From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market22 Mar 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Niger Tornadoes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match20 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Niger Tornadoes did not have in the autumn.
Squad22 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Ahmed Family
“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.
Match20 Mar 2027
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Wikki Tourists defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Clinton Jephta 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 Mar 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Najeeb Ibrahim: 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.” Niger Tornadoes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match13 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Niger Tornadoes did not have in the autumn.
Squad15 Mar 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Idris Saidu knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Niger Tornadoes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Anthony Okachi and Niger Tornadoes agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match6 Mar 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Niger Tornadoes did not have in the autumn.
Loan watch8 Mar 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 Niger Tornadoes, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Squad8 Mar 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Idris Saidu 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
Uneasy
Match20 Feb 2027
The run now stands at 16, and the questions being asked around Niger Tornadoes are no longer polite ones.
Market22 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Niger Tornadoes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Idris Saidu gets it from the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match6 Feb 2027
The run now stands at 14, and the questions being asked around Niger Tornadoes are no longer polite ones.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Ifeanyi Emmanuel: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match3 Feb 2027
Kun Khalifat are out and Niger Tornadoes go through, 1-1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Market8 Feb 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.
Market8 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Ismail Sarki
“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.
Match6 Feb 2027
It finished 1-1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Chigozie Ani 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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The Ismail Sarki talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Niger Tornadoes know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match30 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Niger Tornadoes's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Niger Tornadoes has to find a result from somewhere.
Market1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Najeeb Ibrahim has come up in conversations Niger Tornadoes were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Match30 Jan 2027
0-1 to Enyimba, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad1 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Chigozie Ani
“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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Ismail Sarki 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
Uneasy
Match23 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Niger Tornadoes's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Niger Tornadoes has to find a result from somewhere.
Market25 Jan 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Niger Tornadoes is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market25 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Niger Tornadoes have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad25 Jan 2027
72 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Abba Khalid
“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
Uneasy
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Niger Tornadoes's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Niger Tornadoes has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad11 Jan 2027
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Niger Tornadoes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Mohammed Aliyu
“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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Niger Tornadoes will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Match9 Jan 2027
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Kwara United will be the happier side with the point.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Ismail Sarki gets it from the manager
“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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Deruo Wisdom 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Najeeb Ibrahim plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Najeeb Ibrahim
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Baba Musa knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Niger Tornadoes, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ifeanyi Emmanuel has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.