Marked for Andre Ayew
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Nov 2027
1‑2 to New Edubiase United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Samuel Afful 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 dugout15 Nov 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ernest Baba after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
Baba Mohammed 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 Baba Mohammed trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout15 Nov 2027
A promise honoured for Andre Ayew
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. WAFA told Andre Ayew something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings15 Nov 2027
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Market15 Nov 2027
The name of Jonathan Atiemo keeps appearing in other people's back pages. WAFA say nothing, which says plenty.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $184.0K — a club that wants Kofi Asante enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
$170.0K on the table at Aduana Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad16 Aug 2027
At 27 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.
Transfer targets16 Aug 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asante Kotoko have kept their man, and WAFA go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at WAFA
Abraham Asamoah 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Osman Owusu commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
Baba Mohammed 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 Baba Mohammed trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market9 Aug 2027
WAFA say no — this time
The offer from Medeama for Mohammed Wakaso 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Isaac Baba is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. WAFA have done the hard part with Aduana Stars, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Wakaso commits to WAFA for another 2 years.
Market9 Aug 2027
The paperwork is done: Samuel Afful joins from Hasaacas in a deal worth $200.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words exchanged at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo 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.
Transfer targets9 Aug 2027
WAFA asked and BA All Stars 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 terraces9 Aug 2027
$200.0K for Samuel Afful, and WAFA supporters approve
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Samuel Afful from Hasaacas for $200.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Market9 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Abeiku Sulemana again, and this time the name on the line is Hasaacas. WAFA are listening politely and promising nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around WAFA people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jul 2027
WAFA say no — this time
The offer from US Forces Armees for Andre Essien 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo 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 targets19 Jul 2027
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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Albert Appiah commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Hearts of Oak have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad19 Jul 2027
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andre Ayew was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market19 Jul 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. WAFA know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market19 Jul 2027
“He needs to be playing at a level that matches him, and we are open to conversations.” Nobody says that by accident, and nobody at WAFA misheard it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
30 days out for Abeiku Owusu after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. WAFA will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A season average of 7.50 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. WAFA know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Market5 Apr 2027
Thomas Amoah 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A falling-out at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A row about effort at WAFA
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Kyereh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market5 Apr 2027
Mohammed Wakaso is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at WAFA has been clear about where Mohammed Wakaso stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andre Ayew, and the manager let it.
Market5 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonathan Atiemo signs something — a contract at WAFA or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Albert Ayew knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at WAFA, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abeiku Owusu breaks a bone — 37 days out
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.
Match29 Mar 2027
Full time on the season at WAFA
Position 10 on 35 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
No sign of nerves from Jonathan Atiemo at 21 — 7.73
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jonathan Atiemo did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match27 Mar 2027
WAFA leaking at the back
4 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Abraham Asamoah 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Jonathan Kyereh
10 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Player ratings29 Mar 2027
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match27 Mar 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A promise honoured at WAFA
Something was said to Salim Uzair Baafada and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Abeiku Owusu breaks a bone — 79 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 79 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Marked 7.73 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Squad15 Feb 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 WAFA this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for WAFA, 2‑0 the final word against Bechem United in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Isaac Baba beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad15 Feb 2027
8 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Ernest Baba kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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 Jonathan Atiemo is on it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at WAFA training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andre Ayew 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Feb 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Gladson Acquah had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Abeiku Owusu out for 93 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with BA All Stars; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
No sign of nerves from Jonathan Atiemo at 21 — 7.71
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Jonathan Atiemo did not need any: 7.71, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Andre Ayew: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” WAFA have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at WAFA until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Market1 Feb 2027
Patrick Waris 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Mohammed Wakaso commits to WAFA for another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Abeiku Owusu out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason WAFA will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
A brace, and Jonathan Atiemo takes the afternoon — 9.11
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Atiemo provided it, and the 9.11 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Abeiku Owusu 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 WAFA can pretend not to have heard.
Market25 Jan 2027
The name of Gladson Acquah has come up in conversations WAFA were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match23 Jan 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Atiemo. 3‑2 against Great Olympics, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Tempers go at WAFA
Jonathan Atiemo 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 terraces25 Jan 2027
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
In brief
-
The dugout
The view from the dugout
-
Squad
A row about effort at WAFA
-
The dugout
Albert Ayew gets it from the manager