Umar Balogun

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Kano Pillars
12 May 2030
Sunday
Process
Overview Personal Contract News 3 Transfers Relations Events 86 Awards 1 Matches History

Marked for Umar Balogun

194 Edition

The Kano Pillars Gazette

15 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match13 Apr 2030

A hiding for Kano Pillars

Beaten 0‑3 by Enyimba, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.

Squad15 Apr 2030

Samuel Ejuke keeps Kano Pillars in it on his own

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.

Squad15 Apr 2030

Words exchanged at Kano Pillars

Mustapha Umar 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.

The dugout15 Apr 2030

No hiding place for Muhammed Usman

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

Boardroom15 Apr 2030

Nobody left the Kano Pillars dressing room in a hurry

The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.

Squad15 Apr 2030

Ikechukwu Lawal stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Ikechukwu Lawal and Kano Pillars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

The dugout15 Apr 2030

The view from the dugout

“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Oscar Omeruo to a room that had heard them before.

Player ratings15 Apr 2030

Jillian Bernardina's mistake decides it

Ten men and a goalkeeper behind him, and it still finished in the net. He knew before anybody told him, and nobody at Kano Pillars needed to.

The dugout15 Apr 2030

Jillian Bernardina is still being punished for one mistake

Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.

In brief

Back issues
193 Edition

The Kano Pillars Gazette

8 Apr 2030
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings8 Apr 2030

Both of them Shedrack Asiegbu'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.

Player ratings8 Apr 2030

Nobody could get near Mustapha Umar

Successful dribbles: 25. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market8 Apr 2030

Isandu Danjuma is on his way

The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kano Pillars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.

Squad8 Apr 2030

Words exchanged at Kano Pillars

Aminu Mohammed 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.

Squad8 Apr 2030

Words at Kano Pillars training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fabian Nworie 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.

Match6 Apr 2030

Kano Pillars find a way past Warri Wolves

Warri Wolves made Kano Pillars work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑1 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Match6 Apr 2030

At last: Kano Pillars win one

5 matches without a win, and then this, against Warri Wolves. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Squad8 Apr 2030

Muhammed Usman makes it 100

100 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Squad8 Apr 2030

Idris Bashir makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

In brief

167 Edition

The Kano Pillars Gazette

8 Oct 2029
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match8 Oct 2029

Kano Pillars finish in position 11

46 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.

Squad8 Oct 2029

Samuel Ejuke stands alone

7 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.

Market8 Oct 2029

Isandu Danjuma hands in a written request

“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.

Squad8 Oct 2029

A falling-out at Kano Pillars

Aminu Mohammed and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match6 Oct 2029

The drought breaks for Kano Pillars

6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Nasarawa United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.

The terraces8 Oct 2029

Kano Pillars supporters have found a favourite in Umar Balogun

There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 16-year-old it feels ownership of. Umar Balogun has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.

The dugout8 Oct 2029

No hiding place for Shedrack Asiegbu

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

Match6 Oct 2029

Kano Pillars get the job done against Nasarawa United

A 1‑0 win over Nasarawa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.

Squad8 Oct 2029

A row about effort at Kano Pillars

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

In brief