Marked for Philip Amoh
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Mar 2027
A fracture rules Richard Mahama out for 48 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market8 Mar 2027
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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Isaac Twum and Ashanti Gold agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Twum was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad8 Mar 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 Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Baba Mensah gets it from the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Hakim Sulemana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market1 Mar 2027
The phone has started ringing about Mohammed Yahaya again, and this time the name on the line is Hammarby. Ashanti Gold are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Isaac Twum 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.22, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Market1 Mar 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.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Something was said to Kalu Nweke and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match30 Dec 2026
Berekum Chelsea are out and Ashanti Gold go through, 4‑3 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Philip Amoh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match30 Dec 2026
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Zakka John was at the centre of it, Berekum Chelsea were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Zakka John takes the afternoon — 9.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Zakka John provided it, and the 9.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Marked 8.40 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Ashanti Gold will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Asante Kotoko, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Hakim Sulemana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match2 Jan 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Oct 2026
9 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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Paul Yeboah is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Match17 Oct 2026
After 7 games, Ashanti Gold finally taste it again
The first defeat in 7 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Aduana Stars; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match17 Oct 2026
Aduana Stars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
At 24 the improving is meant to be over, and it is not: 3 points better than a year ago. It happens to the ones who take the boring parts seriously.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Rashid Abubakar is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Ashanti Gold, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $35.0K — a club that wants Hubert Gyau enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
An offer of $35.0K for Hubert Gyau
Ashanti Gold have gone to Asante Kotoko 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Ashanti Gold 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at Ashanti Gold
24 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Asante Kotoko people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Jonathan Mensah 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 targets24 Aug 2026
Asante Kotoko have gone to WAFA 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 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Ikorodu City 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Asante Kotoko training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zakaria Fuseini 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 dugout24 Aug 2026
Hensen Anponsa 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 Hensen Anponsa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market24 Aug 2026
The Isaac Mintah story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Isaac Mintah signs something — a contract at Asante Kotoko or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Questions about Israel Oladeji 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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
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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
This league is too small for Ebuka Akobundu
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ashanti Gold will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Ashanti Gold have gone and got theirs early.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Asante Kotoko have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Asante Kotoko offered $1.3M; WAFA said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Asante Kotoko this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Aug 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Asante Kotoko know which stage they are at.
Market17 Aug 2026
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Hensen Anponsa and Asante Kotoko agree another 4 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The paperwork begins on Philip Amoh
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ashanti Gold have done the hard part with Asante Kotoko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Seth Paintsil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hakim Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djoliba have kept their man, and Ashanti Gold go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Samuel Tetteh has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Ashanti Gold know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market17 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ashanti Gold, another week without a signature from Kolawole Sheriff.