Marked for Jonathan Kudus
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match4 Oct 2028
The small margins put Inter Allies out
Out, 1‑2 to Ashanti Gold, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market9 Oct 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 The request is on a desk at Inter Allies, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
Moaz Ateya pops up at the right end — 7.71
7.71, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Paschal Durugbor 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.
Squad9 Oct 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jonathan Kudus commits to Inter Allies for another 3 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Words at Inter Allies training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sphamandla Sithole 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.
Squad9 Oct 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.
Player ratings9 Oct 2028
A mark of 7.58, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Market9 Oct 2028
Junaid Sait is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Inter Allies has been clear about where Junaid Sait stands, which is more than many ever get.
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From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match30 Sep 2028
New Edubiase United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Inter Allies were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market2 Oct 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.
Market2 Oct 2028
Only the photograph left for Mark Ugboh
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mark Ugboh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Inter Allies the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Oct 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 Inter Allies this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 13 actions, 6.91, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Phila Dlamini 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 terraces2 Oct 2028
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.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Marked 8.27 — 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.
Player ratings2 Oct 2028
Thiago Ferraro was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match9 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Inter Allies's wait for a win
8 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Inter Allies has to find a result from somewhere.
Match9 Sep 2028
4 matches without a goal for Inter Allies
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad11 Sep 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 Inter Allies this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Inter Allies training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fred Dabanka 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.
Squad11 Sep 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.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings11 Sep 2028
A defender's afternoon for Phila Dlamini
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad11 Sep 2028
5 new faces, and Inter Allies 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.
Match9 Sep 2028
Point won or two lost for Inter Allies?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Asante Kotoko? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match11 Dec 2027
8 matches without a win for Inter Allies
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Inter Allies are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 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 Inter Allies this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Phila Dlamini 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“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.
Match11 Dec 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Great Olympics leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Jul 2027
Osman Boateng damages knee ligaments — 50 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
$140.0K from Inter Allies for Jonathan Kudus. Money is money, but the dressing room has lost the man it looked to.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Hasaacas sell a favourite for $140.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Jonathan Kudus was one of the reasons people came, and $140.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market12 Jul 2027
The phone has started ringing about Daniel Schlupp again, and this time the name on the line is Gaziantep. Hasaacas are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Mamudo Moro 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Albert Kudus 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Daniel Schlupp
“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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The Osman Nuhu talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Hasaacas know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market12 Jul 2027
Hasaacas shop where it costs nothing
Samuel Isife signs, and the fee column stays empty. Deals like this look small in July and clever by March — or they are never mentioned again.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Inter Allies can pretend not to have heard.
Market12 Jul 2027
The paperwork is done: Jonathan Kudus joins from Hasaacas in a deal worth $140.0K. Now comes the harder part.
Squad12 Jul 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 Inter Allies this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Inter Allies spend $140.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $140.0K for Jonathan Kudus, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Sphamandla Sithole 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Paschal Durugbor, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hasaacas may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Mamudo Moro in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jun 2027
Melgar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Hasaacas did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Jun 2027
“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.
Squad14 Jun 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Asamoah 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Malam Malu 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
A conversation is coming this week. Hasaacas will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Jun 2027
The name of Afriyie Asamoah has come up in conversations Hasaacas were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market7 Jun 2027
Jonathan Kudus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hasaacas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Samuel Nuhu: 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.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A muscle injury sidelines Albert Acquah for 18 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Hasaacas will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad7 Jun 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Mamudo Moro in a row with a teammate
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 May 2027
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.
Squad10 May 2027
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Hasaacas know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Squad10 May 2027
Jonathan Kyereh 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Apr 2027
Malam Malu 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Abraham Schlupp: 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.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market12 Apr 2027
Jonathan Kudus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hasaacas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market15 Mar 2027
“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.
Market15 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Jonathan Kudus
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonathan Kudus will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Hasaacas the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad15 Mar 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.03, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Squad15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Afriyie Asamoah 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Hasaacas are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Thomas Agyepong 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Hasaacas
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Afriyie Asamoah 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Albert Acquah, and the manager let it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Hasaacas
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Berekum Chelsea will be the happier side with the point.
Market22 Feb 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Osman Nuhu’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 11 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Feb 2027
Hasaacas make home a hard place to visit
12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market15 Feb 2027
Jonathan Kudus has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Hasaacas they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
He is 20, he is averaging 7.01, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
21 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Kyereh 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 terraces15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
“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
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
There were 6 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Thomas Agyepong 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Afriyie Asamoah 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Afriyie Asamoah is the division's best young player this month
At 20 he has spent a month being better than everybody his age in the league, which is a different and harder thing than one good afternoon. Hasaacas will try very hard not to make too much of it.
Market8 Feb 2027
Great Olympics are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Hasaacas will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Hasaacas release $108.0K for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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
Steady
Market25 Jan 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Afriyie Baba sold
Yokohama F. Marinos arrived with $830.0K and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
Hasaacas sell a favourite for $830.0K
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Afriyie Baba was one of the reasons people came, and $830.0K does not replace that by itself.
Market25 Jan 2027
Add another name to the list: Remo Stars have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Albert Wakaso. The answer from Hasaacas has not changed — yet.
Squad25 Jan 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jonathan Kyereh and Hasaacas agree another 4 years.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Thomas Agyepong 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
Jonathan Kyereh 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Edmund Afful
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jan 2027
Hasaacas say no — this time
The offer from Hearts of Oak for Edmund Afful 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.
Market4 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Hasaacas have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad4 Jan 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
Wa All Stars left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Amos Ofori 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.