Marked 7.84. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Chidiebere Nnachi again, and this time the name on the line is Bendel Insurance. Enyimba are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad10 Jul 2028
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.
29 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The offer from Abia Warriors for Issah Mohammed 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.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mujeeb Odifeso. 2‑1 against El-Kanemi Warriors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
20 combined actions and 6.66. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Paul Odeh 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.
Squad29 May 2028
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Enyimba will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Paul Odeh 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Kano Pillars will make the call about Joseph Abiodun this week. Enyimba have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
15 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.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from El-Kanemi Warriors for Miracle Ukadike 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jonathan Jacob will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Enyimba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad3 Jan 2028
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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Daniel Moffi is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The offer from Barau for Miracle Ukadike 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.
Paul Odeh 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
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.
16 combined actions and 6.59. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. David Eke has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Kelvin Ogunga: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
10 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.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mujeeb Odifeso. 2‑1 against Bendel Insurance, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The name of Miracle Ukadike has come up in conversations Enyimba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
“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 Enyimba, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chibudem Favour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Enyimba the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Olasunkanmi Quadri 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.
“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.
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.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad7 Jun 2027
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 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mujeeb Odifeso'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.
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.
Squad24 May 2027
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.
24 combined actions and 6.76. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Sunday Aniebet did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Sunday Aniebet has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Chibudem Favour has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
18 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.62 on the card, and the Enyimba support went home talking about one name.
Squad19 Apr 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Mujeeb Odifeso'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.
Lawrence Nicholas 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 Apr 2027
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.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Enyimba they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
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.
A 1‑0 win over El-Kanemi Warriors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Enyimba have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Lawrence Nicholas 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.
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kelvin Ogunga has his answer from Enyimba; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The name of Miracle Ukadike has come up in conversations Enyimba were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
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.
Squad19 Oct 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.