Marked for Michael Akano
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at El-Kanemi Warriors can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Nov 2029
“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.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Abayomi Adebayo: 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.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daddy Abdulrahman and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 4 years.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match11 Aug 2029
The run now stands at 18, and the questions being asked around El-Kanemi Warriors are no longer polite ones.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Michael Akano: 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.” El-Kanemi Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad13 Aug 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match11 Aug 2029
1‑2 to Nasarawa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Aug 2029
“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.
Squad13 Aug 2029
A season average of 7.21 with 9 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Apr 2029
Position 18, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” El-Kanemi Warriors may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad30 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Apr 2029
Shooting Stars left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“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.
The terraces30 Apr 2029
Everybody has an opinion about Risilanu Ismail
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.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Shots: 5. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at El-Kanemi Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A season average of 7.24 with 7 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match14 Apr 2029
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 Apr 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Akano, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Mar 2029
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at El-Kanemi Warriors has to find a result from somewhere.
Match26 Mar 2029
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Emmanuel Nwabufo 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.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.54, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match24 Mar 2029
A 1‑1 draw with Abia Warriors leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around El-Kanemi Warriors are no longer polite ones.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Emmanuel Nwabufo 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.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match24 Feb 2029
David Habila scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Enyimba, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Marked 8.74 — 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.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Marked 8.07 — 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Bilal Yakubu gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Abayomi Adebayo 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market23 Oct 2028
“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 El-Kanemi Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad23 Oct 2028
Daddy Abdulrahman 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 2028
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.
Market17 Apr 2028
“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 Kun Khalifat, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match15 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Kun Khalifat's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Kun Khalifat has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad17 Apr 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
A defender's afternoon for Gabriel Lekan
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad17 Apr 2028
“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.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings17 Apr 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Alex Amaefula 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 Alex Amaefula trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad27 Mar 2028
Gabriel Lekan 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Akpan Nsikak-Abong, and the manager let it.
Match25 Mar 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Mar 2028
“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.
Player ratings27 Mar 2028
5.62 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Market14 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Solomon Odoemenam reports back to Kun Khalifat with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Gabriel Lekan 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Marked 9.47 — 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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.14, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. Kun Khalifat have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match8 Jan 2028
4 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kun Khalifat this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
“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.
Market10 Jan 2028
Everyone has stopped pretending: Barau will make the call about Solomon Odoemenam this week. Kun Khalifat have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Alex Amaefula 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.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match8 Jan 2028
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Shooting Stars came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
Player ratings10 Jan 2028
A mark of 5.56 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.