Marked for Victor Ogunjobi
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Feb 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Dokou Dodo 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.
Match24 Feb 2029
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dokou Dodo. 2‑0 against Bendel Insurance, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match24 Feb 2029
It had gone 5 games. The players did not celebrate like men who had won a match; they celebrated like men who had been let out of something.
Match24 Feb 2029
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Dokou Dodo in the middle of it, and Bendel Insurance unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Federico Godoy, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. 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 dugout26 Feb 2029
The manager makes an example of Victor Ogunjobi
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match16 Sep 2028
0‑3 to Enyimba, 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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
8 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Market18 Sep 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Warri Wolves they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market18 Sep 2028
“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 Warri Wolves, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Dokou Dodo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Prince Ebhohon has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Warri Wolves is pretending otherwise.
The dugout18 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Vincent Edafe, and the manager let it.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alimi Adebayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Boardroom18 Sep 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kun Khalifat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Warri Wolves is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings28 Aug 2028
Dokou Dodo goes up and wins it — 7.91
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.91 for the rest of it.
Transfer targets28 Aug 2028
$76.0K on the table at Kun Khalifat. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Gift Isioma 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.
Market28 Aug 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Warri Wolves will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Goforth Amedu has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Warri Wolves is pretending otherwise.
Match26 Aug 2028
It finished 1‑0, and it was Dokou Dodo’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Warri Wolves.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alimi Adebayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad28 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Victor Ogunjobi and Warri Wolves agree another 3 years.