Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Heart of Lions waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Ashanti Gold have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
This is not rotation. Albert Partey has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise.
Squad21 Aug 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Nuhu 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.
Hearts of Oak 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bechem United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
$170.0K on the table at BA All Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Hasaacas have gone to Bechem United 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Great Olympics 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Baba Kudus signs something — a contract at Hasaacas or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Annan trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
$34.0K on the table at Bechem United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Nuhu 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Salim Adams 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Albert Partey commits to Hasaacas for another 3 years.
Squad24 Jul 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Nuhu 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.
Great Olympics 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.
Hearts of Oak 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.
Hasaacas 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.
The offer from Bechem United for Harrison Waris 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Hasaacas have gone to Bechem United 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
Everything agreed with BA All Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Hasaacas have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Hasaacas is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The deal with Bechem United 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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Atta Derrick Afriyie has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Hasaacas have gone to Inter Allies 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 Acquah 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Mohammed Baba has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
In brief
SquadWords at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
The phone has started ringing about Harrison Waris again, and this time the name on the line is Bechem United. Hasaacas are listening politely and promising nothing.
The deal with BA All Stars 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.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hasaacas told Atta Derrick Afriyie something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hasaacas 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chisom Ngomere trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Bechem United for Harrison Waris 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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Bonsu 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.
Hasaacas 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Hasaacas asked and Berekum Chelsea said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Salim Adams 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Emmanuel Antwi 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.
This is not rotation. Albert Partey has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Hasaacas is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Bonsu 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 May 2028
Derrick Bonsu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 47 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
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.
In brief
The dugoutDerrick Bonsu knocks on the manager’s door
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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 19 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.
“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.
Squad8 May 2028
Daniel Nuhu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad1 May 2028
Daniel Nuhu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Position 6 on 48 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 Felix Bukari to a room that had heard them before.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa 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.
“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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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 bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Baba Appiah 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Emmanuel Antwi 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Daniel Nuhu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Essien dropped after a run of poor form
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Nuhu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Paul Mhlanga is on it.
Position 4, 45 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Nuhu 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
In brief
The dugoutSalim Adams asks for a word with the manager
Kamaldeen Acquah 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 never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jonathan Kudus commits to Hasaacas for another 3 years.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Felix Bukari to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Hasaacas pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Felix Wakaso, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Annan knocks on the manager's door
Suleiman Abdullahi had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and New Edubiase United were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Nuhu 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Mhlanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
At 19 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.
Marked 8.00. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hasaacas.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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.” Felix Bukari, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Derrick Bonsu, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Waris trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutPaul Mhlanga has become a man the manager trusts
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Hasaacas offered $900.00; Wa All Stars said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. WAFA have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Hasaacas ran out of time with Bechem United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
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 Felix Bukari 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.65 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Hasaacas 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 offer went to Wa All Stars 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.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.41 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.16 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
0‑3 against Wa All Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
$34.0K on the table at Bechem United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
$1.0K on the table at Wa All Stars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 dugout24 Jan 2028
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 Felix Bukari to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
SquadThe division's best last weekend was a Hasaacas man
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Suleiman Abdullahi provided it, and the 9.06 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
BA All Stars have accepted the money. What Hasaacas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Hasaacas and Aduana Stars in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Hasaacas offered $34.0K; Bechem United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New Edubiase United have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Chisom Ngomere provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with Hearts of Oak, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The offer went to Bechem United 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.
Hasaacas asked and BA All Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Salim Adams 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 19 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 offer from Asante Kotoko for Harrison Waris 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Hasaacas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Emmanuel Antwi 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.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Harrison Waris has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Hasaacas.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Bonsu 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Mhlanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Medeama next, and one man in the Hasaacas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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 Paul Mhlanga is on it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Nuhu 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.
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Derrick Bonsu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 19 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.
36 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Derrick Bonsu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 7.77 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Hasaacas had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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.” Felix Bukari kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Hasaacas told Salim Adams something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Boateng is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A 1‑0 win over Heart of Lions, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Suleiman Abdullahi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hasaacas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody at Hasaacas is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 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.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Suleiman Abdullahi will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hasaacas escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Bonsu 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 needed Suleiman Abdullahi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against New Edubiase United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felix Bukari chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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 Hasaacas, 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 Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Hasaacas 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.
