Marked for Samuel Nnoli
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout22 May 2028
Samuel Nnoli: 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.” Nasarawa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market22 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nazif Abdullahi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad22 May 2028
Nazif Abdullahi is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad22 May 2028
Umar Ada and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Nasarawa United is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Nasarawa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bright Ihionu 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.
Match20 May 2028
A point taken on 86 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Match20 May 2028
It needed Chukwudi Okoro to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kwara United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout22 May 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match4 Mar 2028
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around Nasarawa United are no longer polite ones.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nasarawa United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market6 Mar 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.
Player ratings6 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Mar 2028
Niger Tornadoes left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
The manager makes an example of Segun Adekunle
“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.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” David Aribo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Emmanuel Utaka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market6 Mar 2028
No place for Sunusi Audu in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sunusi Audu has his answer from Nasarawa United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market27 Sep 2027
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match25 Sep 2027
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.
Boardroom27 Sep 2027
Kwara United will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Babatunde Bright has pre-agreed a move to Nasarawa United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Nasarawa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bright Ihionu 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 dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
Match25 Sep 2027
0‑1 to Bayelsa United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad27 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Samuel Nnoli and Nasarawa United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Loan watch27 Sep 2027
“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 Nasarawa United, and 2 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Aribo to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market6 Sep 2027
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nasarawa United can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Umar Ada 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Nasarawa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bright Ihionu 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.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Nasarawa United will try again when the window opens; Warri Wolves may not be selling by then.
Squad6 Sep 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Emmanuel Utaka and Nasarawa United agree another 3 years.
Loan watch6 Sep 2027
“I watch every Nasarawa United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chindia Târgoviște runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
Sunday Dapma 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market3 May 2027
“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.
The dugout3 May 2027
Samuel Nnoli: 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.” Nasarawa United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout3 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Austin Onyemaechi, and the manager let it.
Match1 May 2027
A 1‑0 win over Ikorodu City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad3 May 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Paul Itim and Nasarawa United agree another 3 years.
Player ratings3 May 2027
7.83, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Nasarawa United had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Loan watch3 May 2027
“I watch every Nasarawa United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Chindia Târgoviște runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Nasarawa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakar 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.
The dugout3 May 2027
David Aribo: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market21 Sep 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Umar Ada 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 Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by David Aribo to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Nasarawa United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Nnoli, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Sep 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Nasarawa United lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bayelsa United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.