It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.11 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Medeama have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Prince Ukachukwu 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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Heart of Lions made Medeama work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fatawu Sulemana 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.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Manuel Mantey scored in the 88th minute, Berekum Chelsea had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Medeama took the lot.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Manuel Mantey. 1‑0 against Berekum Chelsea, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Patrick Annan decided nobody was going anywhere. New Edubiase United had no time left to answer.
Prince Ukachukwu 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.
A 1‑0 win over New Edubiase United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Patrick Annan 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yussif Mubarik 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.
“I watch every Medeama 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 board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 92th minute. WAFA will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
A brace, and Gastón Ada takes the afternoon — 8.39
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gastón Ada provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Prince Ukachukwu 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.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.95 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Manuel Mantey has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Medeama 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.
“I did not go to New Edubiase United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Medeama and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 5 matches say the rest.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
2 academy players handed senior numbers at Medeama
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yussif Mubarik 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Amos Baba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ernest Boateng 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 name of Adams Abdul Jabal has come up in conversations Medeama were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
Prince Ukachukwu 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces24 Aug 2026
Medeama spend $1.1M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $1.1M for Patrick Annan, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yussif Mubarik 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Medeama know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Inter Allies for Afriyie Ayew 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.