Marked for Gladson Baba
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match2 Oct 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad4 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Hasaacas
Gladson Ofori and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and a squad player has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kwadwo Mensah after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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.
Player ratings4 Oct 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market4 Oct 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hasaacas, another week without a signature from Efa Enabulele.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Sep 2027
Anger at Hasaacas spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match25 Sep 2027
1‑3 to Wa All Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francis Appiah and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Efa Enabulele 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kwadwo Mensah after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad27 Sep 2027
A row about effort at Hasaacas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and a squad player was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Israel Odedele'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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Sep 2027
A falling-out at Hasaacas
Mohammed Sadat Abubakari and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match18 Sep 2027
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match18 Sep 2027
It finished 1‑0, and it was Baba Wakaso’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hasaacas.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
The afternoon belonged to Baba Wakaso
A mark of 7.72, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad20 Sep 2027
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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Samuel Annan commits to Hasaacas for another 3 years.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Kwadwo Mensah on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Sep 2027
5 matches without a win for Hasaacas
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Hasaacas are no longer polite ones.
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Hasaacas
Mohammed Sadat Abubakari 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
1‑2 to BA All Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market13 Sep 2027
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
The dugout13 Sep 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 1‑2 Kwadwo Mensah left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Deruo Wisdom
“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.
Looking ahead13 Sep 2027
Hasaacas take on the side everybody is chasing
Aduana Stars arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Hasaacas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market26 Jul 2027
“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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Baba Ayew in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Israel Odedele 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
Jai Semenyo gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Apr 2027
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match26 Apr 2027
The season ends: position 14 for Hasaacas
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.
Match24 Apr 2027
4 matches without a win for Hasaacas
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Hasaacas are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words exchanged at Hasaacas
Israel Odedele 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
Abraham Amoah 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.
Match24 Apr 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout26 Apr 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 Kwadwo Mensah left the room before anybody could ask which.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.