Marked for Ismail Ayodele
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Aug 2027
A fracture rules Mfon Rowland out for 105 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market2 Aug 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 Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Match31 Jul 2027
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Shooting Stars are no longer polite ones.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
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Market2 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Market2 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Olumide Henry
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Olumide Henry will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jul 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market5 Jul 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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
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Squad5 Jul 2027
Mustapha Lawal 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 targets5 Jul 2027
Kano Pillars wanted more than $53.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Qamar Adegoke 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 dugout5 Jul 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adam Mustapha, and the manager let it.
Match3 Jul 2027
A point taken on 94 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Market5 Jul 2027
Austin Osayande is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Shooting Stars has been clear about where Austin Osayande stands, which is more than many ever get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ibrahim Sodiq
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shooting Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market28 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kun Khalifat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market28 Jun 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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad28 Jun 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.
Transfer targets28 Jun 2027
$53.0K on the table at Kano Pillars. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Mustapha Lawal 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.
Player ratings28 Jun 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Qamar Adegoke 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 targets28 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 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.
Squad24 May 2027
Mustapha Lawal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qamar Adegoke 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.
Match22 May 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Adam Mustapha. 2‑1 against Kun Khalifat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout24 May 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muyiwa Balogun, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead24 May 2027
Remo Stars top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout24 May 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout24 May 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 Muyiwa Balogun is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
Mustapha Lawal 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 dugout10 May 2027
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The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Kabiru Tijjani
“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.
Match8 May 2027
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match10 May 2027
23 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.
Player ratings10 May 2027
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Shooting Stars had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match8 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout10 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dennis Lawal after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout12 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shooting Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Mustapha Lawal 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.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qamar Adegoke 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 terraces12 Apr 2027
He is 23 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.
Match10 Apr 2027
A 2‑0 win over Plateau United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The dugout12 Apr 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
7.78, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Shooting Stars had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“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.
Market22 Feb 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.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Feb 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Abubakar Taheer and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dennis Lawal after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Shooting Stars told Ibrahim Sodiq something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Muyiwa Balogun, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Feb 2027
Abubakar Taheer 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.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ibrahim Sodiq
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Muyiwa Balogun was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.26 on the card, and the Shooting Stars support went home talking about one name.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Half-satisfied: Dennis Lawal on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Market15 Feb 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Ekene Olisema.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The plan did not have a place for Adam Mustapha
Nobody at Shooting Stars is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Match13 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Abia Warriors will be the happier side with the point.