 May 2028
Isaac Twum 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
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.
Match15 Apr 2028
It had gone 7 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Richardson Denzell 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.
Match15 Apr 2028
A 2‑1 win over Hearts of Oak, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces17 Apr 2028
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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincent Sithole 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Abdou Diene
“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 ratings17 Apr 2028
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Ashanti Gold had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad27 Mar 2028
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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Vincent Sithole 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Thomas Agyepong 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
Abdou Diene knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ashanti Gold, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
The manager makes Steve Hoffman a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ashanti Gold. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout6 Mar 2028
Kelvin Obeng: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ashanti Gold have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market6 Mar 2028
Only the photograph left for Selasie Bakai
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Selasie Bakai will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ashanti Gold the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad6 Mar 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Richardson Denzell commits to Ashanti Gold for another 4 years.
Squad6 Mar 2028
The step up is real for Gift Phiri
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ebenezer Assifuah was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match4 Mar 2028
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent Sithole was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead6 Mar 2028
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincent Sithole, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Feb 2028
18 days out for Thomas Agyepong 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.
Match14 Feb 2028
Every point is an argument now for Ashanti Gold
Position 14 and 17 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Richardson Denzell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
Ashanti Gold asked and Eintracht Frankfurt said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match12 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ibrahim Tanko. 1‑0 against New Edubiase United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Vincent Sithole 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Marked 8.03 — 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph George, and the manager let it.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Isaac Twum gets picked when it counts
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Loan watch
8 goals on loan for Bashar Musa
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Jan 2028
A fracture rules Thomas Agyepong out for 42 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
0‑5 against Medeama, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ashanti Gold have done the hard part with Kaizer Chiefs, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Richardson Denzell 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.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Haifa have kept their man, and Ashanti Gold go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout24 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Isaac Twum, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent Sithole was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead24 Jan 2028
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad6 Dec 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 91 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Loan watch6 Dec 2027
“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 Ashanti Gold, and 0 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Steve Hoffman, and the manager let it.
Match4 Dec 2027
Great Olympics left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Dec 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 0‑1 Andrew Mohammed left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Vincent Sithole
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Vincent Sithole has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ashanti Gold have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Joseph Ablorh 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 Joseph Ablorh is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Nov 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Elvis Manu 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.
Match30 Oct 2027
1‑3 to Aduana Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joseph George, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Andrew Mohammed after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings1 Nov 2027
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
The dugout1 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
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.
Market1 Nov 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Oct 2027
Elvis Manu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincent Sithole, and the manager let it.
Match23 Oct 2027
A 1‑1 draw with New Edubiase United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout25 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Andrew Mohammed was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Ashanti Gold dressing room was either.
Looking ahead25 Oct 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Aduana Stars in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The plan did not have a place for Mohammed Fatau
Nobody at Ashanti Gold is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Loan watch25 Oct 2027
8 appearances at Genclerbirligi and the goals keep coming. Ashanti Gold are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Player ratings25 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 8. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Oct 2027
Bechem United are out and Ashanti Gold go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Age has not caught David Simiyu yet — 8.07
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.07 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings18 Oct 2027
Isaac Twum goes up and wins it — 7.98
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 7.98 for the rest of it.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Elvis Manu 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.
Match16 Oct 2027
BA All Stars left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Andrew Mohammed to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
Isaac Twum 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Ashanti Gold have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market9 Aug 2027
$330.0K. No player has ever cost Ashanti Gold more, and expectation arrives with him.
Squad9 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Emmanuel Ntim out for 61 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces9 Aug 2027
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: Kelvin Obeng from Medeama for $330.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Boardroom9 Aug 2027
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Mensah 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
16 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout9 Aug 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.
The dugout9 Aug 2027
Fred Dabanka knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ashanti Gold, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Bathusi Aubaas 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Seth Paintsil was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Fred Dabanka
“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 dugout3 May 2027
Seth Paintsil knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Seth Paintsil trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 May 2027
Joseph George 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 Joseph George is on it.
The dugout3 May 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.