Marked for Austin Chinecherem
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The clubs have shaken hands with Bayelsa United; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Imo Obot: 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.” Abia Warriors have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Window shuts: 4 in, 1 out at Abia Warriors
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 4 arrived, 1 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets1 Feb 2027
The paperwork begins on Jude Mamman
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Abia Warriors have done the hard part with Barau, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Remo Stars left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout1 Feb 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.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Simon Oduya after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market18 Jan 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 Abia Warriors can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Everything agreed with Barau, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad18 Jan 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Abia Warriors asked and El-Kanemi Warriors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Chidiebere Nnachi 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 dugout18 Jan 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Simon Oduya chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samuel Faniyi, and the manager let it.
Match16 Jan 2027
Point won or two lost for Abia Warriors?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Enyimba? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 18. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market4 Jan 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 Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match2 Jan 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 9 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
The deal with Ikorodu City 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market4 Jan 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Aminu Olagunju is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market4 Jan 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Dennis has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Match2 Jan 2027
Rangers International left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chidiebere Nnachi 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ferdinand Notani commits to Abia Warriors for another 3 years.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Shedrack Asiegbu 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.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Imo Obot has been promised minutes
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 Imo Obot has written the date down.
Market7 Dec 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Chibuikem Obiezechukwu may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Chidiebere Nnachi 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 dugout28 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“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.
Market28 Sep 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Chimezie Njoku has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Abia Warriors.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Chimezie Njoku 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.