Marked for Daniel Baba
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Mar 2036
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.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohamed Azzi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kenroy Campbell, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead31 Mar 2036
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. Aduana Stars know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
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 Kenroy Campbell is on it.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Yaw Paintsil asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout31 Mar 2036
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Market31 Mar 2036
The Yaw Paintsil talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Aduana Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market31 Mar 2036
4 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Aduana Stars money.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Feb 2036
Yaw Paintsil breaks a bone — 16 days out
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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
Kenroy Campbell and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match16 Feb 2036
Ashanti Gold left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
The manager makes an example of Yaw Paintsil
“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.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
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 Interim Coach left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad18 Feb 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Thomas Paintsil and Aduana Stars agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Feb 2036
Serge Badjo has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Aduana Stars 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.
Squad18 Feb 2036
No place for Kwadwo Atiemo in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Aduana Stars are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market18 Feb 2036
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad4 Feb 2036
30 days out for Yaw Paintsil after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Aduana Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market4 Feb 2036
Only the photograph left for Ahmed Adebayo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Adebayo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Feb 2036
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.
Squad4 Feb 2036
A move Taiwo Abacha would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Taiwo Abacha is living that version at Aduana Stars, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom4 Feb 2036
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at Aduana Stars 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.
The dugout4 Feb 2036
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Aduana Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Feb 2036
Serge Badjo 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 Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets4 Feb 2036
Aduana Stars asked and Ashanti Gold said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match2 Feb 2036
Medeama left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Jan 2036
Yaw Paintsil breaks a bone — 51 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 51 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match12 Jan 2036
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Aduana Stars scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The dugout14 Jan 2036
“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.
Player ratings14 Jan 2036
A brace, and Amar Haïdara takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Amar Haïdara provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
Fee done, terms next for Francis Ayew
Aduana Stars and Hasaacas have settled on $16.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market14 Jan 2036
“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.
Transfer targets14 Jan 2036
$990.0K on the table at Asante Kotoko. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad14 Jan 2036
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Aduana Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jan 2036
A muscle injury and 15 days out for Osafo Antwi
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market16 Oct 2034
Only the photograph left for Ahmed Adebayo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ahmed Adebayo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Aduana Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Oct 2034
“The easiest signature of my career.” Daniel Baba and Aduana Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout16 Oct 2034
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kwadwo Bukari, and the manager let it.
Market16 Oct 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 dugout16 Oct 2034
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.
Boardroom16 Oct 2034
97 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Jun 2034
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Liberty Professionals waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2034
The deal with Asante Kotoko is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2034
Aduana Stars asked and Medeama said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The dugout26 Jun 2034
This is not rotation. Edmund Addo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Aduana Stars is pretending otherwise.
The dugout26 Jun 2034
Andrew Partey asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market26 Jun 2034
Aduana Stars have let the market know Samuel Mohammed can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.