Marked for Jayson Nettey
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Sep 2027
A 0‑3 beating by Wa All Stars was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
Jayson Nettey: 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.” Heart of Lions have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets20 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Johnson Amuzu deal
Heart of Lions ran out of time with Berekum Chelsea. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Hensen Anponsa 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 dugout20 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
George Osei 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.
Boardroom20 Sep 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout20 Sep 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 0‑3 Kwame Asamoah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad20 Sep 2027
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Kwandile Gumemde has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market30 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Heart of Lions have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market30 Aug 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
This is not rotation. Ruben Hennessy has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Heart of Lions is pretending otherwise.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Ernest 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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wa All Stars have kept their man, and Heart of Lions go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ishmael Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
Hasaacas 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.
Market30 Aug 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Moses Ayidem has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Heart of Lions.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
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 Kelvin Asenso has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces16 Aug 2027
Anger at Heart of Lions spills outside the ground
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.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Heart of Lions is running low.
Match16 Aug 2027
19 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market16 Aug 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heart of Lions can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
An offer of $140.0K for Enock Afram
Heart of Lions have gone to New Edubiase United 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 targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asante Kotoko have kept their man, and Heart of Lions go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Ishmael Addo 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
A loan move for Mohammed Baba is in the works
Heart of Lions have made the call to Hasaacas. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Ishmael Addo 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
Steady
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad24 Aug 2026
66 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Questions about Jayson Nettey on the training pitch
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.