Marked for David Simon
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings11 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
David Simon: 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.” Niger Tornadoes have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad11 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Niger Tornadoes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom11 Jun 2029
Remo Stars will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Taiwo Adeleye has pre-agreed a move to Niger Tornadoes, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Match9 Jun 2029
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 88. Warri Wolves had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Market11 Jun 2029
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Micheal Nelson has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Niger Tornadoes.
Squad11 Jun 2029
No place for Muyiwa Balogun in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Niger Tornadoes are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Market11 Jun 2029
“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.
Squad11 Jun 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Olwethu Ncube and Niger Tornadoes agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 35. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match18 Apr 2029
A 1‑0 win over Abia Warriors, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.97, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match21 Apr 2029
Nobody wants to play Niger Tornadoes right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Yusuf Omotayo 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Ibrahim Abubakar 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 dugout23 Apr 2029
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Squad23 Apr 2029
100 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match24 Mar 2029
The 86th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Najeeb Ibrahim decided nobody was going anywhere. Wikki Tourists had no time left to answer.
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. 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.
Squad26 Mar 2029
Ibrahim Abubakar 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.
Match24 Mar 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Najeeb Ibrahim. 2‑1 against Wikki Tourists, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad26 Mar 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Niger Tornadoes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings26 Mar 2029
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Moses Ajayi: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑1, already talking about the next one.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
Something was said to Usman Barau and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 31. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market15 Jan 2029
“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.
Match13 Jan 2029
No end in sight to Niger Tornadoes's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Niger Tornadoes has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad15 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Niger Tornadoes this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
The manager makes an example of Usman Barau
“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.
Match13 Jan 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad15 Jan 2029
25 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings8 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets8 Jan 2029
Niger Tornadoes and Bayelsa United have settled on $310.0K. 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.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Yusuf Omotayo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom8 Jan 2029
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad8 Jan 2029
Words at Niger Tornadoes training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim 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.
Market8 Jan 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Musa Collins has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Jan 2029
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Etebo Adebayor has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market8 Jan 2029
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Ademola has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market8 Jan 2029
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. David Simon is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.