Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Waris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Yaw Nuhu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 47 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Ridwan Popoola 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 Jonathan Waris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gladson Wakaso after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Edmund Appiah 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑2, Gladson Wakaso could afford to be generous.
8 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.
Emmanuel Boakye 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jonathan Waris. 1‑0 against Heart of Lions, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gladson Wakaso on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Shots: 4. 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
43 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
In brief
The dugoutEmmanuel Ini knocks on the manager’s door
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ridwan Popoola is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Emmanuel Boakye 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 had been thinking. Jonathan Waris 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Gladson Wakaso after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Berekum Chelsea? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Edmund Appiah
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“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.
Yaw Asante 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Jonathan Waris has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
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 Isaac Waris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
They sit in position 13 and they will be waiting. Away form is where a season shows its true character, and this side has a point to make about its own.
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Waris 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: Jonathan Waris. 2‑1 against New Edubiase 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 2‑1, Gladson Wakaso could afford to be generous.
The 88th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Afriyie Wakaso decided nobody was going anywhere. Inter Allies had no time left to answer.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Waris 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Gladson Wakaso 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.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gladson Wakaso after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
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.
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 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Francis Ofori 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.
Marked 8.10 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Edmund Ofori and WAFA agree another 3 years.
The dugout22 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.” Gladson Wakaso kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Waris provided it, and the 8.79 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Emmanuel Boakye 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Amoah commits to WAFA for another 3 years.
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.” Gladson Wakaso kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Where he used to play does most of his talking for him at WAFA. The room defers to it, the kids study it, and the only thing that can puncture it is a bad month.
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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Afriyie Wakaso reports back to WAFA with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gladson Wakaso after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ridwan Popoola has come out of that comparison in the side, and WAFA have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Shots: 4. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Francis Partey
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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.62 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 1 signed and 1 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Waris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Jonathan Waris provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nhlanhla Gasa has, at WAFA, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. WAFA have done the hard part with Heart of Lions, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ridwan Popoola 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.
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.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Medeama will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Two goals and a mark of 8.78 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Two goals and a mark of 8.34 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Kwadwo Inusah was one of the reasons people came, and $160.0K does not replace that by itself.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Isaac Waris did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jonathan Waris was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at WAFA can tell you which week it ends in.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
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.
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Hasaacas? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 71 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
He is 23 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.
Marked 8.24 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Joseph 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.
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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Gladson Wakaso could afford to be generous.
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 Afriyie Wakaso is on it.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a WAFA man
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Gladson Wakaso after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Yaw Asante 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.
Successful dribbles: 11. 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.
At 19 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Francis Ofori in the middle of it, and Aduana Stars unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joseph 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.
Edmund Appiah 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Gladson Wakaso on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
At 20 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.
Emmanuel Boakye 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 had been thinking. Joseph 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Aduana Stars next, and one man in the WAFA dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Francis Ofori 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.
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Yaw Asante 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 Joseph Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 4.78. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
In brief
The dugoutIsaac Waris is still being punished for one mistake