The 2-goal deficit was real and so was the recovery. Suleiman Abdullahi was at the centre of it, Inter Allies were at the end of it, and everybody who left early will hear about this one for years.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
5 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 Acquah 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.
“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.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Bonsu 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.
9 combined actions and 6.71. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Baba Appiah is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felix Bukari chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutDerrick Bonsu knocks on the manager's door
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Harrison Addo will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Hasaacas escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Derrick Bonsu falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
0‑4 to Liberty Professionals, 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.
Out, 1‑2 to Berekum Chelsea, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Felix Bukari after 0‑4, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Mhlanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa 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 Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Annan 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Salim Adams 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 young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Hasaacas who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Chisom Ngomere. 1‑0 against Wa All Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Chisom Ngomere was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Paul Mhlanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Hasaacas will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Amos Sulemana
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings20 Sep 2027
Daniel Nuhu, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Hasaacas are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
In brief
SquadJonathan Annan falls out with a teammate over standards
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.13, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Daniel Nuhu, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.25
A mark of 8.25 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
Hasaacas ran out of time with Berekum Chelsea. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Hasaacas asked and BA All Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Emmanuel Antwi 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 20 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.
Hasaacas and Berekum Chelsea have settled on $1.0M. 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.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 12 arrived, 12 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
4 academy players handed senior numbers at Hasaacas
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Hasaacas asked and New Edubiase 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.
Emmanuel Antwi 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nana Mohammed is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abeiku Annan is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ernest Mensah is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
In brief
Transfer targetsThe window shuts on the Abeiku Mensah deal
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hasaacas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Berekum Chelsea have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A loan enquiry to Liberty Professionals: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Kwadwo Atiemo on the training pitch
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with Berekum Chelsea, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Nuhu and Hasaacas agree another 4 years.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Salim Adams 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 Aug 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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 dugoutThe manager makes Paul Mhlanga a promise
The dugoutDaniel Nuhu knocks on the manager's door
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Gladson Adjei
The clubs have shaken hands with Berekum Chelsea; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with Liberty Professionals, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Salim Adams 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.
Position 6, 54 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hasaacas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Hasaacas people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with New Edubiase United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Salim Adams and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hasaacas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Gladson Adjei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have shaken hands with Great Olympics; 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. Wa All Stars have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The phone has started ringing about Mohammed Baba again, and this time the name on the line is Heart of Lions. Hasaacas are listening politely and promising nothing.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Robert Lartey, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Hasaacas have done the hard part with Medeama, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Atta Derrick Afriyie has, at Hasaacas, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Hasaacas will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
$1.0M settles it between the clubs for Johnson Amuzu
Berekum Chelsea have accepted the money. What Hasaacas do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
The deal with Medeama 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.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Liberty Professionals 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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hasaacas, another week without a signature from Daniel Annan.
54 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Hasaacas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Paul Mhlanga a promise
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at WAFA is saying, and nobody at Hasaacas is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New Edubiase United have kept their man, and Hasaacas go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa 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.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hasaacas, another week without a signature from Chisom Ngomere.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Harrison Waris has moved up 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Harrison Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Boateng is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Salim Adams 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.
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 Harrison Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Medeama 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.
Salim Adams 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 Mohammed Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 6 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Paul Mhlanga a promise
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
“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.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Paul Mhlanga 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes Paul Mhlanga a promise
The dugoutGladson Adjei knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Nkonzenhle Hlongwa has written the date down.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Jonathan Annan commits to Hasaacas for another 3 years.
Squad24 May 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
In brief
The dugoutBaba Appiah knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Hasaacas will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Hasaacas training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jonathan Annan 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.
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.
Position 6 on 54 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Hasaacas will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Hasaacas have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Atiemo knocks on the manager’s door
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mohammed Baba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Hasaacas, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Baba Kudus has moved up it.
