Marked for Fabby Clark
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jun 2027
88 days out for Ebiabowei Baker after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bayelsa United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market28 Jun 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Stanley Amon, 21, steals the show — 7.91
Marked 7.91 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Peter Ebimobowei, 33, rolls back the years — 7.91
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.91 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Market28 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market28 Jun 2027
Only the photograph left for Otutu Young
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Otutu Young will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bayelsa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Boardroom28 Jun 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Bayelsa United now.
Squad28 Jun 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 Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 118 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market31 May 2027
Fabby Clark 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 Bayelsa United can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom31 May 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Match29 May 2027
4 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Gabriel Biriduba 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.
Match29 May 2027
1‑3 to El-Kanemi Warriors, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad31 May 2027
50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.
The dugout31 May 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 dugout31 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Chinedu Amoo after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 May 2027
A fracture rules Ebiabowei Baker out for 140 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bayelsa United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market10 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 Bayelsa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad10 May 2027
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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Kenneth Sheddy and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match8 May 2027
0‑2 to Niger Tornadoes, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 May 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stanley Amon and Bayelsa United agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match10 May 2027
18 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Chinedu Amoo left the room before anybody could ask which.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 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 Bayelsa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
Player ratings3 May 2027
No sign of nerves from Nupe Godstime at 20 — 7.86
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Nupe Godstime did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Match1 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kenneth Sheddy. 3‑2 against Nasarawa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenneth Sheddy and Bayelsa United agree another 4 years.
Squad3 May 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 Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces3 May 2027
He is 20 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.
Player ratings3 May 2027
Marked 8.22 — 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.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad15 Mar 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match13 Mar 2027
No end in sight to Bayelsa United's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bayelsa United has to find a result from somewhere.
Match13 Mar 2027
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Mar 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 Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Wachman Joshua and Bayelsa United agree another 3 years.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout15 Mar 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.
Looking ahead15 Mar 2027
Warri Wolves next, and one man in the Bayelsa 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
Crisis
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 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 Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match27 Feb 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout1 Mar 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Chinedu Amoo to a room that had heard them before.
Boardroom1 Mar 2027
Nobody arrives at Bayelsa United until somebody leaves
The club is not barred from spending; it simply has nothing to spend that it has not first raised. Every name linked with Bayelsa United this window arrives with a name leaving in the same sentence.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Don-Pedro Samuel, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
The one thing Stanley Amon could not do
Shots: 13, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
The dugout1 Mar 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Fabby Clark has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Saro Loveday 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kenneth Sheddy 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
The training reports on Solomon Wegba are not good
A bad Saturday is forgiven; a bad Tuesday is chosen. Standards have slipped and in a building where everybody watches everybody, it has been noticed.
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 Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“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.
Market12 Oct 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Bina Tombiri: “I am not a substitute”
“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 Bayelsa United will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Bayelsa United have made Bina Tombiri available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.