Marked for Paul Junior
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Oct 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Ganiyu Gberefu 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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
No place for Paul Junior in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Rangers International are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market25 Oct 2027
He is 20, and nobody at Rangers International signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad25 Oct 2027
5 new faces, and Rangers International are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout25 Oct 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match10 Jul 2027
A 2‑1 win over Niger Tornadoes, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match7 Jul 2027
Niger Tornadoes are out and Rivers United go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market12 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Rivers United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Paul Junior, 20, steals the show — 8.08
Marked 8.08 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market12 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Rivers United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match10 Jul 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Rivers United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Stephen Manyo 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 targets12 Jul 2027
Rivers United asked and Tromso said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Uche Moses 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.
In brief
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Squad
Defences have started doubling up on Alex Oyowah
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Player ratings
Alex Oyowah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
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Player ratings
One of those days for Jordan Kadiri
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Rivers United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market31 Aug 2026
Paul Junior hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Rivers United can pretend not to have heard.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $360.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Nasarawa United drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Collins Onovughe from Nasarawa United for $360.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Rivers United asked and River Plate said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Daddy Abdulrahman 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 terraces31 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.