“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 The request is on a desk at Heart of Lions, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Lawrence Osei 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.
8.53. 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.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wa All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Paintsil did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
9 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Paintsil 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.
0‑3 to New Edubiase United, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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 manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Francis Schlupp to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Heart of Lions 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 have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Heart of Lions can pretend not to have heard.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Idriss Ashiru has just signed for Heart of Lions, and for once the answer mattered.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Heart of Lions and Asante Kotoko, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Heart of Lions training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Abban 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.
Idriss Ashiru 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wa All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Thomas 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 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.
13 goals in 18 games at Heart of Lions — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Wa All Stars updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Ousmane Traore was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.22. 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
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.
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.
Ishmael 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.
“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 dugout11 Jan 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 Francis Schlupp to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutLawrence Osei has become a man the manager trusts
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. Wa All Stars had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Francis Schlupp chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wa All Stars 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 Wa All Stars 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 Samuel Schlupp was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Level with 92 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Wa All Stars had all but put away. Heart of Lions will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
In brief
The dugoutBaba Partey is still being punished for one mistake
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Heart of Lions will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ebenezer Abban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout21 Dec 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Francis Schlupp to a room that had heard them before.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Heart of Lions have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
“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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Heart of Lions will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Ishmael Addo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Half the programme played, position 11, 17 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ishmael Addo is 19, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Michael Ephson
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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Heart of Lions may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Heart of Lions training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Abban 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.
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.
Macaulley Kuma 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Francis Schlupp could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutAnthony Owusu knocks on the manager's door
“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 Wa All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wa All Stars 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
12 goals in 13 games at Heart of Lions — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Wa All Stars updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Something was said to Osman Kudus and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Lawrence Osei 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 Ebenezer Abban was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amos Atiemo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Christian Sulemana has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Samuel Ofori has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Edmund Essien 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Wa All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Thomas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Schlupp was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 90. Liberty Professionals had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Level with 91 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Heart of Lions had all but put away. Berekum Chelsea will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
A 3‑3 draw with Berekum Chelsea leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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.” Francis Schlupp chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Lawrence Osei’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Heart of Lions needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thomas Inusah will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Wa All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Baba Asamoah 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 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 were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Albert Boakye after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
3 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.
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 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Michael Ephson was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.” Francis Schlupp kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.67 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Three points for Wa All Stars, 3‑1 the final word against Aduana Stars in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Paintsil is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Samuel Schlupp was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.26. 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Albert Boakye on a 3‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wa All Stars 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 Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Albert Boakye after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwadwo Obeng Junior provided it, and the 9.66 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.10, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Michael Noumon, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.04
A mark of 8.04 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Samuel Kyereh is 21, 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.” Kwadwo Obeng Junior and Heart of Lions agree another 3 years.
6 goals in one match, a squad player on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Heart of Lions and Bechem United.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kwadwo Obeng Junior provided it, and the 8.80 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
Lawrence Osei 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Heart of Lions and Liberty Professionals in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Wa All Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Thomas 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 oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 7.01 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Wa All Stars have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Lawrence Osei 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.
“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 dugout21 Sep 2026
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.” Francis Schlupp chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
The dugoutMichael Ephson unhappy with how he is being used
Player ratingsEbenezer Abban spends the afternoon fouling
That is the business done at Heart of Lions 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Heart of Lions training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Abban 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Abraham Addo 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Aduana Stars scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Lawrence Osei 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abraham Mensah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Albert Kudus has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Emmanuel Appiah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ernest Atiemo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The offer from Gil Vicente for Thomas Paintsil 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Paintsil and Wa All Stars agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Baba Asamoah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ebenezer Abban and Heart of Lions agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Heart of Lions training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ebenezer Abban 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.
He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday. The order of those three tells you everything about what a football club actually values.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Heart of Lions, another week without a signature from Lawrence Osei.
Heart of Lions have made the call to WAFA. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Still no offer on the table, and Michael Ephson’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Heart of Lions has been clear about where Jayson Nettey stands, which is more than many ever get.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wa All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Wa All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Schlupp 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.
Rivers United 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Wa All Stars has been clear about where Harrison Afful stands, which is more than many ever get.