Marked for Dickson Sakabutu
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market29 May 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 The request is on a desk at Berekum Chelsea, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad29 May 2028
Richmond Lamptey 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.
Squad29 May 2028
The decline has begun for Ernest Wendo
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 37 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Berekum Chelsea is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The dugout29 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Samuel Tenedu
“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
Benjamin Abaidoo 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.
Loan watch29 May 2028
29 appearances away from home and 7 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
The dugout29 May 2028
Charles Agyemang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Berekum Chelsea 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.
Market29 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Johnson Amuzu signs something — a contract at Berekum Chelsea or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout29 May 2028
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 Dickson Sakabutu has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 May 2028
A season average of 7.05 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Berekum Chelsea know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad22 May 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 Berekum Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Berekum Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwesi Sorotu Badori 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 dugout22 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Joe Wollacott
“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 dugout22 May 2028
Samuel Tenedu 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 Berekum Chelsea, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout22 May 2028
Marvin Owusu 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 Marvin Owusu is on it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Feb 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.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Marked 8.10 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Match26 Feb 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Berekum Chelsea have 4 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Feb 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 Berekum Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2028
He is 21, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Kwesi Sorotu Badori 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Fataho Nerie commits to Berekum Chelsea for another 4 years.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jonathan Inusah on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Amofa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad13 Dec 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Berekum Chelsea this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Dec 2027
4 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Berekum Chelsea training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Johnson Amuzu 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 terraces13 Dec 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Augustine Agyapong 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
WAFA made Berekum Chelsea work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Jonathan Appiah did the work nobody counts — 7.45
10 combined actions and 7.45. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Chuckwudi Igbokwe 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.