Marked for Kwadwo Addo
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad24 Nov 2031
Uche Jaguar breaks a bone — 122 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 122 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match24 Nov 2031
First, on 98 points. The table is a fact and a fact is allowed to be enjoyed, which is as far as anybody at the club is prepared to go in public.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Adama Goïta 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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Moses Jarju 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 dugout24 Nov 2031
Sodiq Oshidero has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Remo Stars will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout24 Nov 2031
The manager makes an example of Kwadwo Addo
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Oct 2031
98 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Remo Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Fawaaz Basadien 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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Moses Jarju 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 dugout27 Oct 2031
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 Sodiq Oshidero is on it.
The dugout27 Oct 2031
Kwadwo Addo 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
Triumph
Squad1 Sep 2031
22 goals and a season average of 7.66. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match1 Sep 2031
89 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Match30 Aug 2031
Nobody wants to play Remo Stars right now
7 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 ratings1 Sep 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.12 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Sep 2031
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 18 in, 19 out at Remo Stars
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 19 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match24 May 2031
12 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad26 May 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Jaredi Teixeira
113 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Remo Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match24 May 2031
Another one collected away from home
6 on the bounce on the road for Remo Stars. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
The dugout26 May 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad26 May 2031
13 goals and a season average of 7.50. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Market26 May 2031
Wilfred Oduya has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad26 May 2031
Biola Sabitu 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.
Match24 May 2031
A 1‑0 win over Barau, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings26 May 2031
A performance of 8.20 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match30 Dec 2030
99 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market30 Dec 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Adama Goïta 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.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sodiq Oshidero 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 dugout30 Dec 2030
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 Antonio Galeano is on it.
Market30 Dec 2030
The Biola Sabitu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Biola Sabitu signs something — a contract at Remo Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad30 Dec 2030
Siphelo Baloni wants to know why he earns less
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Remo Stars have no good answer.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
The manager makes Taiye Murtala a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Remo Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The dugout30 Dec 2030
Kwadwo Addo 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 Kwadwo Addo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match2 Dec 2030
99 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market2 Dec 2030
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Adama Goïta 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
A row about effort at Remo Stars
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Moses Jarju was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
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 Antonio Galeano is on it.
The dugout2 Dec 2030
“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 dugout2 Dec 2030
Kyle Jurgens 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.
Market2 Dec 2030
The Biola Sabitu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Biola Sabitu signs something — a contract at Remo Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Kwadwo Addo has moved up it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Nov 2030
Philip Clement damages knee ligaments — 28 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 28 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The dugout18 Nov 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Remo Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market18 Nov 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Olayinka Abacha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Adama Goïta 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 Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Antonio Galeano 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 Nov 2030
Samuel Anakwe has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Remo Stars will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match4 Nov 2030
99 points and nobody above them. The word is not being said around the ground yet, and it is being thought in every seat.
Market4 Nov 2030
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Chukwueze will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Adama Goïta 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
A row about effort at Remo Stars
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Antonio Galeano was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
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 Antonio Galeano is on it.
Market4 Nov 2030
The Biola Sabitu story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Biola Sabitu signs something — a contract at Remo Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout4 Nov 2030
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 dugout4 Nov 2030
Kwadwo Addo 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.