Jamilu Umar

Left Forward - Bendel Insurance
22 Sep 2038
Wednesday
Process

Marked for Jamilu Umar

617 Edition

The Bendel Insurance Post

24 May 2038
From our football correspondent Crisis

Player ratings

Brayann Nana, 35, rolls back the years — 8.72

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.72 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Market

Hossam Soliman asks to leave Bendel Insurance

“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.

Squad

Jamilu Umar keeps the receipts

“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Bendel Insurance may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.

Squad

Brayann Nana 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Words at Bendel Insurance training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naphtali Agada 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.

Match

Brayann Nana’s goal not enough for Bendel Insurance

Brayann Nana scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Katsina United, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.

Squad

The manager makes an example of Efe Obiomo

“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 ratings

Off the pace: Nnamdi Collins

A mark of 5.43 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Dongo Cresus

Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

Back issues
551 Edition

The Bendel Insurance Post

16 Feb 2037
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Dongo Cresus 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 Bendel Insurance this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Naphtali Agada 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.

Squad

Karel Navrátil wants to go home

“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Bendel Insurance know it.

Match

A bad afternoon for Bendel Insurance against Rangers International

1‑2 to Rangers International, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.

Squad

No hiding place for Jamilu Umar

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jamilu Umar, and the manager let it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Abdulateef Yusuff

Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

In brief

542 Edition

The Bendel Insurance Post

15 Dec 2036
From our football correspondent Crisis

The terraces

Anger at Bendel Insurance 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.

Match

Every point is an argument now for Bendel Insurance

Position 18 and 22 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.

Market

Etebo Simon asks to leave Bendel Insurance

“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.

Squad

Shehu Sadiq says Bendel Insurance 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.

Squad

Tempers go at Bendel Insurance

Brayann Nana 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.

Squad

Naphtali Agada 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.

In brief

537 Edition

The Bendel Insurance Post

10 Nov 2036
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Tempers go at Bendel Insurance

Dongo Cresus 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.

Squad

Words at Bendel Insurance training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Naphtali Agada 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.

Squad

No hiding place for Jamilu Umar

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jamilu Umar, and the manager let it.

In brief