Marked for Kelechi Eze
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad30 Apr 2029
Words at Barau training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Yahaya 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Barau
Najib Yusuf and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match28 Apr 2029
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Barau had all but put away. Rangers International will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Marked 7.88. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match28 Apr 2029
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
John Akpan: “We have to be better”
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Player ratings30 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad30 Apr 2029
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Barau will feel it on Saturday.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Emeka Nwabulu has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Barau 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.42 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
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Squad16 Apr 2029
A falling-out at Barau
Ibrahim Yahaya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Apr 2029
Ibrahim Yahaya among the goals in a wild afternoon
6 goals in one match, Ibrahim Yahaya on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Barau and Kano Pillars.
Match14 Apr 2029
Three points for Barau, 4‑2 the final word against Kano Pillars in a contest settled by the finer margins.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Kelechi Eze
“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.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Ninety minutes of Usman Maidubuji at his very best
Marked 8.30. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Barau.
Player ratings16 Apr 2029
Najib Yusuf was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Two goals and a mark of 9.46 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
No sign of nerves from Joseph Kemin at 21 — 8.59
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Joseph Kemin did not need any: 8.59, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
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Squad19 Mar 2029
A falling-out at Barau
Joseph Kemin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Mar 2029
A 3‑1 win over Kun Khalifat, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad19 Mar 2029
A row about effort at Barau
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ibrahim Yahaya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings19 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
Kelechi Eze 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.
The dugout19 Mar 2029
John Akpan: “That is the standard”
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 3‑1, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Mar 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bismark Duah commits to Barau for another 4 years.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Tempers go at Barau
Anthony Omaka 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.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Bismark Duah was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.00. 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.
Squad5 Mar 2029
A month that belonged to Joseph Kemin
The young player of the month award goes to a 21-year-old at Barau who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings5 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” John Akpan on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad5 Mar 2029
Words at Barau training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daddy Abdulrahman 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 dugout5 Mar 2029
No place in the plan for Kelechi Eze
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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Squad19 Feb 2029
A falling-out at Barau
Anthony Omaka and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets19 Feb 2029
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad19 Feb 2029
Words at Barau training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Yahaya 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 ratings19 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match17 Feb 2029
A 1‑0 win over Wikki Tourists, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings19 Feb 2029
Ibrahim Yahaya was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. 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.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, John Akpan could afford to be generous.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Ebuka Nwokorie
“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
Steady
The terraces30 Oct 2028
Anger at Barau 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.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
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Squad30 Oct 2028
A falling-out at Barau
Joseph Kemin and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Oct 2028
Kelechi Eze 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.
Squad30 Oct 2028
Words at Barau training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daddy Abdulrahman 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 dugout30 Oct 2028
Aliyu Sugau 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 Aliyu Sugau trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.