The offer from Great Olympics for Harrison Baba 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Felix Appiah is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Andrew Asante 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.
Hasaacas asked and Wa All Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andrew Asante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Baba trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and WAFA waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Inusah 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 Hasaacas 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 Andrew Asante was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Jonathan Partey 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Asante 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.
Position 10 on 38 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Harrison Baba 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 Apr 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Asante 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 7.16 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 Hasaacas, and 0 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Kwame Djiku was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Hasaacas dressing room was either.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Kwadwo Waris scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to WAFA, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Andrew Asante 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.
Shots: 6. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Hasaacas have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. Hearts of Oak will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Partey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Hearts of Oak, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Kwame Djiku, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.48 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 Hasaacas, 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Asante 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 22 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.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Kwame Djiku kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Albert Mohammed has his answer from Hasaacas; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Harrison Baba 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andrew Asante 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 finished 2‑0, and it was Harrison Baba’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hasaacas.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Harrison Baba 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.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Jonathan Partey was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Partey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Isaac Kyereh and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Kwame Djiku to a room that had heard them before.
Jonathan Partey 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Owusu and Hasaacas agree another 3 years.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Kwame Djiku to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 Hasaacas 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.
“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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Afriyie Inusah 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daouda Djenepo 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.
Gladson Appiah 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Partey was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. WAFA have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Albert Mohammed again, and this time the name on the line is Inter Allies. Hasaacas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Kwadwo Addo 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Andrew Asante 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.