Veljko Mirosavić 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 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Novi Pazar, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Driton Camaj signs something — a contract at Novi Pazar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Position 4 on 47 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Novi Pazar has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Novi Pazar is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hamad Šaćirović was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Vieri Kotzebue is on it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Veljko Mirosavić trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Medeama is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Prince Kwabena Owusu’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Medeama.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henry Ansu 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Medeama pretended it was anything other than a decision about 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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Bechem United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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.
Fuzy Taylor 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.
A 1‑0 win over Bechem United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Medeama may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Victor Oduro will call it something else in private.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Yussif Mubarik
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Medeama they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henry Ansu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Paul Yeboah 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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Rashid Sumaila.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
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 Amos Essien to a room that had heard them before.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Reyaad Pieterse trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adams Abdul Jabal will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Medeama the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adamu Ibrahim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Victor Oduro 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.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kelvin Obeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Wa All Stars scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It needed Derrick Fordjour to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Wa All Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Position 14 and 20 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 1 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Medeama ran out of time with Aduana Stars. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henry Ansu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kelvin Obeng will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Medeama the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Medeama and Aduana Stars have settled on $37.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The offer went to Asante Kotoko this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
2‑3 to BA All Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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.
Victor Oduro 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.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings22 Jan 2029
A brace, and Samuel Tetteh takes the afternoon — 8.81
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samuel Tetteh provided it, and the 8.81 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Transfer targets22 Jan 2029
$72.0K settles it between the clubs for Ernest Ofori
Liberty Professionals have accepted the money. What Medeama do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Medeama they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Medeama have gone to Liberty Professionals with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Inter Allies have kept their man, and Medeama go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
$210.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Medeama have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
He is going to Hearts of Oak, the club has $210.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
Medeama have gone to Hearts of Oak with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Medeama can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adamu Ibrahim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Victor Oduro 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.
Position 14, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Amos Essien to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Medeama told Rich Sackey something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
0‑1 to Heart of Lions, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad25 Dec 2028
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Henry Ansu 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amos Essien after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Hasaacas in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adamu Ibrahim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fuzy Taylor 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Prince Kwabena Owusu. 1‑0 against Berekum Chelsea, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Amos Essien could afford to be generous.
Position 14 and 13 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kelvin Obeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Reyaad Pieterse is on it.
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout11 Dec 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Amos Essien was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Medeama dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against New Edubiase United? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Henry Ansu 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Marked 4.80. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kabelo Nkgwesa is on it.
New Edubiase United next, and one man in the Medeama dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Medeama and Bechem United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
A 4‑2 win over Bechem United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
This is not rotation. Yussif Mubarik has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Medeama is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Medeama can pretend not to have heard.
This is not rotation. Kelvin Obeng has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Medeama is pretending otherwise.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Adamu 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Jacob Mensah is on it.
Next up on the road: Bechem United, position 6. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Medeama the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
In brief
BoardroomThe Medeama production line keeps running
SquadAfriyie Acquah is training like a man with a point to make
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Medeama can pretend not to have heard.
Squad6 Nov 2028
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Asante Kotoko.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Three points for Medeama, 1‑0 the final word against Great Olympics in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kelvin Obeng 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.
Marked 7.70. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Amos Essien kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Prince Kwabena Owusu provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Medeama have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Medeama and Wa All Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
8.21. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
In brief
SquadWords at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adamu Ibrahim was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Medeama will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Medeama, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Osah Bernardinho signs something — a contract at Medeama or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Next up on the road: Wa All Stars, position 9. The supporters who go will talk about it all week and the ones who do not will check their phones at ten to five.
2 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Aduana Stars kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Medeama will be asked about the last half hour all week.
7.52, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Medeama have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Tetteh and Medeama agree another 2 years.
Squad9 Oct 2028
Adamu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kabelo Nkgwesa 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.
“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.
Squad2 Oct 2028
Henry Ansu 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.
Felix Kyei 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 dugout2 Oct 2028
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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Amos Essien to a room that had heard them before.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Jacob Mensah has his answer from Medeama; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Medeama, and it is not being withdrawn.
