Marked for Jessimy Domingos
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad23 Apr 2029
Randy Dwumfour damages knee ligaments — 45 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Match23 Apr 2029
Position 13 on 32 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.
Market23 Apr 2029
“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.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Up for the corner, and Jessimy Domingos delivers — 6.93
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Jessimy Domingos scored, was marked 6.93, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Frank Appiah 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adams Hamadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Apr 2029
Wa All Stars left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Evrard Zag, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Apr 2029
Randy Dwumfour damages knee ligaments — 52 days out
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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Adams Hamadu 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Collins Boah 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 New Edubiase United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match14 Apr 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Frank Appiah 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 Frank Appiah is on it.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Half-satisfied: Interim Coach on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Adams Hamadu asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad16 Apr 2029
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and New Edubiase United will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Jan 2029
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with George Micheal: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match3 Jan 2029
Aduana Stars go through and New Edubiase United go home, 2‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Match3 Jan 2029
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Aduana Stars kept coming because nothing stopped them, and New Edubiase United will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
$6.0K settles it between the clubs for Amos Essien
Wa All Stars have accepted the money. What New Edubiase United do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market8 Jan 2029
“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.
The dugout8 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Adams Hamadu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at New Edubiase United is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
An offer of $48.0K for Amos Afful
New Edubiase United have gone to BA All Stars 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.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
New Edubiase United asked and Liberty Professionals said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Adams Hamadu 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces1 Jan 2029
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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“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 New Edubiase United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at New Edubiase United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adams Hamadu 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.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Michael Zuo 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 Dec 2028
0‑2 to Wa All Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Match1 Jan 2029
Position 11, 17 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“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.
Market1 Jan 2029
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at New Edubiase United, another week without a signature from Randy Dwumfour.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Dec 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what New Edubiase United can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings25 Dec 2028
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Frank Appiah 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Adams Hamadu 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
37 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
“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 ratings25 Dec 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.87 on the card, and the New Edubiase United support went home talking about one name.
The dugout25 Dec 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Interim Coach, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Dec 2028
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” New Edubiase United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Evrard Zag and New Edubiase United agree another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Frank Appiah 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
35 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at New Edubiase United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adams Hamadu 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.
Match2 Dec 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
The manager makes an example of Evrard Zag
“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 dugout4 Dec 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Nov 2028
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.
Market27 Nov 2028
“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 New Edubiase United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Frank Appiah 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Adams Hamadu 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 ratings27 Nov 2028
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match25 Nov 2028
It needed Adams Hamadu to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Hearts of Oak, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the New Edubiase United dressing room was either.
Looking ahead27 Nov 2028
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against WAFA in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout27 Nov 2028
Jessimy Domingos asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad13 Nov 2028
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. New Edubiase United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Nov 2028
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad13 Nov 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 New Edubiase United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adams Hamadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The terraces13 Nov 2028
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
Michael Zuo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.19. 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.
Player ratings13 Nov 2028
The game went through Adams Hamadu — 7.36
Marked 7.36 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
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.” Interim Coach kept it short after the 3‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout13 Nov 2028
Adams Hamadu 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 Adams Hamadu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Oct 2028
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. New Edubiase United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
A brace, and Michael Quarcoo takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Michael Quarcoo provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Player ratings23 Oct 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Frank Appiah 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 New Edubiase United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adams Hamadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match21 Oct 2028
A goal on 87 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
The dugout23 Oct 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.
Match21 Oct 2028
A 3‑3 draw with Ashanti Gold leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Oct 2028
Frank Appiah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Oct 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adams Hamadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“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.
Squad16 Oct 2028
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Market16 Oct 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad16 Oct 2028
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one New Edubiase United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout16 Oct 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.
The dugout16 Oct 2028
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at New Edubiase United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 New Edubiase United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Frank Appiah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets18 Sep 2028
$58.0K was the most the club would pay and Bechem United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Adams Hamadu 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Match16 Sep 2028
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Interim Coach was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the New Edubiase United dressing room was either.
Looking ahead18 Sep 2028
Asante Kotoko top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The terraces11 Sep 2028
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Market11 Sep 2028
The interest is real enough to have reached print. New Edubiase United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Frank Appiah 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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Jessimy Domingos has just signed for New Edubiase United, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Sep 2028
14 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
$6.0K was the most the club would pay and Wa All Stars were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Boardroom11 Sep 2028
10 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. New Edubiase United will try again when the window opens; BA All Stars may not be selling by then.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adams Hamadu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.