“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Joel Ezra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 May 2029
Philip Ejike 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.
Something was said to Christopher Richards and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“I watch every Enyimba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rivers United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Liam Brannigan is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Philip Ejike 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Michael Schmid chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Two goals and a mark of 8.39 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.50 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Joel Ezra was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ebube Success 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kingsley Maduforo. 2‑0 against Kwara United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Philip Ejike 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 not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Enyimba told Wisdom Obichere something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
Joel Ezra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad9 Apr 2029
Philip Ejike 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 watch every Enyimba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Rivers United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
A 2‑0 win over Bayelsa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
3 away wins in a row. Travelling support is the truest kind, and this season it is being repaid in the only currency that counts.
The dugout9 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Michael Schmid kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba 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 Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Kingsley Maduforo is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Enyimba than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bayelsa United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Joel Ezra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ebube Success has his answer from Enyimba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Richards signs something — a contract at Enyimba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Ejike 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 earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Michael Schmid on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Emeka Onyema has his answer from Enyimba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Philip Ejike 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kingsley Maduforo. 2‑1 against Kun Khalifat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Enyimba, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Michael Schmid could afford to be generous.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Ejike 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Michael Schmid could afford to be generous.
Joel Ezra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Chukwuma Iwobi commits to Enyimba for another 3 years.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Michael Schmid was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Enyimba dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against El-Kanemi Warriors? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bendel Insurance in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sama'ila Bello signs something — a contract at Enyimba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Joel Ezra 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 Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Michael Schmid after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Sama'ila Bello’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Enyimba needing him to play as if none of it matters.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and Wikki Tourists had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Enyimba did not stop to explain themselves.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rangers International waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deal that would have taken Godswill Utum to El-Kanemi Warriors has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Enyimba with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He is 21 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.
8.03. 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.
“I have watched this squad. There is more in it than the table says.” First press conference, first promise — Michael Schmid made the one every new manager makes, and now comes the part where it gets checked.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Enyimba have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
Enyimba close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bayelsa United moved on, Ebube Success reports back to Enyimba, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shooting Stars will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Sheriff Amuda has pre-agreed a move to Enyimba, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Enyimba 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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
1 for Christopher Richards, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Everything was agreed with Kasimpasa and then the doctor spoke. Enyimba have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The offer from Shooting Stars for Godswill Utum 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 have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Philip Ejike 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.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Philip Ejike 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 conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Augustine Nwaorisa has written the date down.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eze Matthew trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Enyimba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Augustine Nwaorisa has written the date down.
In brief
The dugoutNelson Sule asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Enyimba 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 Enyimba 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 Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jonathan Jacob has his answer from Enyimba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Enyimba. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Enyimba, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 Enyimba will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
In brief
MatchNothing left to play for but pride at Enyimba
Joel Ezra 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Augustine Nwaorisa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Richards signs something — a contract at Enyimba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Philip Ejike 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 Enyimba has been clear about where Emmanuel Kachi stands, which is more than many ever get.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Nelson Sule has written the date down.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Enyimba the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Philip Ejike was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Seyi Adegbite trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Enyimba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Augustine Nwaorisa has written the date down.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Naziru Auwalu is training like a man with a point to make
Nobody has promised him anything and he has not asked. The coaching staff have noticed, which at this stage of a season is the only thing that matters.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba 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 Enyimba this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Nov 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
10 goals in 32 games at Wikki Tourists — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Enyimba updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Enyimba can pretend not to have heard.
At 20 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.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
Joel Ezra and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Enyimba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
In brief
The dugoutNelson Sule asks for a word with the manager
Joel Ezra 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 Oct 2028
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Ejike 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 watch every Enyimba game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at El-Kanemi Warriors runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Richards signs something — a contract at Enyimba or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at Enyimba 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.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Position 13 on 48 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Christopher Richards scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Joel Ezra 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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Naziru Auwalu in the middle of it, and Barau unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Philip Ejike has just signed for Enyimba, and for once the answer mattered.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. El-Kanemi Warriors moved on, John Kennedy reports back to Enyimba, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Warri Wolves left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Philip Ejike 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.
Enyimba asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Enyimba know which stage they are at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Van waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Loan watch28 Aug 2028
Ibrahim Sesay’s loan is measured in nothing happening
17 clean sheets from 25 appearances at Syunik. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns 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 Alashkert 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 Leonidas Konomis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Kajally Drammeh is on it.
18 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Philip Ejike obliged against Ararat. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Alashkert.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philip Ejike will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kajally Drammeh 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 8.05 — 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The name of Yaroslav Matyukhin has come up in conversations Alashkert were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Leonidas Konomis was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Alashkert that is a harder question to answer.
18 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Gandzasar had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert 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 Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
56 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Alashkert lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mômô Fanyé Touré provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
4 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.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Successful dribbles: 21. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Ararat-Armenia, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Position 1, 22 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Alashkert prefer.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kajally Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Alashkert will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philip Ejike will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Miguel Velosa 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 midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.04, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 55 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
10 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Kajally Drammeh’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Alashkert.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Kajally Drammeh was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
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.
“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 Alashkert, 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. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Araks Ararat for Yaroslav Matyukhin 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 are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Urartu keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Alashkert 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.
Alashkert asked and Ararat 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Malik Odeyinka 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 have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Alashkert can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Justino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Karen Nalbandyan is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edgar Piloyan signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Alashkert, and 0 appearances in 17 say he has earned the hearing.
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. Philip Ejike will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert 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 Alashkert this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pyunik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad25 Oct 2027
5 new faces, and Alashkert 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edgar Piloyan signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJoseph Sabobo knocks on the manager's door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Philip Ejike will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Alashkert the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gabriel Justino was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 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.
“I watch every Alashkert game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Pyunik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Edgar Piloyan signs something — a contract at Alashkert or anywhere else — this column belongs to 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 Alashkert, 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. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Alashkert have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert 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 Alashkert 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Alashkert people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Alashkert they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Alashkert asked and Zbrojovka Brno said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Aleksandar Glišić and Alashkert agree another 2 years.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Arsen Beglaryan has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Serob Grigoryan 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.
Luiz Carvalho is 20, and Alashkert have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
132 goals in 15 games at Syunik — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Alashkert updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Araks Ararat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
He is going to BKMA, the club has $1.5M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Alashkert can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Felipe Aguirre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
131 goals in 14 games at Syunik — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Alashkert updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Felipe Aguirre 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Alashkert are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Alashkert training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Philip Ejike 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Alashkert have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Alashkert, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Alashkert is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The name of Yaroslav Matyukhin has come up in conversations Alashkert were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Mômô Fanyé Touré 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AS Trencin have kept their man, and Alashkert go back to a list with one name crossed off it.