Marked for Mafeng Pam
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market22 Jan 2029
Wisdom Ndon hands in a written request
“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.
Match20 Jan 2029
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Patrick Maswanganyi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
Plateau United asked and Katsina United 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 terraces22 Jan 2029
The crowd has taken to Abraham Ojo
At 22 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.
Match20 Jan 2029
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Vincent Temitope 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Dec 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Plateau United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad11 Dec 2028
Abraham Ojo 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 dugout11 Dec 2028
A promise honoured for John Amah
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Plateau United told John Amah something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
Gimba Ajiji asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market11 Dec 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Victor Dawa’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market11 Dec 2028
Plateau United have made Gimba Ajiji available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
Market11 Dec 2028
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Domnan Panse leaves Plateau United the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Squad11 Dec 2028
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Boardroom11 Dec 2028
The Plateau United board put their names to it
A statement of support, which is cheap, and a conversation about the next window, which is not. The second one is the part the manager wanted.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market14 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kwara United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Plateau United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market14 Aug 2028
Daniel Aboh hands in a written request
“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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Plateau United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Victor Dawa in a row with a teammate
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.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
Kwara United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Akeem Akanni has pre-agreed a move to Plateau United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
The crowd has taken to Abraham Ojo
At 21 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
A 1‑0 win over Niger Tornadoes, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Marked 7.91. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Plateau United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets21 Feb 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Esbjerg have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match19 Feb 2028
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Match19 Feb 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gideon Monday. 1‑0 against Barau, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Yahaya Ibrahim 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Ossy Martins 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
Mafeng Pam gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings21 Feb 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.75 on the card, and the Plateau United support went home talking about one name.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Nov 2027
The knee: Gimba Ajiji out for 60 days
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Plateau United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match29 Nov 2027
First, on 71 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Gideon Monday and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad29 Nov 2027
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad29 Nov 2027
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yahaya Ibrahim 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
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 dugout29 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mubaraq Usman's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market29 Nov 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Amah’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
When it matters, Aaron Pam plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
90 days out for Ossy Martins after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Plateau United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match3 Jul 2027
Plateau United make home a hard place to visit
17 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wikki Tourists waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Plateau United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market5 Jul 2027
Silas Nenrot hands in a written request
“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.
Market5 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Yusuf Abdullahi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Plateau United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
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.
Match3 Jul 2027
Three points for Plateau United, 2‑1 the final word against Enyimba in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Loan watch5 Jul 2027
“I did not go to Remo Stars to sit and watch. I want to come back to Plateau United and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 23 matches say the rest.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Mustapha Abdullahi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match22 May 2027
26 matches without defeat, and then Ikorodu City. Nobody at the ground pretended it would go on forever; nobody expected it to stop here either.
Market24 May 2027
Iwueke Obiuto hands in a written request
“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.
Squad24 May 2027
Yahaya Ibrahim 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 dugout24 May 2027
John Amah gets it from the manager
“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.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mustapha Abdullahi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout24 May 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Ndidi Onyeka to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout24 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting John Amah's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout24 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match17 May 2027
43 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match15 May 2027
Plateau United make home a hard place to visit
14 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Up for the corner, and Tarabina Biweribo delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Tarabina Biweribo scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Plateau United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match15 May 2027
Nobody wants to play Plateau United right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Match15 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tarabina Biweribo. 3‑2 against Katsina United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mustapha Abdullahi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A performance of 8.04 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael Chukwudi and Plateau United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad29 Mar 2027
The step up is real for Wisdom Ndon
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Market29 Mar 2027
The name of Aaron Pam has come up in conversations Plateau United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Ossy Martins and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
A promise honoured for Mafeng Pam
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Plateau United told Mafeng Pam something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dickson Ibrahim 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.
Looking ahead29 Mar 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Niger Tornadoes in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Market29 Mar 2027
The Paul Samson talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Plateau United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Market29 Mar 2027
Plateau United have made Ossy Martins available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.