Marked for Justin Wright
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 May 2040
A fracture rules Ofori McCarthy out for 72 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hearts of Oak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 May 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hearts of Oak may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad21 May 2040
Kelvin 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Mar 2040
A knee injury of the worst kind for Abdul-Aziz Adam
14 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Hearts of Oak lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad26 Mar 2040
A fracture rules Ofori McCarthy out for 130 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hearts of Oak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match24 Mar 2040
Justin Wright wins it after the whistle should have gone
94 minutes played. Justin Wright found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and WAFA went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Squad26 Mar 2040
The match ball belongs to Justin Wright, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings26 Mar 2040
Age has not caught George Paaku yet — 8.02
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.02 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match24 Mar 2040
A 4‑3 win over WAFA, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Market26 Mar 2040
The name of Jeffrey Ayew keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Hearts of Oak say nothing, which says plenty.
Player ratings26 Mar 2040
Ninety minutes of Justin Wright at his very best
Marked 9.56. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hearts of Oak.
Squad26 Mar 2040
Words at Hearts of Oak training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Appiah 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
Squad2 Jan 2040
A fracture rules Francis Sulemana out for 43 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hearts of Oak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Jan 2040
The bid was some way short and Hearts of Oak did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad2 Jan 2040
231 appearances across 15 seasons in these colours. Careers like that are not built any more, and Hearts of Oak know what they have.
Squad2 Jan 2040
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hearts of Oak may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Jan 2040
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hearts of Oak have had the benefit of it.
Market2 Jan 2040
Abeiku Annan 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 Hearts of Oak can pretend not to have heard.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Nov 2039
A fracture rules Francis Sulemana out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hearts of Oak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market14 Nov 2039
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hearts of Oak is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings14 Nov 2039
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Nov 2039
Kelvin 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.
Match12 Nov 2039
Berekum Chelsea left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad14 Nov 2039
“The easiest signature of my career.” Justin Wright and Hearts of Oak agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Nov 2039
A fracture rules Francis Sulemana out for 102 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hearts of Oak will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market7 Nov 2039
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hearts of Oak is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Nov 2039
287 appearances across 13 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad7 Nov 2039
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.
Squad7 Nov 2039
Emmanuel Amankwah 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.
Market7 Nov 2039
The Jeffrey Ayew story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jeffrey Ayew signs something — a contract at Hearts of Oak or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Match5 Nov 2039
It finished 2‑1, and it was Massimo Forte’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Hearts of Oak.
The terraces7 Nov 2039
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Justin Wright 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.
Player ratings7 Nov 2039
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad15 Aug 2039
Felix Boateng damages knee ligaments — 72 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 72 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.
Squad15 Aug 2039
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.
Market15 Aug 2039
The bid was some way short and Hearts of Oak did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad9 May 2039
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Hearts of Oak may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad9 May 2039
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Emmanuel Amankwah commits to Hearts of Oak for another 2 years.
Squad9 May 2039
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hearts of Oak this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.