Leon Simon

Attacking Midfielder (L) - El-Kanemi Warriors
27 Mar 2033
Sunday
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Overview Personal Contract News 4 Transfers Relations Events 83 Awards 2 Matches History

Marked for Leon Simon

318 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

30 Aug 2032
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match28 Aug 2032

Risilanu Ismail leads the rout of Wikki Tourists

5‑2, and Risilanu Ismail took the headlines on an afternoon when everything El-Kanemi Warriors tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings30 Aug 2032

A debut Moses Umar will not forget — 7.65

There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.65 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.

Market30 Aug 2032

Mike Zaruma puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at El-Kanemi Warriors, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad30 Aug 2032

Risilanu Ismail takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Player ratings30 Aug 2032

Leon Simon, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08

A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.

Market30 Aug 2032

PWD Bamenda come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and El-Kanemi Warriors did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match28 Aug 2032

7 goals as El-Kanemi Warriors and Wikki Tourists go for it

Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between El-Kanemi Warriors and Wikki Tourists, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.

Player ratings30 Aug 2032

Ninety minutes of Risilanu Ismail at his very best

Marked 9.77. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at El-Kanemi Warriors.

Squad30 Aug 2032

100 goals in the shirt for Risilanu Ismail

100 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.

In brief

Back issues
306 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

7 Jun 2032
From our football correspondent Steady

Match5 Jun 2032

El-Kanemi Warriors taken apart

0‑3 to Bayelsa United, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.

Market7 Jun 2032

El-Kanemi Warriors say no — this time

The offer from PWD Bamenda for Usman Abubakar was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market7 Jun 2032

Daniel Obafemi asks to leave El-Kanemi Warriors

“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.

Squad7 Jun 2032

Oladimeji Dada in trouble away from the ground

Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.

The dugout7 Jun 2032

Mohammed Faisal 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.

Squad7 Jun 2032

Training ground row involving Oladimeji Dada

Tempers went at El-Kanemi Warriors this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.

Boardroom7 Jun 2032

Doors closed at El-Kanemi Warriors

The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.

Squad7 Jun 2032

Leon Simon stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Leon Simon and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout7 Jun 2032

Henri Olivier answers for it

“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.

In brief

282 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

22 Dec 2031
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad22 Dec 2031

Taiye Murtala 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.

Squad22 Dec 2031

Words exchanged at El-Kanemi Warriors

Olayinka Nwankwo 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.

Market22 Dec 2031

The Oladimeji Dada question follows El-Kanemi Warriors around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Oladimeji Dada’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

252 Edition

The El-Kanemi Warriors Courier

26 May 2031
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings26 May 2031

Both of them Oladimeji Dada's — 8.17

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.17, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Match24 May 2031

El-Kanemi Warriors cannot stop winning

4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.

The dugout26 May 2031

Thabelo Tshikweta says El-Kanemi Warriors went back on their word

“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.

Squad26 May 2031

Words exchanged at El-Kanemi Warriors

Risilanu Ismail 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.

Squad26 May 2031

A row about effort at El-Kanemi Warriors

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Taiye Murtala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match24 May 2031

Oladimeji Dada the difference as El-Kanemi Warriors beat Katsina United

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Oladimeji Dada. 2‑1 against Katsina United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Match24 May 2031

El-Kanemi Warriors are at home on the road

3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.

Match24 May 2031

Oladimeji Dada at the heart of a fast El-Kanemi Warriors start

2 goals inside twenty minutes with Oladimeji Dada in the middle of it, and Katsina United unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.

Squad26 May 2031

Leon Simon stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Leon Simon and El-Kanemi Warriors agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

In brief