Marked for Jonathan Jacob
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
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.
Match30 Jan 2027
7 matches without a win for Enyimba
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Enyimba are no longer polite ones.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Market1 Feb 2027
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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Enyimba until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Enyimba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kelvin Ogunga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Enyimba will try again when the window opens; Kano Pillars may not be selling by then.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Enyimba's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Enyimba has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Transfer targets25 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Shooting Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Enyimba
Ezekiel Edidiong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nasarawa United left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout25 Jan 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Samuel Osayi-Samuel to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Adamu Yazid
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Enyimba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kalu Nweke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Enyimba
Ezekiel Edidiong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Ogunga 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sama'ila Bello and Enyimba agree another 4 years.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonathan Jacob, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
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.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Bassey John has been promised minutes
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 Bassey John has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Egwuma Godswill damages knee ligaments — 29 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 29 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Kelvin Ogunga 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” John Kennedy commits to Enyimba for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Kingsley Maduforo is on it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Bassey John knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Egwuma Godswill
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Enyimba lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A falling-out at Enyimba
Ezekiel Edidiong and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Ogunga 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 dugout30 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sylvester Bell, and the manager let it.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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 Jonathan Jacob has written the date down.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Ogunga 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Sylvester Bell
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Enyimba will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
Usman Lolo has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Enyimba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kalu Nweke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Kingsley Maduforo has become a man the manager trusts
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Sylvester Bell 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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at Enyimba
Ezekiel Edidiong 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Enyimba
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kelvin Ogunga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Enyimba 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.