“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 The request is on a desk at Wikki Tourists, and it is not being withdrawn.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. Wikki Tourists have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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. 16 actions, 6.62, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
$220.0K on the table at Plateau 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmad Lamido was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Wikki Tourists asked and Remo 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.
Ékené Awazie 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.
21 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.
Kun Khalifat left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad7 May 2029
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmad Lamido 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.
Ékené Awazie 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.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
20 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 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Ahmad Lamido 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.
Ékené Awazie 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.
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
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 0‑1 Michael Ogunjobi left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kun Khalifat in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
In brief
The dugoutÉkené Awazie knocks on the manager’s door
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 34 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wikki Tourists is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wikki Tourists 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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michael Ogunjobi was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Wikki Tourists dressing room was either.
Ékené Awazie 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.” Farouk Musisi and Wikki Tourists agree another 1 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, 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 Ugochukwu Akuta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
12 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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmad Lamido was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Amos Aliyu 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutSamuel Kalu asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Wikki Tourists people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Wikki Tourists, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wikki Tourists have done the hard part with Katsina United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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 Wikki Tourists this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
7 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.
Abia Warriors 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wikki Tourists can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Plateau United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plateau United have kept their man, and Wikki Tourists go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Ahmad Lamido 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wikki Tourists this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Wikki Tourists have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wikki Tourists can pretend not to have heard.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Remo Stars have kept their man, and Wikki Tourists go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Akinkunmi Ajayi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
“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 Wikki Tourists, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Amos Aliyu is a Wikki Tourists player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Ahmad Lamido 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.
Jimmy Ambrose 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Wikki Tourists are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Nobody at Wikki Tourists 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.
Bayelsa United next, and one man in the Wikki Tourists dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chizoba Okoh signs something — a contract at Wikki Tourists or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Wikki Tourists 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 Stephen Wisdom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gerald Diyoke and Wikki Tourists agree another 2 years.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Wikki Tourists will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Wikki Tourists know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
The dugoutMohammed Faisal has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutOdwa Bushula knocks on the manager's door
Jimmy Ambrose 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Wisdom 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 easiest signature of my career.” Stanley Amuzie and Wikki Tourists agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad27 Nov 2028
5 new faces, and Wikki Tourists 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Wikki Tourists, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Michael Ogunjobi has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Farouk Musisi and Wikki Tourists agree another 1 years.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Samuel Kalu is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
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.
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 Abdullahi Usman is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chizoba Okoh signs something — a contract at Wikki Tourists or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wikki Tourists lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Wikki Tourists is running low.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Wisdom was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 39 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wikki Tourists is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
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.
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wikki Tourists lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Wikki Tourists have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
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 Haruna Aliyu is on it.
Ifeanyi Ezema 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Ifeanyi Ezema will call it something else in private.
Musa Sulaiman 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 the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Mohammed Faisal has his answer from Wikki Tourists; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wikki Tourists lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Everything agreed with Nasarawa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Wikki Tourists asked and Warri Wolves said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Wikki Tourists offered $33.0K; Enyimba 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ifeanyi Ezema 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. Ahmad Lamido 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Obed Ponkap has his answer from Wikki Tourists; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
Player ratingsNobody on the pitch touched Stephen Wisdom
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Wikki Tourists lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Wikki Tourists can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Wikki Tourists have lost him in all but the paperwork.
8 seasons and 40 appearances, all of them here. Careers like this are not designed; they happen to a certain kind of man at a certain kind of club, and this town has one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wikki Tourists this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
$96.0K was the most the club would pay and Shooting Stars were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ahmad Lamido 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Isah Ndala decided nobody was going anywhere. Enyimba had no time left to answer.
“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 Wikki Tourists, and it is not being withdrawn.
7.61, 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.
$590.0K on the table at Rivers 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wikki Tourists have done the hard part with Plateau United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Aliyu Mamuda 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
The words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Samuel Kalu is a Wikki Tourists player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Wikki Tourists asked and Remo 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.
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.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Wikki Tourists lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Stephen Wisdom has just signed for Wikki Tourists, and for once the answer mattered.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Abdullahi Usman reports back to Wikki Tourists with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
The deal with Kwara 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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jimmy Ambrose is a Wikki Tourists player again, and the town has its story of the summer.