Marked for Chidera Ogunjobi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad13 Jun 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Chidera Ogunjobi
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shooting Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match11 Jun 2033
0‑3 against Rivers United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Boardroom13 Jun 2033
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad13 Jun 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Jun 2033
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad13 Jun 2033
One booking too many, and Kabiru Tijjani sits out. Shooting Stars lose him for the sort of avoidable reason that makes a manager's week longer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Jun 2033
A knee injury of the worst kind for Chidera Ogunjobi
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Shooting Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Boardroom6 Jun 2033
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Shooting Stars is running low.
Market6 Jun 2033
“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 The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings6 Jun 2033
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match4 Jun 2033
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Promise Awosanmi. 3‑1 against Katsina United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings6 Jun 2033
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings6 Jun 2033
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad6 Jun 2033
A place in the month's best eleven for Promise Awosanmi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Promise Awosanmi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Shooting Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad6 Jun 2033
The manager makes an example of Ibrahim Moffi
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 May 2033
Chidera Ogunjobi damages knee ligaments — 32 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
The terraces30 May 2033
Anger at Shooting Stars spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Match28 May 2033
0‑3 against Remo Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market30 May 2033
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings30 May 2033
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad30 May 2033
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 May 2033
Chidera Ogunjobi damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Market23 May 2033
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings23 May 2033
No sign of nerves from Kelechi Awaziem at 18 — 8.01
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kelechi Awaziem did not need any: 8.01, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad23 May 2033
“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.
Player ratings23 May 2033
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.