Marked for Daniel Collins
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match7 Jun 2036
18 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
Fee done, terms next for Terem Ejuke
Abia Warriors and El-Kanemi Warriors have settled on $9.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Market9 Jun 2036
“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 The request is on a desk at Abia Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2036
$500.0K was the most the club would pay and Rivers United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad9 Jun 2036
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 targets9 Jun 2036
The offer went to Bendel Insurance this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Match7 Jun 2036
3 matches without a goal for Abia Warriors
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Match7 Jun 2036
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Jun 2036
This is not rotation. Michael Dennis has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending otherwise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match19 Apr 2036
No end in sight to Abia Warriors's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Abia Warriors has to find a result from somewhere.
Match21 Apr 2036
Every point is an argument now for Abia Warriors
Position 20 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings21 Apr 2036
Two goals and a mark of 8.71 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market21 Apr 2036
“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.
Squad21 Apr 2036
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.
Match19 Apr 2036
Abia Warriors are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Match19 Apr 2036
A 2‑2 draw with Katsina United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout21 Apr 2036
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout21 Apr 2036
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.” Interim Coach chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match15 Mar 2036
No end in sight to Abia Warriors's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Abia Warriors has to find a result from somewhere.
Match15 Mar 2036
6 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market17 Mar 2036
“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.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
Daniel Collins: 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Chukwuemeka Obioma 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaa Eddine Aissani 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 dugout17 Mar 2036
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.
Player ratings17 Mar 2036
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.29 on the card, and the Abia Warriors support went home talking about one name.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Nov 2035
Words at Abia Warriors training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alaa Eddine Aissani 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.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Ibrahim Umar 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 Abia Warriors this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Nov 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Collins and Abia Warriors agree another 3 years.
Market12 Nov 2035
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
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 Stephen Afrifa is on it.
Market12 Nov 2035
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Chukwuemeka Obioma signs something — a contract at Abia Warriors or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
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 Ndidi Okereke has written the date down.
Market12 Nov 2035
The clock does Stephen Afrifa’s negotiating for him
7 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Abia Warriors could ask drops and the wages Stephen Afrifa can ask rise.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Apr 2035
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.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Alaa Eddine Aissani 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 dugout2 Apr 2035
“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.
Market2 Apr 2035
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
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 Chidera Awoniyi is on it.
The dugout2 Apr 2035
Daniel Collins 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 Abia Warriors, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Boardroom2 Apr 2035
111 graduates from an academy now rated 7 out of 20. A club this size does not survive any other way, and every name on that list is known in the town.
Squad2 Apr 2035
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom18 Dec 2034
Pressure builds in the Abia Warriors boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad18 Dec 2034
Alaa Eddine Aissani 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.
Squad18 Dec 2034
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.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
This is not rotation. Kelechi Obi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2034
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Collins and Abia Warriors agree another 3 years.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The dugout18 Dec 2034
Bright Lookman 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 Bright Lookman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Dec 2034
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market27 Nov 2034
“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.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
This is not rotation. James Emo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Abia Warriors is pretending otherwise.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Chukwuemeka Obioma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market27 Nov 2034
Ndidi Okereke is 20, and Abia Warriors have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Squad27 Nov 2034
5 new faces, and Abia Warriors are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alaa Eddine Aissani trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout27 Nov 2034
The manager makes an example of Daniel Collins
“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 dugout27 Nov 2034
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 Kenneth Obafemi is on it.