Marked for Emmanuel Bakare
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad28 Sep 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
4 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Katsina United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
4.51. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Moses Adikwu 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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
A promise honoured for Usman Barau
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Katsina United told Usman Barau something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ifeanyi Ihemekwele 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Samson Obi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Katsina United.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 10 actions, 7.17, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Ishah Abubakar 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Emmanuel Bakare, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.48. 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 dugout14 Sep 2026
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.” Wilfred Onuachu, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Looking ahead14 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Niger Tornadoes in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Katsina United close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 18 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joshua Enaholo and Katsina United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Katsina United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market7 Sep 2026
He is 20, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at Katsina United
6 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Musa Sulaiman has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Katsina United.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Umar Yusuf 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad31 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Samson Obi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Katsina United.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Joshua Enaholo commits to Katsina United for another 2 years.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Wilfred Onuachu on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Saidu Hamisu
“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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Katsina United have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
When it matters, David Onovo plays
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
At 31 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Katsina United have a decision that made itself.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
No place in the plan for Saidu Hamisu
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Michael Okoro and Katsina United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match1 Aug 2026
Uche Collins scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Enyimba, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Abu Tatu again, and this time the name on the line is Zebbug Rangers. Katsina United are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Bakare was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Usman Barau 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
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 1‑2 Wilfred Onuachu left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.
Market3 Aug 2026
Philip Clement is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Katsina United has been clear about where Philip Clement stands, which is more than many ever get.