The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 The request is on a desk at Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Joseph Nathaniel 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 The request is on a desk at Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Chicago Fire moved on, Umar Ada reports back to Nasarawa United, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasarawa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Joseph Nathaniel 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.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
He is 18, and nobody at Nasarawa United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Goodness Gospel-Eze and Nasarawa United agree another 3 years.
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. San Jose Earthquakes moved on, Ameh Godwin reports back to Nasarawa United, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gozie Umeh will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Joseph Nathaniel 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.
Ameh Godwin 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Plateau United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.