Marked for Nathaniel Asibe
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Squad26 Oct 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Stanley Dimgba 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Adamu Yazid 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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Ezekiel Edidiong’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I did not sign to watch. Nobody does.” The oldest complaint in the game, and Enyimba will have to answer it with minutes or with a move.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Stanley Dimgba 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 Oct 2026
Words at Enyimba training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Usman Lolo 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
Nathaniel Asibe is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Enyimba has been clear about where Nathaniel Asibe stands, which is more than many ever get.
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.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Joel Ezra 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
Emeka Onyema 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.
Market12 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. David Eke may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Enyimba. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Market12 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Enyimba know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Stanley Dimgba 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Too much change too quickly at Enyimba
7 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Stephen Iheanacho was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Enyimba dressing room was either.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ezekiel Edidiong trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nathaniel Asibe, and the manager let it.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 13, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match3 Oct 2026
Enyimba and Barau cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Barau came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Aug 2026
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Match19 Aug 2026
Enyimba march on in the cup
Wikki Tourists are out and Enyimba go through, 0‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
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.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Market24 Aug 2026
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.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Anozie Chinedu has agreed terms with Rivers United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
Squad24 Aug 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.