“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ashanti Gold have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Manu 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.
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 Carlos Ohene is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 16 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Ebenezer Assifuah 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 Apr 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evans Mensah 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.
Nobody at Ashanti Gold 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tobi Alagbe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Andy Ezekiel has written the date down.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Elvis Manu 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Ohene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from IFK Mariehamn for Andy Ezekiel 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvis Manu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Ashanti Gold lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Hasaacas are out and Ashanti Gold go through, 2‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
A brace, and Samuel Tetteh takes the afternoon — 8.96
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Tetteh provided it, and the 8.96 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nurudeen Araromi and Ashanti Gold agree another 4 years.
The words a physio says slowly. 35 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ashanti Gold will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
2‑7 against Asante Kotoko, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Position 5 on 50 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.
The name of Andy Ezekiel has come up in conversations Ashanti Gold were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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 injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 16 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Ebenezer Assifuah 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Ashanti Gold and Asante Kotoko, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
Ebenezer Assifuah 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Manu 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.
Something was said to Carlos Ohene and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Samuel Tetteh is on it.
50 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 63 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
A brace, and Samuel Tetteh takes the afternoon — 8.58
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Tetteh provided it, and the 8.58 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Seth Paintsil 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Gyimah 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Liberty Professionals had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
59 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 72 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Andrew Mohammed on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Ashanti Gold will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Elvis Manu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sule John 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.
73 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ashanti Gold will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Seth Paintsil scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Heart of Lions, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Edwin Gyimah 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Samuel Tetteh is on it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Baba Mensah's mistake
MatchContinental football is in reach for Ashanti Gold
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for Seth Paintsil
The words a physio says slowly. 80 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Ashanti Gold will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ashanti Gold asked and Platinum 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ebenezer Assifuah.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Polo Nartey's mistake
The words a physio says slowly. 87 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvis Manu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. SuperSport United have kept their man, and Ashanti Gold go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. Berekum Chelsea tried to reorganise, Ashanti Gold did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Rashid Abubakar at his very best
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.
Andre Adjei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout8 Feb 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 0‑2 Samuel Kyereh left the room before anybody could ask which.
A clause somebody insisted on years ago, in a negotiation nobody remembers, has just paid WAFA $20.0K. Thomas Addo left a long time ago; the paperwork stayed.
The words a physio says slowly. 102 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Everything agreed with Ikorodu City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ebenezer Assifuah 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Manu 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. University of Pretoria have kept their man, and Ashanti Gold go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Stade Malien 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.
126 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Ashanti Gold lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Medeama kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ashanti Gold will be asked about the last half hour all week.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Sule John, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.29 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Elvis Manu 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 words a physio says slowly. 133 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Manu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evans Mensah. 2‑0 against Bechem United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Andrew Mohammed could afford to be generous.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ashanti Gold told Richmond Lamptey something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody at Ashanti Gold is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
Ebenezer Assifuah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Elvis Manu 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.
A 2‑1 win over Asante Kotoko, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Half the programme played, position 4, 30 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Andrew Mohammed, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutIsaac Twum asks for a word with the manager
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Liberty Professionals kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Ashanti Gold will be asked about the last half hour all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwin Gyimah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Carlos Ohene trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Elvis Manu 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ebenezer Assifuah. 1‑0 against Great Olympics, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Andrew Mohammed could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ashanti Gold, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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 Emmanuel Ujah is on it.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwin Gyimah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A 2‑1 win over Heart of Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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 ratings9 Nov 2026
Evans Mensah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Andrew Mohammed could afford to be generous.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
New Edubiase United are out and Ashanti Gold go through, 2‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Emmanuel Ujah decided nobody was going anywhere. New Edubiase United had no time left to answer.
5 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.
At 21 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Anderson Asiedu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvis Manu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 21 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Olanrewaju Ayinla is living that version at Ashanti Gold, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 43 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Ashanti Gold 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ashanti Gold this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ashanti Gold offered $260.0K; Hearts of Oak said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
2 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Ashanti Gold training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Edwin Gyimah 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. David Addo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Ashanti Gold have gone to Hearts of Oak 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.
Ashanti Gold have gone to Asante Kotoko 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.
Thomas Addo was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $130.0K. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Elvis Manu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
26 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Ashanti Gold are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
WAFA next, and one man in the Ashanti Gold dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“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.
Emmanuel Kyereh 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.
Thomas Addo has left for Ashanti Gold in a $130.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ernest Inusah 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.
“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.
Ashanti Gold have gone to WAFA 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.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Ashanti Gold have gone to Hearts of Oak 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.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abubakar Isyaku has, at Ashanti Gold, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Edwin Gyimah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ashanti Gold asked and Orlando Pirates said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Ashanti Gold will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Ashanti Gold have gone and got theirs early.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“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.
Berekum Chelsea paid $1.2M and WAFA took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Wasiu Jimoh 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Patrick Baba 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.
“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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Kwame Addo on the training pitch
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Patrick Baba 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. WAFA will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ernest Schlupp has his answer from WAFA; what he does with it is the next window’s story.