The Shooting Stars Gazette
Market4 Jan 2027
Lucky Emmanuel puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tijani Al-Almeen: 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.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Emmanuel Iroanya shuts the door
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Tempers go at Shooting Stars
Gastón Rodríguez 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.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Shooting Stars
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
Nothing got past Monsoor Saleh
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Market4 Jan 2027
Shooting Stars promote Jamilu Iheanacho from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jamilu Iheanacho has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market4 Jan 2027
One of our own: Jamilu Awoniyi joins the Shooting Stars first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Jamilu Awoniyi 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
Shooting Stars promote Daniel Lookman from within
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Daniel Lookman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
In brief
- Player ratings Lucky Emmanuel runs at them all day
- Squad Words at Shooting Stars training over how hard people work
- Squad Ibrahim Sodiq gets it from the manager