The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Abia Warriors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 The request is on a desk at Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Effimi Nsi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Maxwell Kangeshima was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adebayo Nwakali after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Abia Warriors told Innocent Godwin something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Elu Wilson 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.
Marked 7.69. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Adebayo Nwakali, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Bethel was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
7.96, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Emmanuel Ogbuagu. 2‑0 against Kun Khalifat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Adebayo Nwakali could afford to be generous.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maxwell Kangeshima 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.
He is 22 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Azubuike Casmir is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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 dugout5 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adebayo Nwakali chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Bethel 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 had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Abia Warriors they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Marked 7.60. 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 92. El-Kanemi Warriors had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
“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 Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Shedrack Asiegbu'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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adebayo Nwakali after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Abia Warriors people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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 Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. John Mmesoma 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.
The dugout8 Feb 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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Adebayo Nwakali to a room that had heard them before.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
1‑4 to Enyimba, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Abia Warriors will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kastrioti Krujë waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Abia Warriors 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 Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Shedrack Asiegbu'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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 45 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Abia Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The phone has started ringing about Effimi Nsi again, and this time the name on the line is Nasarawa United. Abia Warriors are listening politely and promising nothing.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Calvin Babatunde is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Abia Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Nzubechi Sunday 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 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Chimezie Njoku trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Adebayo Nwakali could afford to be generous.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Abia Warriors know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nzubechi Sunday 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Chances created: 7. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.