Marked for Andre Ayew
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Aug 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 5 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Renaissance training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yaya Kerim 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.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Monwabisi Mwondla 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 Aug 2028
47 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market7 Aug 2028
“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.
Market7 Aug 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Renaissance is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Aug 2028
A season average of 7.15 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renaissance know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ousmane Hissein 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Jul 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Renaissance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 Jul 2028
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad31 Jul 2028
The manager makes an example of Ebuka Nneji
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match10 Jul 2028
Renaissance are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 47 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A season average of 7.15 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Renaissance know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Ousmane Hissein 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Christian Adjei commits to Renaissance for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Yaya Kerim has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Renaissance 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom26 Jun 2028
Pressure builds in the Latina boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market26 Jun 2028
Luigi Carillo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Latina can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Tempers go at Latina
Lorenzo Villa 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Latina training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Federico Pace 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Latina will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market19 Jul 2027
Bismark Anim hands in a written request
“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.
Market19 Jul 2027
Add another name to the list: Inter Allies have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Lawrence Osei. The answer from Heart of Lions has not changed — yet.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Ishmael Addo 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 Heart of Lions this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Apr 2027
Moaz Ateya hands in a written request
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Heart of Lions may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.12 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Heart of Lions know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market8 Mar 2027
Moaz Ateya hands in a written request
“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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
At 20, Ishmael Addo is already the best thing here
An average of 7.11 in a first team he is several years too young for. Heart of Lions have something, and by now the whole division has noticed.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Kwesi Pong
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.46 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match6 Mar 2027
1‑3 to Hearts of Oak, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Moaz Ateya 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.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Shots: 7. 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.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
5.38 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.