Marked for Olaniyi Saheed
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 11 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sulyman Baraje is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Rivers United left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nnamdi Anthony 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.
Market28 Sep 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Junior Aimufua has his answer from Kwara United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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 Umar Ndidi to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Junior Aimufua knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Aimufua trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
0‑3 against Remo Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market21 Sep 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 Kwara United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Isiaq Kamaideen is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Olanrewaju Ayinla, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Sep 2026
Nobody left the Kwara United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Umar Ndidi to a room that had heard them before.
Market21 Sep 2026
Kwara United have let the market know Adeshina Gata can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Nnamdi Anthony knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kwara United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Sep 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market14 Sep 2026
Olaniyi Saheed has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kwara United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Nnamdi Anthony delivers — 7.61
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Nnamdi Anthony scored, was marked 7.61, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad14 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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
6 matches without a win, and then this, against Barau. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
Kwara United asked and Universidad Catolica said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Nnamdi Anthony 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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Three points for Kwara United, 2‑1 the final word against Barau in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Nnamdi Anthony 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Sep 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 Kwara United can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 0 in, 21 out at Kwara United
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 0 arrived, 21 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 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 Kwara United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nnamdi Anthony, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Jerry Alex and Kwara United agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Kwara United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wikki Tourists waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kwara United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Match29 Aug 2026
6 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Kwara United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
The deal with KAA Gent is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Nurudeen Badmos 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Uche Jaguar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djoliba have kept their man, and Kwara United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Aug 2026
The small margins put Kwara United out
Out, 1‑2 to El-Kanemi Warriors, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Kwara United's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kwara United has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
The name of Olaniyi Saheed has come up in conversations Kwara United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Kwara United asked and Dynamo Kyiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Uche Jaguar 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Jerry Alex beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Abdulraheem Shola ran the middle of the pitch — 7.07
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.07, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
What a way to start for Oladoye Ezekiel — 7.09
0 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.09 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Hibernians come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Kwara United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market10 Aug 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kwara United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Abdulraheem Shola has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kwara United asked and Spartak Trnava said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Uche Jaguar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Olaniyi Saheed 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 terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Oladoye Ezekiel 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.