Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sani Faisal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Saidu Hamisu
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Faisal 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Agara and Katsina United agree another 3 years.
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 Muhammad Suleiman is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Godswill Utum has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
In brief
SquadJamilu Yusuf is not doing himself any favours
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samson Obi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The captaincy has been taken off Joshua Enaholo. Katsina United will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
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 Muhammad Suleiman is on it.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Godswill Utum has written the date down.
A strip of cloth that decides nothing on the pitch and tells the dressing room whose opinion counts. The manager has made a statement without making one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sani Faisal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Joshua Enaholo 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Muhammad Suleiman and Katsina United agree another 3 years.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Katsina United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Samson Obi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sani Faisal 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Sani Faisal is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Successful dribbles: 36. 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Abia Warriors left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Katsina United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sani Faisal 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 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.
In brief
The dugoutMichael Okoro knocks on the manager’s door
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Usman Barau
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 9.07 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Katsina United have done the hard part with Ikorodu City, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
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.
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.