Position 16 and 16 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars 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.
BA All Stars ran out of time with Heart of Lions. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The deal that would have taken Jeffrey Bukari to Hasaacas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to BA All Stars with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
BA All Stars close the window on a squad of their own making
1 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Aduana Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Kotei and BA All Stars agree another 1 years.
The offer went to Medeama this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Godknows Dzakpasu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
1‑4 to Medeama, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. BA All Stars have done the hard part with Hearts of Oak, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Kotei and BA All Stars agree another 1 years.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New Edubiase United have kept their man, and BA All Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
In brief
BoardroomNobody left the BA All Stars dressing room in a hurry
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
Transfer targetsA loan move for Abubakar Adams is in the works
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BA All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Transfer targets24 Jan 2028
$31.0K settles it between the clubs for Joseph Afful
Heart of Lions have accepted the money. What BA All Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Everything agreed with Bechem United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
BA All Stars have gone to Medeama with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. BA All Stars have done the hard part with Medeama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$47.0K was the most the club would pay and Medeama were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hearts of Oak have kept their man, and BA All Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
$47.0K on the table at Medeama. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Supporters organise against the BA All Stars board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Berekum Chelsea have kept their man, and BA All Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BA All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Nobody at BA All 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BA All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Kamaldeen Addo 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jeffrey Bukari, and the manager let it.
The dugout20 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
In brief
Looking aheadA test against the best for BA All Stars
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.98 for the rest of it.
Kamaldeen Addo 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 Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for BA All Stars is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Jeffrey Bukari knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“I did not go to Aktobe to sit and watch. I want to come back to BA All Stars and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 18 matches say the rest.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
Supporters organise against the BA All Stars board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bechem United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jeffrey Bukari will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BA All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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 Kyriakos Artymatas left the room before anybody could ask which.
Going 2 down does something to a side, and what it usually does is finish them. Not here. BA All Stars rebuilt the afternoon goal by goal, and Liberty Professionals had no answer to any of it.
Position 15, 5 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.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Bernard Sulemana, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.13
A mark of 8.13 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
9 matches without a win, and then this, against Liberty Professionals. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Godknows Dzakpasu 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Yaw Acheampong is living that version at BA All Stars, and it tends to show in the first month.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yaw Acheampong and BA All Stars agree another 2 years.
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.
“I watch every BA All Stars game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Aktobe runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Boubacar Dembele has written the date down.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Godknows Dzakpasu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑5 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Wa All Stars the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that BA All Stars will enjoy reviewing.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Two goals and a mark of 8.60 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bernard Sulemana and BA All Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars 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.
0‑3 against Aduana Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taofeek Otaniyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BA All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Asante Kotoko go through and BA All Stars go home, 1‑4 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Kamaldeen Addo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at BA All Stars has been clear about where Abdul Yakubu stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kamaldeen Addo signs something — a contract at BA All Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
George Amonoo 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.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BA All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jeffrey Bukari 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Godknows Dzakpasu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Medeama scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taofeek Otaniyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BA All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Godknows Dzakpasu scored, was marked 7.51, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Godknows Dzakpasu 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about BA All Stars and WAFA in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” George Amonoo commits to BA All Stars for another 3 years.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kyriakos Artymatas after 2‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Godknows Dzakpasu and BA All Stars agree another 2 years.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abeiku Atiemo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Godknows Dzakpasu 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.
Boubacar Dembele 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 easiest signature of my career.” Kamaldeen Addo and BA All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Godknows Dzakpasu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. BA All Stars will try again when the window opens; Bechem United may not be selling by then.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Emmanuel Kotei is living that version at BA All Stars, and it tends to show in the first month.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
BA All Stars close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 14 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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 is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kamaldeen Amoah has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Berekum Chelsea waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taofeek Otaniyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BA All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The clubs have shaken hands with Bechem United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Great Olympics have kept their man, and BA All Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Appiah and BA All Stars agree another 3 years.
