Marked for Umar Eguavoen
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings20 Jun 2033
Two goals and a mark of 9.30 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Transfer targets20 Jun 2033
The deal with Kun Khalifat 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.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Taku Chinyowa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets20 Jun 2033
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kwara United have kept their man, and Wikki Tourists go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Jun 2033
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Wikki Tourists is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
The terraces20 Jun 2033
At 17 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings20 Jun 2033
A performance of 8.03 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad25 Apr 2033
Taku Chinyowa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Apr 2033
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ahmad Lamido was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match23 Apr 2033
0‑2 to Bendel Insurance, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings25 Apr 2033
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout25 Apr 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sunday Obafemi, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Apr 2033
Anthony Abacha is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Looking ahead25 Apr 2033
Kun Khalifat next, and one man in the Wikki Tourists dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market25 Apr 2033
The name of Ahmad Lamido keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Wikki Tourists say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Apr 2033
There were 6 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.
Player ratings18 Apr 2033
Up for the corner, and Taku Chinyowa delivers — 7.64
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Taku Chinyowa scored, was marked 7.64, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad18 Apr 2033
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad18 Apr 2033
Taku Chinyowa 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.
Match16 Apr 2033
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Taku Chinyowa. 2‑1 against El-Kanemi Warriors, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces18 Apr 2033
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings18 Apr 2033
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match16 Apr 2033
The goal that put El-Kanemi Warriors ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when Wikki Tourists equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
The dugout18 Apr 2033
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Carlos Teixeira could afford to be generous.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Apr 2033
Umar Eguavoen: 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.” Wikki Tourists have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Taku Chinyowa 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.
Match9 Apr 2033
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Ahmad Lamido 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.
Squad11 Apr 2033
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chidozie Iheanacho and Wikki Tourists agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout11 Apr 2033
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout11 Apr 2033
The manager makes an example of Musa Iheanacho
“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 dugout11 Apr 2033
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Squad11 Apr 2033
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Mar 2033
Taku Chinyowa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
“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.
Squad28 Mar 2033
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Umar Eguavoen and Wikki Tourists agree another 3 years.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Abacha's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Market28 Mar 2033
The name of Ahmad Lamido keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Wikki Tourists say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout28 Mar 2033
Terem Okocha gets picked when it counts
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 Terem Okocha is on it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Mar 2033
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Match12 Mar 2033
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Wikki Tourists are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Taku Chinyowa 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.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Words at Wikki Tourists training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmad Lamido 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.
Squad14 Mar 2033
Appearance number 200 for Ahmad Lamido
200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout14 Mar 2033
The manager makes an example of Musa Ogu
“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.
Market14 Mar 2033
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Wikki Tourists know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.