Marked for Joshua John
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match22 May 2027
5‑0, and Chukwudi Okoro took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nasarawa United tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad24 May 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Age has not caught Bright Ihionu yet — 7.87
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market24 May 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 May 2027
Usman Abba has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasarawa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 May 2027
Umar Ada 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.
Player ratings24 May 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.29, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match22 May 2027
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 3 times before the twentieth minute. Kwara United tried to reorganise, Nasarawa United did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Nasarawa United will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 May 2027
0‑2 to Bayelsa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout10 May 2027
Umar Ada 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.
Loan watch10 May 2027
“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 Nasarawa United, and 0 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout10 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Odion Balogun after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout10 May 2027
Sunday Dapma has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Nasarawa United 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Joshua John was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 May 2027
Victor John 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.
Looking ahead10 May 2027
Kano Pillars next, and one man in the Nasarawa United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Apr 2027
Nasarawa United refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 25 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
The terraces19 Apr 2027
The crowd has taken to Umar Ada
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Awal Auta and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Marked 7.89 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Nasarawa United had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Odion Balogun could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Apr 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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Victor John gets picked when it counts
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 Victor John is on it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market1 Feb 2027
Joshua John 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 Nasarawa United can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Feb 2027
The bid was some way short and Nasarawa United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Nasarawa United close the window on a squad of their own making
2 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
1‑3 to Barau, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
Nasarawa United asked and São Paulo 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 dugout1 Feb 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A muscle injury and 14 days out for Moses Agbo
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Nasarawa United will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Odion Balogun after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Chukwudi Okoro slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Chukwudi Okoro is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Market21 Dec 2026
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Emmanuel Utaka 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
Upbeat
Market26 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nasarawa United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Emmanuel Utaka 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
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
Umar Ada 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Eshimitu Gomino Eya and Nasarawa United agree another 4 years.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Sunday Dapma gets picked when it counts
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 Sunday Dapma is on it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Joshua John
“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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Gozie Umeh'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.