“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 The request is on a desk at Plateau United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Victor Dawa 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.
Plateau United asked and Kaizer Chiefs said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
Mamelodi Sundowns 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.
Kano Pillars will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Plateau United were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plateau United can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Bhayangkara Presisi for Domnan Panse 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.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Mamelodi Sundowns is saying, and nobody at Plateau United is enjoying the guessing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plateau United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 22 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.
Victor Dawa 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iwueke Obiuto 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.” Plateau United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dayong Labwat was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Plateau United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Victor Dawa 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 Iwueke Obiuto 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 Plateau United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Plateau United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plateau United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alukam Iwuorie 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 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Plateau United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
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.
“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 Plateau United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Leon Awaziem after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nen Jerry was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 Plateau United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Free State Stars is saying, and nobody at Plateau United is enjoying the guessing.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaizer Chiefs have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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 2‑0 win over Kun Khalifat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Plateau United 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Plateau United training over how hard people work
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plateau United can pretend not to have heard.
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.
The bid was some way short and Plateau United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 12 gone
That is the business done at Plateau United 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Plateau United have done the hard part with Free State Stars, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Plateau United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Free State Stars, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Victor Dawa 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. Orlando Pirates have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Victor Dawa
El-Kanemi Warriors ended it 2‑0. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Ossy Martins takes the afternoon — 8.69
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ossy Martins provided it, and the 8.69 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plateau United can pretend not to have heard.
Plateau United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Orlando Pirates, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plateau United 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 Gideon Monday was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Promise Damala has agreed terms with El-Kanemi Warriors for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Promise Damala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Plateau United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Favour Bala 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of John Amah
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Plateau United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Maren Kefas, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.45
A mark of 8.45 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.
The offer from AS Police for Favour Bala 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 clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mamelodi Sundowns keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
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.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Sabbath Mancha 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plateau United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Victor Dawa 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.
Victor Dawa 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. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Samuel Kalu 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 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ossy Martins 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.
Still no offer on the table, and Paul Samson’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
In brief
Squad9 new faces, and Plateau United are still learning each other
Transfer targetsA loan move for Hlompho Lorch is in the works