Marked for Akeem Akanni
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Joseph Obafemi has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Kwara United can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market8 Nov 2027
Akeem Akanni 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 Kwara United can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kwara United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Olanrewaju Ayinla has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kwara United is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Olaniyi Saheed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Nnamdi Anthony 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Soliu Olorunla and Kwara United agree another 3 years.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Philip Ozor'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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
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 Junior Aimufua is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match1 Nov 2027
21 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market1 Nov 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 Kwara United can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Jerry Alex has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kwara United is pretending otherwise.
The dugout1 Nov 2027
Ayodeji Abayomi: 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.” Kwara United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market1 Nov 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kwara United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Nov 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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Words at Kwara United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nnamdi Anthony 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 dugout1 Nov 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 Nov 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Soliu Olorunla commits to Kwara United for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Oct 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kwara United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Olaniyi Saheed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Nnamdi Anthony 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.
Squad11 Oct 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Idris Abdulrasheed and Kwara United agree another 4 years.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Philip Ozor'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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Junior Aimufua has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kwara 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.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of Sulyman Baraje
“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 dugout11 Oct 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jimoh Gbadamosi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market11 Oct 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Jun 2027
Muhammed Alao damages knee ligaments — 80 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 80 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.
Match19 Jun 2027
9 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.
Market21 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Kareem Yusuff is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Olaniyi Saheed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uche Jaguar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match19 Jun 2027
A 2‑2 draw with El-Kanemi Warriors leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Joseph Obafemi was not hiding it after 2‑2, and nobody in the Kwara United dressing room was either.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
11 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.
Market8 Feb 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 Kwara United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match6 Feb 2027
4 matches without a goal for Kwara United
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Olaniyi Saheed 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Artis Brno have kept their man, and Kwara United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nnamdi Anthony was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match6 Feb 2027
0‑1 to Bendel Insurance, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
This is not rotation. Suleiman Yusuf has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kwara United is pretending otherwise.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jimoh Gbadamosi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nnamdi Anthony was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Kwara United told Abdulraheem Shola something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Isiaq Kamaideen is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
This is not rotation. Suleiman Yusuf has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Kwara United is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Nnamdi Anthony 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
Nnamdi Anthony slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Nnamdi Anthony is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akeem Akanni, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kwara United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jimoh Gbadamosi, and the manager let it.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Adedeji Yeshir 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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Kwara United than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
Market2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
Isiaq Kamaideen is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ayodeji Abayomi commits to Kwara United for another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Somtochuwku Ezenabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Jerry Alex
“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
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
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at Kwara United 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.
Squad7 Sep 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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Abdulraheem Shola and Kwara United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Kwara United, another week without a signature from Muhammed Alao.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager makes Akeem Akanni a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Kwara United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Mustapha Salisu 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.