Marked for Sadeeq Abdulahi
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Wikki Tourists's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Wikki Tourists has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 Jan 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 targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Barau 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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Sani Ibrahim 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simeon Umeh and Wikki Tourists agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Aliyu Mamuda in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Wikki Tourists this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Abdullahi Lookman after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Wikki Tourists's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Wikki Tourists has to find a result from somewhere.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Wikki Tourists have done the hard part with Plateau United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Wikki Tourists asked and Barau said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Ibrahim 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 ratings24 Aug 2026
A mark of 7.77, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Ikorodu City have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Frank Lookman commits to Wikki Tourists for another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
7 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Shuaibu Ibrahim commits to Wikki Tourists for another 3 years.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Ibrahim 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.
The terraces3 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Chizoba Okoh 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Aliyu Mamuda 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Nasarawa United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Wikki Tourists have made the call to Bayelsa United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.