Marked for Andre Mohammed
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces1 Nov 2027
The mood at Ilves has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market1 Nov 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oliver Pettersson will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ilves the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Ilves
Sauli Väisänen 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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Ilves
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Matias Rale was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lauri Ala-Myllymäki, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Nov 2027
5 new faces, and Ilves are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad1 Nov 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Oskari Paavola 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 dugout1 Nov 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 Ilves, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market1 Nov 2027
Ilves bring in an old head
Andre Mohammed is 34 and has run out of things to prove. What he has left is where to stand, when to slow it down and what to say at half-time, and none of that is on a fitness chart.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A falling-out at WAFA
Yaw Owusu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market26 Jul 2027
Andrew Boakye has left for Bechem United in a $27.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Isaac Boakye was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad26 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yaw Annan and WAFA agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout26 Jul 2027
Felix Bukari asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrew Boakye
87 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WAFA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Sep 2026
WAFA taken apart
0‑4 to Ashanti Gold, 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Amos Appiah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad7 Sep 2026
6 saves: Kwame Gyan was the team
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 WAFA, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 2 out at WAFA
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market7 Sep 2026
Hasaacas come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and WAFA did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Isaac Schlupp 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Graduation day at WAFA
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrew Boakye
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WAFA lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Aug 2026
WAFA say no — this time
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Isaac Schlupp 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at WAFA
Yaw Owusu 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaw Inusah, and the manager let it.
Market17 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. WAFA have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Amos Appiah 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Daniel Ayew commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
Market17 Aug 2026
WAFA have made Andre Mohammed available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
Daniel Ayew knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Ayew trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
The knee: Andrew Boakye out for 125 days
125 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. WAFA lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
The name of Yaw Inusah has come up in conversations WAFA were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at WAFA
Yaw Owusu 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
Joseph Essien 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
Yaw Owusu asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.