“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 The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
“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 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.
Something was said to Thuto Sesipi and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Ernest Boakye
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.
Osman 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.
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steven Nufour 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 performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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.” Jonathan Asante, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
Hasaacas asked and WAFA said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Osman 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steven Nufour 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 point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Waris is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Osman 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Steven Nufour 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout6 Dec 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Jonathan Asante left the room before anybody could ask which.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
At 23 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Ernest Boakye was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Jonathan Asante could afford to be generous.
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.
In brief
The dugoutPatrick Waris is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Hasaacas close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 3 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.
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.
Osman 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steven Nufour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Baba Nuhu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Andrew Baba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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 Hasaacas 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Osman Appiah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout30 Aug 2027
Patrick Waris is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Steven Nufour 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Add another name to the list: IK Brage have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Amos Atiemo. The answer from Hasaacas has not changed — yet.
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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steven Nufour 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 respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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. Hasaacas will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
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.
30 games, 18 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Hasaacas now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steven Nufour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Hasaacas has been clear about where Abraham Appiah stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
Patrick Waris is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
18 goals in 30 games at Medeama — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Hasaacas updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Osman 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steven Nufour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Waris is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Ken-Gaston Koumous and Hasaacas agree another 4 years.
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 Hasaacas has been clear about where Ernest Baba stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Steven Nufour 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.
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 Abraham Acquah is on it.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Waris'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.
Ashanti Gold will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Hasaacas were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 8.36 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Waris is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Hasaacas know it.
Hearts of Oak next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 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.
Osman 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Steven Nufour 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Waris'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.
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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.75, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Up for the corner, and Steven Nufour delivers — 7.73
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Steven Nufour scored, was marked 7.73, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hasaacas and New Edubiase United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Waris is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Steven Nufour 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.
“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 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Position 3, 42 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
7.69, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Osman 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
In brief
The dugoutAbraham Acquah has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Patrick Waris's mistake
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Inter Allies waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Great Olympics for Daniel Boateng 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.
Hasaacas asked and BA 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steven Nufour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Emmanuel Boateng 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Patrick Waris is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.85 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Sifiso Mazibuko has just signed for Hasaacas, and for once the answer mattered.
Osman Paintsil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Steven Nufour 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jonathan Asante on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Osman 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Steven Nufour was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Boateng trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.