Marked for Jonathan Davou
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
A defender's goal wins it for Plateau United — 7.56
1 for Jonathan Okechukwu, marked 7.56, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market27 Sep 2027
Domnan Panse has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Plateau United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Paul Odeh beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Ossy Martins 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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Amos Aliyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Isaac Akinola could afford to be generous.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Godfrey Selchum
“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.
Looking ahead27 Sep 2027
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Gimba Ajiji’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Plateau United needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout1 Mar 2027
Iwueke Obiuto: 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.” Plateau United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match27 Feb 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Plateau United did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Victor Dawa 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.
Match27 Feb 2027
After 6 games, Plateau United finally taste it again
The first defeat in 6 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Remo Stars; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mustapha Abdullahi 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Aaron Pam and Plateau United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market1 Mar 2027
Iwueke Obiuto is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Plateau United has been clear about where Iwueke Obiuto stands, which is more than many ever get.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Nobody could get near Paul Odeh
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match20 Feb 2027
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match20 Feb 2027
Nobody wants to play Plateau United right now
6 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
A brace, and Ossy Martins takes the afternoon — 8.00
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ossy Martins provided it, and the 8.00 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plateau United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match20 Feb 2027
Plateau United make home a hard place to visit
10 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Victor Dawa 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Mustapha Abdullahi 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 dugout22 Feb 2027
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑0, already talking about the next one.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Jonathan Davou
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Jonathan Davou: 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.” Plateau United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Domnan Panse commits to Plateau United for another 4 years.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Victor Dawa 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ikouwem Utin was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Ikouwem Utin, and the manager let it.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Gafar Saka 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 Gafar Saka trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Plateau United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Victor Dawa 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 Plateau United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gimba Ajiji’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Plateau United.
Market28 Sep 2026
No place for Gafar Saka in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gafar Saka has his answer from Plateau United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mustapha Abdullahi 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
One of those days for Mafeng Pam
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.08, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad28 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Plateau United are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Something was said to John Amah and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Isaac Akinola on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.