Marked for Samuel Baba
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Oct 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market15 Oct 2035
“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 The request is on a desk at Aduana Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Kenroy Campbell 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 dugout15 Oct 2035
Serge Badjo 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.
Market15 Oct 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Looking ahead15 Oct 2035
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against BA All Stars in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad15 Oct 2035
A season on the outside for Amar Haïdara
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Aduana Stars has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Andrew Partey 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 Aduana Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Kenroy Campbell arrived with a record at a bigger club than this one, and the room has treated him accordingly. The young ones watch him train; the senior ones watch to see whether it lasts.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Jan 2035
13 matches without a win for Aduana Stars
The run now stands at 13, and the questions being asked around Aduana Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match3 Jan 2035
A 2‑2 win over Hasaacas, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Match8 Jan 2035
Position 16, 7 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Match3 Jan 2035
Aduana Stars throw away a 2-goal lead
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Hasaacas the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Aduana Stars will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings8 Jan 2035
A brace, and Ahmed Adebayo takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ahmed Adebayo provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad8 Jan 2035
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Edmund Wakaso: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Market8 Jan 2035
“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.
Player ratings8 Jan 2035
Samuel Adjei, 19, steals the show — 7.61
Marked 7.61 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
The dugout8 Jan 2035
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aduana Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Nov 2034
Position 16, 6 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market13 Nov 2034
Ahmed Adebayo has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Aduana Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match11 Nov 2034
No end in sight to Aduana Stars's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Aduana Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Majeed Ashimeru, and the manager let it.
Match11 Nov 2034
Great Olympics left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad13 Nov 2034
100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Jeffrey Acquah after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market13 Nov 2034
The Yaw Paintsil story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Yaw Paintsil signs something — a contract at Aduana Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout13 Nov 2034
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 Albert Mohammed is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad11 Sep 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Patrick Nuhu and Aduana Stars agree another 3 years.
The dugout11 Sep 2034
Albert Amoah 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.
Squad11 Sep 2034
Edmund Acquah 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 dugout11 Sep 2034
The manager has not finished forgetting Baba Asamoah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market11 Sep 2034
The name of Yaw Paintsil keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Aduana Stars say nothing, which says plenty.
Market11 Sep 2034
The market said no: Ahmed Adebayo stays put
Aduana Stars opened the door and nobody walked through it. So Ahmed Adebayo stays — listed, trained, and available — while both sides mark the days to January on the same calendar.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2034
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Aduana Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jun 2034
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Amar Haïdara
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Aduana Stars will quote 15 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Transfer targets12 Jun 2034
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2034
This is not rotation. Samuel Mohammed has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Jun 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Edmund Acquah, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Jun 2034
Edmund Acquah has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Aduana Stars will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.