Marked for Mark Gibson
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2028
“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 The request is on a desk at Remo Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jun 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market19 Jun 2028
Mark Gibson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Adama Goïta 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.
Transfer targets19 Jun 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pardubice have kept their man, and Remo Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Olawale Doyeni 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.
The terraces19 Jun 2028
At 23 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 Jun 2028
50 games in 94 appearances where nobody scored at all. A keeper's career is counted in nothing happening, and none of this happened by accident.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings22 May 2028
Both of them Aminu Sani's — 8.09
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.09, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market22 May 2028
Mark Gibson has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Aminu Sani 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Aaron Kamardin 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.
Match20 May 2028
Three points for Remo Stars, 2‑0 the final word against Enyimba in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout22 May 2028
“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 dugout22 May 2028
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Oscar Onyekuru on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout22 May 2028
Biola Sabitu 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 ahead22 May 2028
The leaders are next for Remo Stars
Barau top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Apr 2028
A 1‑0 win over Barau, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Player ratings24 Apr 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
Market24 Apr 2028
Lekan Malik has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
Jabbar Malik: 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.” Remo Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Olawale Doyeni 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.
The terraces24 Apr 2028
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.
Match22 Apr 2028
Kano Pillars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Remo Stars
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Goïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
Nobody left the Remo Stars dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Feb 2028
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 17 matches without defeat is a foundation Remo Stars did not have in the autumn.
Market14 Feb 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Match12 Feb 2028
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Market14 Feb 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market14 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Sodiq Oshidero 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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Remo Stars
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Odunsi Sunday was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Olawale Doyeni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Jan 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Katsina United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match8 Jan 2028
Still nobody has beaten Remo Stars
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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer from Kwara United for Lekan Malik 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
“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.
Match8 Jan 2028
Remo Stars make home a hard place to visit
11 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Odunsi Sunday and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Anakwe, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.35 on the card, and the Remo Stars support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market25 Oct 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 Remo Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market25 Oct 2027
Sodiq Oshidero has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad25 Oct 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Usman Abubakar commits to Remo Stars for another 4 years.
Squad25 Oct 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 Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Aminu Sani 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.
Market25 Oct 2027
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Agu Kenechukwu has his answer from Remo Stars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
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.
Market25 Oct 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Samuel Anakwe’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Biola Sabitu wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Remo Stars have no good answer.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Adama Goïta, 21, steals the show — 7.64
Marked 7.64 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market16 Aug 2027
The bid was some way short and Remo Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market16 Aug 2027
A conversation is coming this week. Remo Stars will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Hadi Haruna 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.
The terraces16 Aug 2027
The crowd has taken to Adama Goïta
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.
Match14 Aug 2027
A 2‑0 win over Katsina United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.49 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad16 Aug 2027
A row about effort at Remo Stars
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmed Akinyele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
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Squad
Antonio Galeano is in the form of his life
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The team sheet said everything about Usman Abubakar
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market16 Nov 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Hadi Haruna and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Ahmed Akinyele 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mark Gibson and Remo Stars agree another 3 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Remo Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Ebuka Anthony 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 Ebuka Anthony trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.