Marked for Andre Schlupp
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market20 Nov 2028
Only the photograph left for Nana Sulemana
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nana Sulemana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hasaacas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market20 Nov 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Michael Acquaye and Hasaacas agree another 3 years.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Razak Abdullah 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
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 Kamaldeen Djiku is on it.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Christian Acquah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Market20 Nov 2028
1 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Hasaacas money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match28 Aug 2028
Hasaacas are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market28 Aug 2028
Only the photograph left for Nana Sulemana
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nana Sulemana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hasaacas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Aug 2028
A falling-out at Hasaacas
Joseph Mensah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Bernard Mohammed has improved at 33, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
The dugout28 Aug 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
A loan move for Patrick Asiedu is in the works
Hasaacas have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
A loan enquiry to Great Olympics: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
Nana Sulemana 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 Nana Sulemana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2028
Every point is an argument now for Hasaacas
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market31 Jul 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.
Market31 Jul 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom31 Jul 2028
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Hasaacas have gone to Heart of Lions with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Gladson Awako 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.
Transfer targets31 Jul 2028
Hasaacas asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Osman Nuhu 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 dugout31 Jul 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match3 Jul 2028
Every point is an argument now for Hasaacas
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Isaac Mensah has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Boardroom3 Jul 2028
The Hasaacas board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market3 Jul 2028
Nana Sulemana 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 Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Joseph Ablorh 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.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Hasaacas asked and Ashanti Gold said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Hasaacas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osman Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
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Market3 Jul 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match5 Jun 2028
Hasaacas are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
Isaac Mensah has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hasaacas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Jun 2028
The Hasaacas board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Market5 Jun 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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Joseph Ablorh 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.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
Hasaacas asked and Hearts of Oak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
Bina Tombiri 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 dugout5 Jun 2028
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Squad5 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwame Kudus and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 May 2028
Every point is an argument now for Hasaacas
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom8 May 2028
Isaac Mensah has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Hasaacas can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom8 May 2028
The Hasaacas board call everybody in
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Squad8 May 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Kudus and Hasaacas agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 May 2028
Words exchanged at Hasaacas
Bina Tombiri 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Osman Nuhu 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 dugout8 May 2028
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Squad8 May 2028
A muscle injury and 18 days out for Abeiku Ofori
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hasaacas will quote 18 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Loan watch8 May 2028
“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 7 appearances in 43 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Apr 2028
The wait goes on for Hasaacas
25 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.
Match10 Apr 2028
Hasaacas are in real trouble now
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Match8 Apr 2028
Chastening afternoon for Hasaacas
A 0‑3 beating by Hearts of Oak was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Hasaacas
Joseph Mensah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Osman Nuhu 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
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The dugout10 Apr 2028
No place for Bina Tombiri on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hasaacas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Boardroom10 Apr 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Mar 2028
The wait goes on for Hasaacas
22 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.
Match13 Mar 2028
Every point is an argument now for Hasaacas
Position 16 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Bernard Mohammed 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bina Tombiri, and the manager let it.
Match11 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Nobody could get near Osman Nuhu
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch13 Mar 2028
“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 5 appearances in 35 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
No end in sight to Hasaacas's wait for a win
18 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Hasaacas has to find a result from somewhere.
Match14 Feb 2028
Hasaacas sink to position 16
4 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match12 Feb 2028
0‑4 to Asante Kotoko, 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A falling-out at Hasaacas
Joseph Mensah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Feb 2028
The goals have deserted Hasaacas
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Hasaacas can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets14 Feb 2028
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Hasaacas
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Osman Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Loan watch14 Feb 2028
“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 4 appearances in 31 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Jan 2028
The wait goes on for Hasaacas
14 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.
Match17 Jan 2028
Hasaacas are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with Bechem United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings17 Jan 2028
Osman Nuhu runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Gladson Awako 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.
Match15 Jan 2028
Aduana Stars left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets17 Jan 2028
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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Osman Nuhu 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 dugout17 Jan 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match18 Dec 2027
Nowhere to hide for Hasaacas
0‑5 against Hearts of Oak, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Match20 Dec 2027
Hasaacas are in real trouble now
Position 16, 3 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match18 Dec 2027
The wait goes on for Hasaacas
9 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
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.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
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Boardroom20 Dec 2027
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.
Loan watch20 Dec 2027
“I watch every Hasaacas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at New Edubiase United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout20 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 0‑5 Isaac Mensah left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Beaten 5 times, 3 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Nov 2027
Every point is an argument now for Hasaacas
Position 16 and 1 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Match20 Nov 2027
The wait goes on for Hasaacas
5 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Osman Nuhu 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
A goal on 93 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abeiku Asamoah and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch22 Nov 2027
“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 3 appearances in 19 say he has earned the hearing.