The Barau Courier
Squad5 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Barau
Jimmy Ambrose and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
The manager makes an example of Adeshina Gata
“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.
Match3 Mar 2029
Barau come up short against El-Kanemi Warriors
El-Kanemi Warriors left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Barau count the cost of losing David Ogu
34 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Simon Sadiq left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Idris Saidu makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
Saidu Salisu 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 Saidu Salisu is on it.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Evidence Mokoena slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Evidence Mokoena is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Looking ahead5 Mar 2029
Stephen Chukwude goes back to face Bendel Insurance
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Stephen Chukwude’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Barau needing him to play as if none of it matters.
In brief
- Market The Adeshina Gata talk will not go away
- Player ratings Nobody could get near Usman Maidubuji
- The dugout No place in the plan for Adamu Ibrahim