Wasiu Falolu 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
“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 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The words a physio says slowly. 27 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.
Thomas Annan 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.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wasiu Falolu 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.
“I did not go to Bechem United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Great Olympics and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 9 matches say the rest.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
8 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.
“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.
23 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Percy Mokoena is a Great Olympics player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Thomas Annan 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Wasiu Falolu 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.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Sakhile Mkhize has improved at 24, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Simphiwe Masilela and Great Olympics agree another 4 years.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
“I watch every Great Olympics game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Bechem United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The offer from Heart of Lions for Joy Manana 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.
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.
In brief
SquadMoussa Benzaid falls out with a teammate over standards
“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.
Anderson Asiedu 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 name of Osafo Antwi has come up in conversations Great Olympics were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
28 games, 1 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Great Olympics now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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 Thomas Annan stands, which is more than many ever get.
The offer from Asante Kotoko for Nicholas Ablido 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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.” Benjamin Abaidoo and Great Olympics agree another 3 years.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Wasiu Falolu 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.
“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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
In brief
SquadWasiu Falolu falls out with a teammate over standards
SquadThe manager has not finished forgetting Edwin Gyimah's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 17 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.
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.
“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.
46 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Great Olympics lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
11 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Benzaid 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.
Marked 9.12 — 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.
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.
“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.
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.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Moussa Benzaid 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.
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.
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.
Anderson Asiedu 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 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.
0‑3 to Wa All Stars, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Wasiu Falolu 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Richmond Lamptey 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Wasiu Falolu signs something — a contract at Great Olympics or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Great Olympics scored in the 94th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“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.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Simphiwe Masilela. 2‑1 against Aduana Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Simphiwe Masilela 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.
Marked 8.44. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Great Olympics.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Great Olympics training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yomi Ayodeji 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.
“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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Great Olympics and Hearts of Oak, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
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.
Marked 9.03 — 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nicholas Ablido 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.
At 2 goals adrift this was a formality, and the formality lasted right up until it did not. Great Olympics found something the first half had given no notice of, and New Edubiase United could not hold what they had.
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.79 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
An order from above at Great Olympics: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Great Olympics
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
In brief
SquadJoshua Agyemang has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Ashanti Gold left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Elvis Manu 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Osman Kyereh knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Moussa Benzaid provided it, and the 8.64 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Anderson Asiedu 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 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.
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.