There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.41 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ashanti Gold have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ouattara 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Xavier Jodamus 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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Francis Owusu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ouattara 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Ofori and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Liberty Professionals people have started saying his name in the past tense.
9 in and 11 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kamaldeen Mensah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Berekum Chelsea waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wa All Stars have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Ouattara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ashanti Gold 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.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felix Gyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Liberty Professionals have done the hard part with Asante Kotoko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Felix Gyan 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.
Squad30 Jul 2029
Emmanuel 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The offer from Politehnica Iași for Osman Addo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Afriyie Gyan and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
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.
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.
“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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Felix Gyan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Heart of Lions waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Liberty Professionals is running low.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Ashanti Gold keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Felix Gyan has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Liberty Professionals asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Great Olympics waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Felix Gyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Ashanti Gold 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.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
7 goals in 22 games at Berekum Chelsea — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Liberty Professionals updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Great Olympics had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Ashanti Gold is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Xavier Jodamus and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wa All Stars have kept their man, and Liberty Professionals go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ali Ouattara 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.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Emmanuel Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Hearts of Oak for Kamaldeen Mensah 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andrew Inusah and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
Gladson Amoah 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.
Ashanti Gold 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.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Liberty Professionals may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kamaldeen Mensah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. a squad player will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Amos Asamoah and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Christian Kyereh is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Ibrahim Sodiq is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
a squad player 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Ouattara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Albert Schlupp's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
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 Jonathan Amoah is on it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ibrahim Sodiq trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 31 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Liberty Professionals has to find a result from somewhere.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liberty Professionals have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Felix Gyan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.61, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Ali Ouattara 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.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Liberty Professionals had all but put away. Ashanti Gold will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Christian Kyereh has come out of that comparison in the side, and Liberty Professionals have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Liberty Professionals have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Emmanuel 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.
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 Ibrahim Sodiq is on it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Isaac Wakaso chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Andre Wakaso reports back to Liberty Professionals with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
David Paintsil 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 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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Kamaldeen Mensah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Liberty Professionals until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. BA All Stars moved on, Kwame Nuhu reports back to Liberty Professionals, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Liberty Professionals asked and Hasaacas said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Ouattara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
David Paintsil 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.
Level with 88 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Liberty Professionals had all but put away. Hasaacas will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Liberty Professionals have done the hard part with Asante Kotoko, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
4 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.
Bernard Bukari 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.
Felix Gyan scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Berekum Chelsea, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Emmanuel 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and New Edubiase United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals 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 Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Ouattara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” a squad player and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Addo 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.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Isaac Wakaso after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Xavier Jodamus and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Addo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Liberty Professionals will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Liberty Professionals has been clear about where Amos Paintsil stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Edmund Bukari, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.71
A mark of 7.71 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Jeffrey Ofori 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Emmanuel 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Liberty Professionals can pretend not to have heard.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Great Olympics moved on, Bernard Bukari reports back to Liberty Professionals, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Liberty Professionals ran out of time with Wa All Stars. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Ali Ouattara 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Ibrahim Sodiq is on it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Liberty Professionals people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer went to BA All Stars this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. a squad player has come out of that comparison in the side, and Liberty Professionals have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Haka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Jesse Kilo 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Jetmir Haliti 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.
He is 20 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jetmir Haliti 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Haka will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking 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 Haka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Severi Kähkönen 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 terraces12 Jun 2028
Haka supporters have found a favourite in a squad player
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. a squad player 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.
Three points for Haka, 1‑0 the final word against Klubi 04 in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Tatu Varmanen was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.08. 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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 14 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jetmir Haliti 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.
Jesper Karlsson 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.
Something was said to a squad player and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against JIPPO? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Nobody at Haka is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Thomas Lahdensuo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Haka needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ali Ouattara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Ali Ouattara is on it.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Liberty Professionals has been clear about where Christian Bukari stands, which is more than many ever get.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ibrahim Sodiq signs something — a contract at Liberty Professionals or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Haka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Severi Kähkönen was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Jorginho was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
7 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Bernard Bukari 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 easiest signature of my career.” Kwadwo Wakaso and Liberty Professionals agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Christian Kyereh trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Severi Kähkönen 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.
Jesper Karlsson 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.
He is 22 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Haka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jetmir Haliti 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Armin Ćulum trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Jesper Karlsson 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.
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. Haka will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Anton Lepola’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Haka needing him to play as if none of it matters.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Haka would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Haka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Haka opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Eero-Matti Auvinen stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Jasse Tuominen 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Jetmir Haliti 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.
PK-35 will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Severi Kähkönen has pre-agreed a move to Haka, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
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. Haka will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Haka spent the window trying to move Jetmir Haliti on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
Ali-Abubakar Torfiq has gone, the accounts have $990.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
AC Oulu paid $990.0K and Haka took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Haka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Niklas Friberg was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Haka have made the call to Liberty Professionals. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Xavier Jodamus did not need any: 7.76, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He is 21 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ouattara 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 6.58, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Liberty Professionals, another week without a signature from Felix Gyan.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Amoah 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.09, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Ali Ouattara 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 ratings6 Mar 2028
Jonathan Amoah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.03. 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Francis Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jeffrey Ofori 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Liberty Professionals is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Ali Ouattara 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Liberty Professionals have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Liberty Professionals they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Liberty Professionals offered $2.0K; BA All Stars 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kamaldeen Mensah 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Amoah. 1‑0 against Hearts of Oak, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Ouattara 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Heart of Lions will make the call about a squad player this week. Liberty Professionals have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aduana Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Liberty Professionals until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Bukari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Liberty Professionals the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Aduana Stars is saying, and nobody at Liberty Professionals is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$2.0K on the table at BA All Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Liberty Professionals ran out of time with BA All Stars. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“I did not go to Tatran Prešov to sit and watch. I want to come back to Liberty Professionals and fight for my place.” 15 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
“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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around New Edubiase United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” New Edubiase United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Emmanuel Yeboah 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Prince Otubua and New Edubiase United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Aduana Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
Liberty Professionals had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Aduana Stars, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Liberty Professionals 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.
Liberty Professionals asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” a squad player and Liberty Professionals agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Ali Ouattara 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 Liberty Professionals, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Liberty Professionals is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Liberty Professionals this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Liberty Professionals game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samsunspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Amoah 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.
A 2‑0 win over Bechem United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Jeffrey Ofori 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Collins Boah 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
a squad player 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.
9 combined actions and 7.02. 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.
“I watch every Liberty Professionals game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Samsunspor runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Collins Boah 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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
Nobody at Liberty Professionals is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
Jeffrey Ofori 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. David Paintsil is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Liberty Professionals told a squad player something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Liberty Professionals will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.