“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Nasarawa United 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 Nasarawa United 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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nasarawa United can pretend not to have heard.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salomon Chigoziem 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 Nasarawa United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 The request is on a desk at Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.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.” Nasarawa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ameh Godwin 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Nnoli and Nasarawa United agree another 4 years.
“I watch every Nasarawa United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at El-Kanemi Warriors runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua John 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.
1 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Nasarawa United no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Salomon Chigoziem was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Nasarawa United, and 1 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nasarawa United has been clear about where Bright Ihionu stands, which is more than many ever get.
9 clean sheets from 31 appearances at El-Kanemi Warriors. That is the whole of a goalkeeper’s job done properly, and it is being done a long way from the club that owns him.
One weekend, judged against everybody else's. Umar Ada has come out on top of it, and for most footballers a weekly award is the only silverware a career ever produces.
Position 5 on 67 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Ezekiel did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Rivio Ayemwenre 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.
A 1‑0 win over Kun Khalifat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Emmanuel Dung 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.
Ameh Godwin 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 easiest signature of my career.” Emmanuel Utaka and Nasarawa United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.03, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑3 Osayi Awaziem left the room before anybody could ask which.
30 appearances at El-Kanemi Warriors and the goals have stopped going in. Nasarawa United lent out a goalkeeper and are watching somebody else’s season get better every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. El-Kanemi Warriors know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Friday Ubong 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. El-Kanemi Warriors told Samuel Ezekiel something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
A season average of 7.49 with 26 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Samuel Ezekiel, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 9.38
A mark of 9.38 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Emmanuel Dung has, at El-Kanemi Warriors, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Everything agreed with Ikorodu City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between El-Kanemi Warriors and Nasarawa United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Friday Ubong and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Botev Plovdiv have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at El-Kanemi Warriors, another week without a signature from Olasunkanmi Quadri.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
El-Kanemi Warriors have made the call to Ferencvaros. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout19 Jul 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 Terem Iwobi to a room that had heard them before.
Botev Plovdiv have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
SquadGetting past Olughu Chinemerem has become the hardest job in the division
Out, 0‑3 to Bendel Insurance, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Samuel Ezekiel did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rivio Ayemwenre was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 11 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Two goals and a mark of 8.63 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Rivio Ayemwenre 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.
El-Kanemi Warriors have gone to Shooting Stars with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The phone has started ringing about Eromosele Zibiri again, and this time the name on the line is Paradou. El-Kanemi Warriors are listening politely and promising nothing.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Orlando Pirates said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Friday Ubong at his very best
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rivio Ayemwenre 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.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Bendel Insurance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout28 Jun 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Terem Iwobi to a room that had heard them before.
A loan enquiry to Nasarawa United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Kwara United kept coming because nothing stopped them, and El-Kanemi Warriors will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Ikorodu City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Shooting Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. El-Kanemi Warriors deserved better, and so did he.
A brace, and Friday Ubong takes the afternoon — 8.90
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Friday Ubong provided it, and the 8.90 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what El-Kanemi Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
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.
El-Kanemi Warriors asked and Rangers International said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Friday Ubong. 2‑1 against Kano Pillars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Tosin Olawale 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑1 win over Bayelsa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.77 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Marked 8.13. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at El-Kanemi Warriors.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Salman Abubakar was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.04. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help 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 El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 dugout24 May 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Terem Iwobi left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Nobody at El-Kanemi Warriors 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.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Adam Yakubu 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Terem Iwobi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
3‑0, and Friday Ubong took the headlines on an afternoon when everything El-Kanemi Warriors tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings10 May 2027
A brace, and Friday Ubong takes the afternoon — 9.33
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Friday Ubong provided it, and the 9.33 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Yakubu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Up for the corner, and Joseph Timi delivers — 7.44
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Joseph Timi scored, was marked 7.44, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Adam Yakubu 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.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Terem Iwobi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsThe chances came and went for Friday Ubong
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 9.67 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Yakubu 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Terem Iwobi on a 3‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
A brace, and Friday Ubong takes the afternoon — 8.86
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Friday Ubong provided it, and the 8.86 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adam Yakubu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
A brace, and Friday Ubong takes the afternoon — 8.93
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Friday Ubong provided it, and the 8.93 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Yakubu 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.
Precious Agwu 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.
“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 dugout15 Mar 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.” Terem Iwobi chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
In brief
The dugoutUsman Abbas dropped after a run of poor form
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 8 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Adam Yakubu 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Terem Iwobi after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. El-Kanemi Warriors told David Damboama something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adam Yakubu 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.
“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 dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Terem Iwobi kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Two goals and a mark of 8.40 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Everything agreed with Panetolikos, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Rivio Ayemwenre 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chornomorets have kept their man, and El-Kanemi Warriors go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
El-Kanemi Warriors ran out of time with Rivers United. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Two goals and a mark of 9.31 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Risilanu Ismail, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.52
A mark of 8.52 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The clubs have shaken hands with Rivers United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Olughu Chinemerem 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 19 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bright Ihionu 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 is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 49 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Salomon Chigoziem 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 Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Nasarawa United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gor Mahia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luka Ngwei will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Umar Ada 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sunday Dapma and Nasarawa United agree another 5 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Olughu Chinemerem has his answer from Nasarawa United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Nobody at Nasarawa 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 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.
Ameh Godwin 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.
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 Alao Dabani is on it.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Nasarawa United than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Rangers International waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 9 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Collins Onovughe reports back to Nasarawa United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Nasarawa United have done the hard part with Stade Malien, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.