Marked for Johnmark Atule
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
No end in sight to Shooting Stars's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shooting Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Bayelsa United, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Qamar Adegoke and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Mustapha Lawal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Shooting Stars asked and Kano Pillars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qamar Adegoke 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 ratings19 Jul 2027
Johnmark Atule did the work nobody counts — 6.54
12 combined actions and 6.54. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Jun 2027
26 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shooting Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Jun 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.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
The deal with Bayelsa United 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.
Squad21 Jun 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets21 Jun 2027
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 dugout21 Jun 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Kabiru Tijjani knocks on the manager's door
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Player ratings
Qamar Adegoke keeps on missing
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout17 May 2027
“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.
Market17 May 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match15 May 2027
No end in sight to Shooting Stars's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shooting Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 May 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Qamar Adegoke was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 May 2027
Late, late show earns Shooting Stars a point
Minute 86, against Barau, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
Player ratings17 May 2027
A mark of 7.83, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Match15 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 May 2027
Mustapha Lawal 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 dugout10 May 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout10 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Kabiru Tijjani
“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.
Match8 May 2027
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match10 May 2027
23 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
Player ratings10 May 2027
7.77, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Shooting Stars had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match8 May 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout10 May 2027
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Dennis Lawal after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match27 Feb 2027
5 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.
Market1 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Qamar Adegoke 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
Nasarawa United left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mustapha Lawal, and the manager let it.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sheriff Amuda and Shooting Stars agree another 5 years.
The dugout1 Mar 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dennis Lawal to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Promise Awosanmi damages knee ligaments — 37 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Tunde Micheal breaks a bone — 62 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 62 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Mustapha Lawal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Qamar Adegoke 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes Ibrahim Sodiq a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Shooting Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
Johnmark Atule damages knee ligaments — 16 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 16 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad14 Dec 2026
77 days out for Tunde Micheal after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Mustapha Lawal 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ibrahim Sodiq, and the manager let it.
Market14 Dec 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Ibrahim Sodiq.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Muyiwa Balogun asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Johnmark Atule
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shooting Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Tunde Micheal breaks a bone — 85 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 85 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Dec 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Olagoke Olajobi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 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 Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Issa Yusuf and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Ganiyu Wasiu
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Johnmark Atule damages knee ligaments — 30 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 30 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad30 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Tunde Micheal out for 92 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Mustapha Lawal and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Kabiru Tijjani
“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 dugout30 Nov 2026
Adam Mustapha 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 Adam Mustapha trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Olumide Henry 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shooting Stars lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad23 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Tunde Micheal out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Mustapha Lawal 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Tunde Micheal, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Kabiru Tijjani asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑1 against Warri Wolves, and it could have been more.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.21, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market31 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kwara United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
Abiodun Adegoke has gone, the accounts have $120.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer from Kakamega Homeboyz for Ganiyu Wasiu 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.
Market31 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.
Boardroom31 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Tijani Adeloju 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Aug 2026
El-Kanemi Warriors paid $120.0K and Shooting Stars took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.