Marked for Ibrahim Ogunjobi
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 Sep 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plateau United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Window shuts: 23 in, 10 out at Plateau United
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 23 arrived, 10 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Rivers United is saying, and nobody at Plateau United is enjoying the guessing.
Squad1 Sep 2031
John Amah in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Plateau United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout1 Sep 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
The clock did what Kano Pillars would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout1 Sep 2031
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad18 Aug 2031
A season average of 7.72 with 36 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match16 Aug 2031
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Wikki Tourists the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Plateau United will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 9.81 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings18 Aug 2031
Two goals and a mark of 8.93 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Plateau United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad18 Aug 2031
John Amah 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.
Transfer targets18 Aug 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rivers United have kept their man, and Plateau United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout18 Aug 2031
“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.
Squad18 Aug 2031
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad21 Jul 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Kingsley Maduforo
31 goals and a season average of 7.63 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad21 Jul 2031
10 saves: John Amah was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market21 Jul 2031
“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.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
The deal with Mamelodi Sundowns is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad21 Jul 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Ibrahim Ogunjobi commits to Plateau United for another 3 years.
Squad21 Jul 2031
John Amah 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.
Match19 Jul 2031
Rivers United left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Plateau United asked and Pakhtakor said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match15 Mar 2031
0‑3 to Abia Warriors, 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.
Market17 Mar 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Plateau United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Mar 2031
John Amah and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match15 Mar 2031
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Market17 Mar 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Joseph Ademola 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.
Market17 Mar 2031
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibrahim Ogunjobi 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.
Market17 Mar 2031
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Calvin Eze is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
John Amah 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.