Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dokou Dodo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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 The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Silas Nwankwo 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 will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. George Micheal has pre-agreed a move to Shooting Stars, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
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 phone has started ringing about Silas Nwankwo again, and this time the name on the line is Warri Wolves. Shooting Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lekan Abdulsalam will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Muyiwa Balogun is a Shooting Stars player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Muhammed Kabiru 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: Ganiyu Wasiu. 1‑0 against Kano Pillars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars 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.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Silas Nwankwo’s negotiating for him
Mustapha Lawal 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.
Bayelsa United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Victor Pupamo has pre-agreed a move to Shooting Stars, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The name of Nathaniel Asibe has come up in conversations Shooting Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Calvin Abacha has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Emmanuel Ndubueze did not need any: 7.95, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Muhammed Kabiru 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 Jun 2028
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Emmanuel Ndubueze 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 May 2028
Ghali Falke 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.
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.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ghali Falke 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.
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.
7 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
“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 Shooting Stars, 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Desmond Ojietefian 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.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Rangers International the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Shooting Stars will enjoy reviewing.
“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 Shooting Stars, 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Ghali Falke 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dokou Dodo, and the manager let it.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Silas Nwankwo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.44. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kabiru Tijjani is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
15 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.
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.
10 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 Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Dawariomi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Ghali Falke 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 needed Gbolagade Adelowo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Bayelsa United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
8 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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kun Khalifat moved on, Dokou Dodo reports back to Shooting Stars, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Muyiwa Balogun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Moruf Umar is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Mustapha Lawal 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.
Katsina United left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Ghali Falke 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 name of Elkanah Godgift has come up in conversations Shooting Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
0‑4 to Remo Stars, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 32 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
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.
Ghali Falke 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. Shooting Stars will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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 name of Dokou Dodo has come up in conversations Shooting Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Qamar Adegoke and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Ghali Falke 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Christian Dawariomi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Ghali Falke 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 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elkanah Godgift will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Nobody at Shooting Stars 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ismail Ayodele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Elkanah Godgift will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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 Shooting Stars 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Mustapha Lawal 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
“I did not go to Katsina United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Shooting Stars and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shooting Stars told Abdullahi Lawal something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Dokou Dodo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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 Shooting Stars will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Calvin Abacha has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lekan Abdulsalam will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Tijani Adeloju reports back to Shooting Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
Marked 8.61 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Silas Nwankwo. 1‑0 against El-Kanemi Warriors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tijani Adeloju will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
Mustapha Lawal 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.
Add another name to the list: Enyimba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Abiodun Adegoke. The answer from Shooting Stars has not changed — yet.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Gbolagade Adelowo scored in the 87th minute, Plateau United had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Shooting Stars took the lot.
Dokou Dodo 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.
Add another name to the list: Katsina United have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Qamar Adegoke. The answer from Shooting Stars has not changed — yet.
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Ibrahim Sodiq was one of the reasons people came, and $430.0K does not replace that by itself.
The offer from Wikki Tourists for Elkanah Godgift 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.
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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lucky Emmanuel will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ibrahim Sodiq reports back to Shooting Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Muhammed Kabiru 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 Jul 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A conversation is coming this week. Shooting Stars will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Dokou Dodo 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 phone has started ringing about Tijani Adeloju again, and this time the name on the line is Wikki Tourists. Shooting Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 9 of the 42 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dokou Dodo 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shooting Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
Mustapha Lawal 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Muhammed Kabiru.
In brief
Player ratingsGaniyu Wasiu could not find anything
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 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.
The offer from Plateau United for Tijani Adeloju 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.
Muhammed Kabiru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The phone has started ringing about Lucky Emmanuel again, and this time the name on the line is Kun Khalifat. Shooting Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ozovehe Adeiza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Wikki Tourists moved on, Tijani Adeloju reports back to Shooting Stars, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
4 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Shooting Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Dokou Dodo 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 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Dokou Dodo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jody February 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emmanuel Ndubueze. 1‑0 against Barau, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lucky Emmanuel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Bendel Insurance spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
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 7.63 for the rest of it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 May 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gbolagade Adelowo 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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jody February 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Muhammed Kabiru.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 103th minute. Bendel Insurance will replay every second of the added time for a week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Tijani Adeloju will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Jody February 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 easiest signature of my career.” Qamar Adegoke and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Nathaniel Asibe and Shooting Stars agree another 2 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 88th, and Wikki Tourists spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Jody February 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 1‑0 win over Wikki Tourists, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ozovehe Adeiza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Shooting Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.” Sheriff Amuda and Shooting Stars agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
18 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jody February 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“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 Shooting Stars, 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.” Muhammed Kabiru and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Kano Pillars defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ozovehe Adeiza will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Dokou Dodo 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 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Jody February 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ayobami Junior was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.94. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lucky Emmanuel reports back to Shooting Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dokou Dodo 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Shooting Stars has been clear about where Lekan Abdulsalam stands, which is more than many ever get.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Abiodun Adegoke reports back to Shooting Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Jody February 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.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Jody February 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 5.43. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Dokou Dodo falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 70 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadDokou Dodo falls out with a teammate over standards
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 77 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Jody February 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 Shooting Stars 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.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Jody February 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 Shooting Stars 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dokou Dodo 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.
Remo Stars go through and Shooting Stars go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms 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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Muhammed Kabiru was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Silas Nwankwo, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Amos 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 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.
Marked 5.67. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Muhammed Kabiru 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dokou Dodo 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Muhammed Kabiru.
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.