Marked for Daniel Adeleye
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout31 Mar 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plateau United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad31 Mar 2031
John Amah 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.
Match29 Mar 2031
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Plateau United and Niger Tornadoes, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match29 Mar 2031
Beaten 2‑4, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad31 Mar 2031
A season average of 7.27 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Marked 8.20 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Kingsley Maduforo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.11. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad31 Mar 2031
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakar Abubakar 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.
Player ratings31 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Nov 2030
Ozovehe Adeiza damages knee ligaments — 14 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 14 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.
Squad18 Nov 2030
Seyi Oguntayo 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.
The dugout18 Nov 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 dugout18 Nov 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad18 Nov 2030
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdulaziz Dalhatu 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 dugout18 Nov 2030
Paul Samson 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 Paul Samson is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Nov 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Ozovehe Adeiza
21 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Plateau United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The dugout11 Nov 2030
“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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
John Amah 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.
Squad11 Nov 2030
Yahaya Ibrahim 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 dugout11 Nov 2030
John Amah has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Plateau United 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 dugout11 Nov 2030
“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.
Market11 Nov 2030
“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.
Market11 Nov 2030
The John Amah talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Plateau United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad11 Nov 2030
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Oct 2030
42 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Plateau United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Ikouwem Utin 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.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Plateau United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yahaya Ibrahim 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 dugout21 Oct 2030
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Paul Samson 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 Paul Samson is on it.
The dugout21 Oct 2030
Cayden Cole 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.