Marked for Efa Enabulele
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Feb 2030
No end in sight to Bendel Insurance's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bendel Insurance has to find a result from somewhere.
Match16 Feb 2030
Beaten 0‑3 by Rangers International, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad18 Feb 2030
Oke Kayode 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“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.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Market18 Feb 2030
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bendel Insurance know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
A mark of 5.74 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
5.73 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jan 2030
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.
Market21 Jan 2030
“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 The request is on a desk at Bendel Insurance, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jan 2030
The offer from Katsina United for Amadi James 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.
Match19 Jan 2030
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bendel Insurance are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Jan 2030
Oke Kayode 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.
Squad21 Jan 2030
“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.
Match19 Jan 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market21 Jan 2030
Warri Wolves are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bendel Insurance will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Player ratings21 Jan 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Nov 2029
Nurudeen Araromi: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bendel Insurance have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Nov 2029
Oke Kayode 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market19 Nov 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Julius Emiloju Junior signs something — a contract at Bendel Insurance or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market6 Aug 2029
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad6 Aug 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Efa Enabulele commits to Bendel Insurance for another 4 years.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Oke Kayode 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 ratings6 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad6 Aug 2029
The manager makes an example of Efa Enabulele
“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.
Market6 Aug 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Bendel Insurance will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match4 Aug 2029
It needed Chisom Chikatara to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rivers United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Oke Kayode knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oke Kayode trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jun 2029
The bid was some way short and Bendel Insurance did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match2 Jun 2029
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Bendel Insurance are no longer polite ones.
Squad4 Jun 2029
Oke Kayode 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match2 Jun 2029
Ikorodu City left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings4 Jun 2029
A performance of 8.75 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad4 Jun 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Efa Enabulele, and the manager let it.
Squad4 Jun 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Chisom Chikatara. Bendel Insurance will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
The terraces4 Jun 2029
The spotlight tightens on Oke Kayode
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Oke Kayode runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match27 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Bendel Insurance's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bendel Insurance has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Oke Kayode 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Efa Enabulele
“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.
Match27 Jan 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Agwar Micheal and Bendel Insurance agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market29 Jan 2029
Warri Wolves are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bendel Insurance will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Mathews Banda 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.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
A mark of 5.69 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Jan 2029
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.
Market22 Jan 2029
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad22 Jan 2029
Oke Kayode 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A mark of 7.70, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad22 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Onochie Chukwu
“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.
Match20 Jan 2029
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Ikorodu City will be the happier side with the point.
Market22 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Israel Odedele signs something — a contract at Bendel Insurance or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.