BA All Stars have made the call to Great Olympics. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BA All Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutAndrew Ayew knocks on the manager’s door
The phone has started ringing about Jeffrey Bukari again, and this time the name on the line is Berekum Chelsea. BA All Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
BA All Stars asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
BA All Stars have made the call to Asante Kotoko. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
BA All Stars have made the call to Medeama. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
BA All Stars asked and Bechem United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Asante Kotoko have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jeffrey Bukari trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. BA All Stars will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Taofeek Otaniyi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around BA All Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Medeama is saying, and nobody at BA All Stars is enjoying the guessing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Singnkhi Mpedi and BA All Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at BA All Stars, another week without a signature from Taofeek Otaniyi.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BA All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Jeffrey Bukari again, and this time the name on the line is Berekum Chelsea. BA All Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boubacar Dembele 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.
BA All Stars have made the call to Medeama. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Afriyie Amoah has gone, the accounts have $170.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Berekum Chelsea paid $170.0K and BA All Stars took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Great Olympics pay $22.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andrew Ayew trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BA All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Orlando Pirates for Andre Gyan 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.
Jeffrey Bukari 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Boubacar Dembele and BA All Stars agree another 3 years.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernard Sulemana 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Boubacar Dembele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. BA All Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The phone has started ringing about Francis Bukari again, and this time the name on the line is Great Olympics. BA All Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jeffrey Bukari and BA All Stars agree another 3 years.
BA All 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 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.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and New Edubiase United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Everybody at BA All Stars saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
The phone has started ringing about Ernest Appiah again, and this time the name on the line is Heart of Lions. BA All Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andre Essien trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BA All Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BA All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Medeama keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abeiku Atiemo is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
$490.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around BA All Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces14 Jun 2027
Supporters turn on the $490.0K sale of Baba Schlupp
He is going to Asante Kotoko, the club has $490.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 goals in 21 games at Laçi — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at BA All Stars updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Asante Kotoko waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The registration window is open and the phone has started. Between now and the deadline this club will be linked with forty players and sign three, which is the usual ratio.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BA All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Baba Schlupp trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at BA All Stars
43Edition
The BA All Stars Gazette
24 May 2027
From our football correspondentSteady
Squad24 May 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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 conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Singnkhi Mpedi has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Afriyie Amoah trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Jeffrey Bukari 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at BA All Stars has been clear about where Francis Essien stands, which is more than many ever get.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BA All Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernard Sulemana 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 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 award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. BA All Stars have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad3 May 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Baba Asante
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Baba Asante has come out of that comparison in the side, and BA All Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Singnkhi Mpedi has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutNana Kyereh asks for a word with the manager
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 37 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. BA All Stars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Mensah and BA All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BA All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kamaldeen Addo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and New Edubiase United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
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.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” BA All Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kamaldeen Addo 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 87 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Appiah and BA All Stars agree another 3 years.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andre Essien trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at BA All Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A side in position 16 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Afriyie Amoah are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Albert Boakye
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at BA All Stars
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
At 18 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.
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 needed Kamaldeen Addo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Bechem United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Kyriakos Artymatas after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 dugout15 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Yaw Amankwa 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.
A performance of 8.10 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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 is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 2‑3 defeat, delivered by Kyriakos Artymatas to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for BA All Stars
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Nana Kyereh
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Kyriakos Artymatas made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Kyriakos Artymatas after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Taofeek Otaniyi has taken the hint, and BA All Stars are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BA All Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Kamaldeen Addo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernard Sulemana 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Isaac Mohammed and BA All Stars agree another 3 years.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Bernard Sulemana did not need any: 8.08, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Day 10 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Bernard Sulemana 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwadwo Owusu and BA All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Bernard Ofori to a room that had heard them before.
“I am not thinking past Saturday, and I would advise nobody else to.” The caretaker’s first rule is to pretend the job is small; Bernard Ofori recited it perfectly.
