“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 The request is on a desk at Katsina United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings5 Jun 2028
A brace, and Samson Obi takes the afternoon — 8.51
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Samson Obi provided it, and the 8.51 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
6 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.
Everything agreed with Ikorodu City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ifeanyi Ihemekwele 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.
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Akpan 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Katsina United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout22 May 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 0‑2 Ifeanyi Ogu left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Katsina United has been clear about where Timothy Atamenwan stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Emmanuel Nwabufo 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.
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Joshua Akpan 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.
Suleiman Yusuf 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.
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.
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.
Abia Warriors next, and one man in the Katsina United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
45 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Katsina United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Katsina United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Joshua Akpan 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Katsina United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sunday Onyeka and Katsina United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Katsina United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
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.
Musa Sulaiman 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Moses Adikwu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.