Something was said to Samuel Ayinebire Atubga and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Position 6 on 54 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 20 actions, 6.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Salim Adams 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 Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Salim Adams 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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 Derrick Bonsu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Medeama in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Derrick Bonsu
MatchContinental football is in reach for Hasaacas
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 23 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nkonzenhle Hlongwa will call it something else in private.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felix Bukari chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
A season average of 7.21 with 4 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Paul Mhlanga falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1 for Salim Adams, marked 7.73, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Salim Adams. 2‑1 against Ashanti Gold, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felix Bukari on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Paul Mhlanga
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
At 20 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Sharif Shuaib and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Ashanti Gold next, and one man in the Hasaacas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hasaacas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
Looking aheadLooking ahead: the trip to Ashanti Gold
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Boateng is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Salim Adams 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.
7 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
The dugout22 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Felix Bukari to a room that had heard them before.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
5 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Benjamin Tsivanyo did not need any: 8.21, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 18 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Suleiman Abdullahi and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Suleiman Abdullahi in the middle of it, and New Edubiase United unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Chisom Ngomere was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Salim Adams 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Nkonzenhle Hlongwa will call it something else in private.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Felix Bukari chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Hasaacas, another week without a signature from Chisom Ngomere.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Suleiman Abdullahi. 2‑1 against Bechem United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Solomon Omale falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.08. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Hasaacas.
Squad22 Feb 2027
6 new faces, and Hasaacas are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout22 Feb 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.” Felix Bukari, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Bechem United next, and one man in the Hasaacas dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
In brief
MatchContinental football is in reach for Hasaacas
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Medeama 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.
Nkonzenhle Hlongwa 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 goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
The dugout8 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Felix Bukari to a room that had heard them before.
In brief
The dugoutSharif Shuaib is still being punished for one mistake
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have shaken hands with BA All Stars; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Nkonzenhle Hlongwa has just signed for Hasaacas, and for once the answer mattered.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Hasaacas 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 easiest signature of my career.” Nkonzenhle Hlongwa and Hasaacas agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Salim Adams 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 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Benjamin Tsivanyo 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 103 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Position 3, 34 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking 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 Hasaacas, and it is not being withdrawn.
Salim Adams 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.
Marked 8.44 — 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.
A loan enquiry to Berekum Chelsea: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
$1.4M 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Hasaacas have lost him in all but the paperwork.
He is going to Bechem United, the club has $1.4M 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Aduana Stars 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.
Hasaacas offered $190.0K; Bechem United said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Hasaacas can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
Supporters turn on the $110.0K sale of Abdul Afful
He is going to WAFA, the club has $110.0K 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.
$190.0K on the table at Bechem United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Jeffrey Boateng is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Paul Mhlanga has just signed for Hasaacas, and for once the answer mattered.
Two goals and a mark of 8.94 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Berekum Chelsea for Daniel Partey 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.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Hasaacas had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
At 20 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.
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.87 beside his name.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Hasaacas will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Hasaacas. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Shifted about, taken off before the hour, asked to do somebody else's running — Suleiman Abdullahi has had enough of being useful and would like to be picked. Hasaacas know, and have known for weeks.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Hasaacas will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Hasaacas and Ashanti Gold, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Ashanti Gold left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 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 2‑4 Felix Bukari left the room before anybody could ask which.
5 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hearts of Oak in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Up for the corner, and Salim Adams delivers — 7.75
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Salim Adams scored, was marked 7.75, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Salim Adams 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 am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Hasaacas, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Felix Bukari on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Position 3, 21 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Salim Adams 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kamaldeen Acquah 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 4‑1, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hasaacas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Hasaacas this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The words a physio says slowly. 25 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.
Nana Ofori 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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 Derrick Bonsu has written the date down.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hasaacas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 9.11 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Partey has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Chisom Ngomere was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.18. 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.
“I watch every Hasaacas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wa All Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hasaacas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jonathan Appiah has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Baba Kudus was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Daniel Atiemo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bechem United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
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 shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Liberty Professionals go through and Hasaacas go home, 1‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Salim Adams 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 watch every Hasaacas game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Wa All Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
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 Salim Adams has written the date down.
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.
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Hasaacas lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Baba Kudus. 2‑1 against Great Olympics, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Salim Adams 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 won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.68, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Daniel Nuhu
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Daniel Nuhu has come out of that comparison in the side, and Hasaacas have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Felix Bukari could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Boateng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 7.98, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Marked 8.17 — 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.
Daniel Partey 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 dugout28 Sep 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.” Felix Bukari kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
SquadWords at Hasaacas training over how hard people work