From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match14 Aug 2027
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Bendel Insurance are no longer polite ones.
Market16 Aug 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bendel Insurance is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market16 Aug 2027
Abia Warriors are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bendel Insurance will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Match14 Aug 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
The manager makes an example of Wisdom Udom
“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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Elmer Arunta 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 Bendel Insurance, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market16 Aug 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Market16 Aug 2027
No fee, no negotiation, no argument: Emmanuel Ugwu moves on to another club with his contract settled and the wage bill a little lighter.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Oke Kayode named in the team of the week
A rating of 7.11 was enough for the selectors, and nobody who watched the match is going to argue with them.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bendel Insurance can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 Jul 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Bendel Insurance are no longer polite ones.
Market12 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bendel Insurance is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match10 Jul 2027
Enyimba left with the points after a 2-3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Jul 2027
The manager makes an example of Emmanuel Ofori
“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
Squad28 Dec 2026
The medical room confirms 15 days on the sidelines for Stanley Okorom, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
Wages eat 120% of everything Bendel Insurance earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Wisdom Udom
“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
Squad14 Dec 2026
Chisom Chikatara: 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.” Bendel Insurance have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wisdom Udom and Bendel Insurance agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad14 Dec 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Bendel Insurance are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Sep 2026
“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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Shooting Stars came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.