The deal that would have taken Afriyie Amoah to Hasaacas has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to BA All Stars with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Yaw Amankwa 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and WAFA waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
União de Santarém have made their interest known and BA All Stars have to have a conversation they never wanted. A manager other clubs ask about is a manager whose next contract costs more.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at BA All 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Jeffrey Bukari again, and this time the name on the line is Heart of Lions. BA All Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
33 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
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 Abraham Paintsil left the room before anybody could ask which.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Nana Kyereh
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.81, 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.
The offer from Tusker for Afriyie Amoah 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.
Yaw Amankwa 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.
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernard Sulemana 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.
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 Baba Schlupp is on it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Heart of Lions waiting with a shirt. Nobody at BA All Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 19 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kwame Inusah and BA All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Abraham Paintsil, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Yaw Amankwa 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.
25 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A 1‑0 win over Berekum Chelsea, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bernard Sulemana was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.” Abraham Paintsil kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
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 Jeffrey Bukari is on it.
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BA All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Yaw Amankwa 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Jeffrey Bukari knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
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 1‑2 Abraham Paintsil left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsAbdul Yakubu changes it off the bench
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Afriyie Amoah
The words a physio says slowly. 40 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.
Yaw Amankwa 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.
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.
Three points for BA All Stars, 2‑0 the final word against Inter Allies in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Baba Asante was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. 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.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Abraham Paintsil could afford to be generous.
At 20 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kwadwo Owusu
47 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Bernard Sulemana provided it, and the 8.39 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bechem United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
54 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Jeffrey Bukari 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.
“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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwame Inusah 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.
61 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bernard Sulemana and BA All Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
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.” Abraham Paintsil after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
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.
In brief
The dugoutJeffrey Bukari has become a man the manager trusts
Looking aheadBA All Stars take on the side everybody is chasing
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BA All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.
Nobody at BA All 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bernard Sulemana trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. BA All Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Taofeek Otaniyi has just signed for BA All Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation BA All Stars are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
“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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Great Olympics defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 84 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.
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.
“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.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
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 1‑2 Abraham Paintsil left the room before anybody could ask which.
He is 19, and nobody at BA All Stars signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. BA All Stars told Yaw Amankwa something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
93 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BA All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
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.
100 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
3 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
7.90, 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
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 words a physio says slowly. 107 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.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
114 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BA All Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A muscle injury sidelines Abdul Wakaso for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. BA All Stars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Abraham Paintsil 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.
In brief
The dugoutBaba Wakaso knocks on the manager’s door
The words a physio says slowly. 122 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Bernard Sulemana, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Albert Boakye delivers — 7.60
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Albert Boakye scored, was marked 7.60, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Albert Boakye 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Albert Boakye in the middle of it, and WAFA unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwame Inusah 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Abraham Paintsil, on a 3‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Kwame Inusah
129 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. BA All Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at BA All Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Yaw Amankwa, and the manager let it.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Kwame Inusah
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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Hearts of Oak defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The words a physio says slowly. 136 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.
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jeffrey Bukari, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Abraham Paintsil to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 143 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.
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Kamaldeen Addo 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.
“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 BA All Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Patrick Sulemana had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bernard Sulemana 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Abraham Baba has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what BA All Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Hearts of Oak 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.
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jeffrey Bukari 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 manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Bernard Sulemana plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
BA All Stars asked and WAFA said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The offer from Inter Allies for Bernard Sulemana 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BA All Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thomas Baba and BA All Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at BA All Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kwame Inusah 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.
In brief
The dugoutThomas Baba knocks on the manager’s door
SquadThe training reports on Kwadwo Nuhu are not good
The offer from Hasaacas for Kamaldeen Addo 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.
Kamaldeen Addo 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.
BA All Stars asked and Liberty Professionals said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jeffrey Bukari was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: Zeleznicar Pancevo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andre Gyan. The answer from BA All Stars has not changed — yet.
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.
In brief
The dugoutBaba Asante knocks on the manager's door