John Attu Mensah

Mensah (a left-half of Hearts of Oak and the holder of 23 international caps) moved to England in 1964, to study accountancy. On 19th August 1964, he played for a Charlton Athletic XI away to Newmarket Town in a pre-season friendly. He scored Charlton's first goal, as they recovered from 1-0 down, to win 4-1. He impressed Newmarket to such an extent, that three days later he was making his debut for them in a 2-2 draw with visiting Stowmarket in the Eastern Counties League Cup. His first goals for Newmarket came in the next match (also in the League Cup), a 2-1 home victory over Soham Town Rangers.

Mensah later made the switch to Soham Town Rangers. He was recorded as their goalscoring centre-forward in a 3-1 loss at Wisbech Town in the East Anglian Cup on 7th September 1966.

He was reportedly the first black person to play for Cambridge United. He later featured for Norwich City, before returning to Ghana in 1969 and retiring in the late 1970s.

International career At the international level, he played for the Ghana senior team in the 1950s to 1960s winning over 20 International caps for Ghana. He played alongside players like Aggrey Fynn, Dogo Moro, Baba Yara, C.K. Gyamfi (captain) and Edward Acquah.

Personal life John Attu Mensah is the father of former Ghanaian international defender and captain John Mensah. Mensah died in June 2021 in the United Kingdom after a short illness.