Marked for Sheriff Stowe
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad6 Oct 2036
Samuel Ayanrinde 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.
Squad6 Oct 2036
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zalli Abdullahi 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.
Boardroom6 Oct 2036
Katsina United release $1.9M for the manager
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Sep 2036
There were 9 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Player ratings1 Sep 2036
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Sep 2036
349 appearances across 10 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
Squad1 Sep 2036
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.
Squad1 Sep 2036
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sadiq Auwal 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.
Match30 Aug 2036
1‑2 to Nasarawa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Market1 Sep 2036
Niger Tornadoes are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Katsina United will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Market1 Sep 2036
The Ismail Muhd talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Katsina United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings18 Aug 2036
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Aug 2036
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market18 Aug 2036
The name of Mohammed Garba has come up in conversations Katsina United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match16 Aug 2036
No end in sight to Katsina United's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Katsina United has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Aug 2036
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.
Squad18 Aug 2036
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sadiq Auwal 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.
Player ratings18 Aug 2036
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 21 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad18 Aug 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Ayanrinde, and the manager let it.
Market18 Aug 2036
The Sadiq Auwal talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Katsina United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Jul 2036
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market14 Jul 2036
The offer from Kun Khalifat for Preye Rufus was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Samuel Ayanrinde 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.
Squad14 Jul 2036
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zalli Abdullahi 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.
Squad14 Jul 2036
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Ayanrinde, and the manager let it.
Match12 Jul 2036
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Jul 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sheriff Stowe and Katsina United agree another 2 years.
The terraces14 Jul 2036
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market14 Jul 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Elijah Akanni signs something — a contract at Katsina United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Dec 2035
Samuel Ayanrinde 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.
Squad24 Dec 2035
Sadiq Auwal 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 Dec 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Dec 2035
Sheriff Stowe: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Katsina United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market17 Dec 2035
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Katsina United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Dec 2035
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Oct 2035
Samuel Ayanrinde 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Sadiq Auwal 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.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Sadiq Auwal has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Katsina 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.