542 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Tobi Alagbe 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mohammed Galadima 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 anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mohammed Galadima and Kano Pillars agree another 2 years.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
498 appearances across 12 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
13 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Shehu Osimhen to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nasarawa United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
Mohammed Galadima 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Shehu Osimhen will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Kano Pillars escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
The offer from Abia Warriors for Shehu Osimhen 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.
Tobi Alagbe 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 at Kano Pillars 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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.76, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Kano Pillars and Enyimba, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The offer from Abia Warriors for Shehu Osimhen 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 name of Musa Chukwueze has come up in conversations Kano Pillars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Mohammed Galadima 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 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.
543 appearances across 16 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kano Pillars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mohammed Galadima 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 conversation is coming this week. Kano Pillars will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad30 Jul 2040
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Imrana Ahmad 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.
“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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tobi Alagbe 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 offer from Shooting Stars for Musa Chukwueze 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 name of Imrana Ahmad has come up in conversations Kano Pillars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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 crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bayelsa United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Musa Chukwueze. 2‑1 against Katsina United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Musa Chukwueze had Kano Pillars level again within 4 minutes, and Katsina United never got to play with a lead at all.
9 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.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Kano Pillars and Kun Khalifat in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kano Pillars can tell you which week it ends in.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The offer from Bendel Insurance for Shehu Osimhen was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Warri Wolves will make the call about Imrana Ahmad this week. Kano Pillars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kano Pillars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
523 appearances across 18 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Mohammed Galadima 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's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Kano Pillars deserved better, and so did he.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Kano Pillars, 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 goals in one match, Musa Chukwueze on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kano Pillars and Rivers United.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kano Pillars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
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. 9 actions, 6.66, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings9 Apr 2040
A brace, and Alex Akinola takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alex Akinola provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 101 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammed Galadima and Kano Pillars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shehu Osimhen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
1‑4 against Kwara United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Player ratings19 Mar 2040
Up for the corner, and Imrana Ahmad delivers — 7.64
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Imrana Ahmad scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
24 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shehu Osimhen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Kano Pillars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Imrana Ahmad scored in the 87th minute, Katsina United had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Kano Pillars took the lot.
Player ratings20 Feb 2040
A brace, and Imrana Ahmad takes the afternoon — 8.12
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Imrana Ahmad provided it, and the 8.12 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Tobi Alagbe 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 3‑2 win over Katsina United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
A touch he did not want, a bounce he could not have read, and his name in the wrong column. There is no consoling a man after one of these, and Kano Pillars will not try tonight.
The offer from Kwara United for Ikechukwu Collins 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.
Mohammed Galadima 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Rivers United will make the call about Imrana Ahmad this week. Kano Pillars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Musa Chukwueze has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
2 behind and going nowhere, until Musa Chukwueze decided otherwise. Wikki Tourists had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kano Pillars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The offer from Niger Tornadoes for Shehu Osimhen 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.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Musa Chukwueze. 3‑2 against Wikki Tourists, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
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.
Tobi Alagbe 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 name of Musa Chukwueze has come up in conversations Kano Pillars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Niger Tornadoes will make the call about Shehu Osimhen this week. Kano Pillars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Musa Chukwueze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ikechukwu Collins will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Dec 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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 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.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
A new partner, a signature and a photograph nobody will remember. It funds a fortnight of wages, which is more than most headlines on this page can say for themselves.
Mohammed Galadima 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 at Kano Pillars 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.
In brief
BoardroomThe Kano Pillars production line keeps running
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Musa Chukwueze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Kano Pillars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
545 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Mukhtar and Kano Pillars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Tobi Alagbe 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 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shehu Osimhen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
In brief
SquadAli Abdullahi falls out with a teammate over standards
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadWords at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Squad26 Sep 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
503 appearances across 17 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
The offer from Kun Khalifat for Shehu Osimhen 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.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
Squad5 Sep 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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 offer from Warri Wolves for Imrana Ahmad 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Musa Chukwueze has come up in conversations Kano Pillars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad29 Aug 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Akinola 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.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
Add another name to the list: Warri Wolves have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Imrana Ahmad. The answer from Kano Pillars has not changed — yet.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Enyimba left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad15 Aug 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
Tobi Alagbe 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 conversation is coming this week. Kano Pillars will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad1 Aug 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Sanusi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
In brief
Player ratingsShehu Osimhen changes it off the bench
The offer from Wikki Tourists for Alex Akinola 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.
Add another name to the list: Warri Wolves have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Imrana Ahmad. The answer from Kano Pillars has not changed — yet.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Jul 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jul 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Mohammed Galadima 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 found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Kano Pillars pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
501 appearances across 15 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Add another name to the list: Plateau United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Imrana Ahmad. The answer from Kano Pillars has not changed — yet.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad4 Jul 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
In brief
BoardroomKano Pillars sign 9 boys into the academy
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Shehu Osimhen will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Mohammed Galadima 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 an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.00 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 May 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Nobody at Kano Pillars 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.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Mohammed Galadima 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 May 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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 easiest signature of my career.” Chidera Abacha and Kano Pillars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.17 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Musa Chukwueze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad25 Apr 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.14 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings11 Apr 2039
A brace, and Qamar Adegoke takes the afternoon — 8.26
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Qamar Adegoke provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑1 win over Barau, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad11 Apr 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
295 appearances across 14 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
7.68, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammad Mukhtar and Kano Pillars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Mohammed Galadima 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.
Squad4 Apr 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Aminu Sani had Kano Pillars level again within 4 minutes, and Enyimba never got to play with a lead at all.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Alex Akinola scored in the 88th minute, Warri Wolves had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Kano Pillars took the lot.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kano Pillars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Akinola 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Mar 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Sanusi 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kano Pillars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Feb 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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.
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kano Pillars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
At 18 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 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bendel Insurance moved on, Ikechukwu Collins reports back to Kano Pillars, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Mohammed Galadima was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The words a physio says slowly. 36 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mohammed Galadima and Kano Pillars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Feb 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 43 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Kano Pillars did not have in the autumn.
Squad31 Jan 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Alex Akinola 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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon belonged to Alex Akinola
The words a physio says slowly. 50 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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Niger Tornadoes will make the call about Shehu Osimhen this week. Kano Pillars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad24 Jan 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulmalik Sanusi 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 words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The name of Shehu Osimhen has come up in conversations Kano Pillars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad17 Jan 2039
Ali Abdullahi 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.
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.
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.
13 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kano Pillars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 93th minute. Wikki Tourists will replay every second of the added time for a week.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Tobi Alagbe 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.
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Kano Pillars will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad10 Jan 2039
Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ali Abdullahi 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.
18 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.