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad25 Sep 2028
Words at Medeama training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adamu 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Medeama told Walid Fuseini something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Medeama have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Medeama can pretend not to have heard.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kelvin Obeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 7.85 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Medeama had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Amos Essien kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Medeama will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bechem United moved on, Adams Abdul Jabal reports back to Medeama, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Medeama this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Henry Ansu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Medeama will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Medeama know which stage they are at.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Reyaad Pieterse is on it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Medeama, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Medeama can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Medeama have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Henry Ansu has just signed for Medeama, and for once the answer mattered.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Ashanti Gold is saying, and nobody at Medeama is enjoying the guessing.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 8 gone
That is the business done at Medeama until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Medeama offered $1.5M; Ashanti Gold said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Medeama have done the hard part with Hearts of Oak, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. WAFA moved on, Felix Kyei reports back to Medeama, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Barau have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.31 for the rest of it.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chidi Akuneto has just signed for Barau, and for once the answer mattered.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Wikki Tourists have kept their man, and Barau go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Abiodun Adegoke has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Barau have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
The words a physio says slowly. 117 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bayelsa United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Barau is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Barau had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Wikki Tourists, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Sunday Anthony will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Barau the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Remo Stars have kept their man, and Barau go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Barau offered $72.0K; Kun Khalifat said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Godwin Akpo. 1‑0 against Kun Khalifat, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
124 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barau lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
0‑3 to Bendel Insurance, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Barau have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Barau and Warri Wolves have settled on $160.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Remo Stars keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Barau they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
131 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Barau lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shooting Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Barau is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
Supporters turn on the $170.0K sale of Henry Ezeonye
He is going to Ikorodu City, the club has $170.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“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 Barau, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Adamu Ibrahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Barau the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Barau have gone to Rivers United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Barau lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Barau have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Barau, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have shaken hands with Rangers International; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 13 combined actions and a mark of 7.15, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Jimmy Ambrose 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Warri Wolves waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Barau is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
The deal with Plateau 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.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barau this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ahmadu Liman is on it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Barau they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Stanley Oganbor has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Henry Ezeonye is on it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Barau is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Adamu Ibrahim reports back to Barau with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Henry Ezeonye 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Barau, another week without a signature from Joseph Kemin.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Barau have lost him in all but the paperwork.
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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rivers United have kept their man, and Barau go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
The dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Wilfred Chukwueze left the room before anybody could ask which.
Adamu Ibrahim 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.
In brief
Transfer targetsA loan move for Effimi Nsi is in the works
Qualification is secured, and next season the big floodlit nights are continental ones. For the players it is a stage; for the accounts it is a lifeline; for the supporters it is passports.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Barau have had the benefit of it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barau this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Barau, and 5 appearances in 46 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Position 3, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Andranik have had the benefit of it.
Lucas Bonifácio 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Andranik training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Levon Bashoyan 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Nobody at Barau will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Jimmy Ambrose 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Barau, and 5 appearances in 38 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Barau, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
7.99, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Godwin Akpo. 2‑0 against Warri Wolves, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Barau will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
“I did not go to Andranik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Barau and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 34 matches say the rest.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Wilfred Chukwueze kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“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 Barau, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Niger Tornadoes for Henry Ezeonye 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Barau people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Barau they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Jimmy Ambrose 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Wilfred Chukwueze after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
SquadWords at Barau training over how hard people work
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Sunday Anthony's mistake
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Andranik can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sousa have kept their man, and Andranik go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ikorodu City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Barau is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Barau, and it is not being withdrawn.
Oscar Destiny 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Barau, and 5 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Barau told Jimmy Ambrose something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager’s verdict
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Sunday Anthony's mistake
“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 Barau, and it is not being withdrawn.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Barau they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“I did not go to Andranik to sit and watch. I want to come back to Barau and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 22 matches say the rest.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Wilfred Chukwueze left the room before anybody could ask which.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Barau can pretend not to have heard.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Uche Moses has agreed terms with Rivers United for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Barau this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Barau game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Andranik runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Kabiru Abdullahi has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Jun 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Ahmadu Liman
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ahmadu Liman has come out of that comparison in the side, and Barau have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.