“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Maren Kefas and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Shooting Stars has been clear about where Abraham Osayi-Samuel stands, which is more than many ever get.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Ndidi Ejuke is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shooting Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shooting Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“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 The request is on a desk at Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oche Akpan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Stanley Kanu is on it.
119 graduates, from a department now rated 9 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Osayi Awoniyi on the training pitch
2 behind and going nowhere, until Moruf Umar decided otherwise. Bendel Insurance had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 47 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moruf Umar. 3‑2 against Bendel Insurance, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Ndidi Ejuke 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 easiest signature of my career.” Akinkunmi Aribo and Shooting Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 28 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The deal that would have taken Ndidi Ejuke to Barau has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Shooting Stars with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Osayi Awoniyi 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shooting Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Shooting Stars close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Hapoel Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The offer from Bendel Insurance for Ndidi Ejuke 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.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
Shooting Stars asked and Asante Kotoko said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
At 19 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bayelsa United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaiserslautern have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ndidi Ejuke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Asante Kotoko have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The deal with Plateau United 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.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Djoliba have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
9 combined actions and 6.54. The job he did is the one that shows up as other people looking good, and the only reliable way to notice it is to watch what happens on the afternoons he is missing.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
$6.0K on the table at Plateau United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Everybody at Shooting Stars saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Add another name to the list: Bendel Insurance have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oche Akpan. The answer from Shooting Stars has not changed — yet.
The dugout16 Jul 2035
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Édouard Marchand to a room that had heard them before.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shooting Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Chinedu Osayi-Samuel and Shooting Stars agree another 3 years.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Panthere du Nde have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 2‑1 win over Abia Warriors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Moruf Umar at his very best
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Toheeb Adebayo at his very best
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Ndidi Ejuke again, and this time the name on the line is Warri Wolves. Shooting Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Rivers United held the lead for 2 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Shooting Stars answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 129 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer went to Plateau United this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ndidi Ejuke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Marked 8.50. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Shooting Stars.
The dugout14 May 2035
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 2‑3 Édouard Marchand left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nasarawa United ended it 4‑5. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Player ratings23 Apr 2035
A brace, and Ndidi Ejuke takes the afternoon — 8.31
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ndidi Ejuke provided it, and the 8.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Abraham Ejuke did not need any: 7.99, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
9 goals in one match, Ndidi Ejuke on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Shooting Stars and Nasarawa United.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 17-year-old it feels ownership of. Ndidi Ejuke 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 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.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Daniel Balogun is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Moruf Umar. 3‑1 against Rangers International, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
He is 17 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsMaren Kefas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Édouard Marchand left the room before anybody could ask which.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Nobody at Shooting Stars will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
Successful dribbles: 34. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Monsoor Saleh 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Édouard Marchand could afford to be generous.
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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orlando Pirates have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Peter Nwankwo and Shooting Stars agree another 3 years.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The offer from Wikki Tourists for Oche Akpan 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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shooting Stars have done the hard part with Plateau United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“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.
The dugout22 Jan 2035
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Édouard Marchand to a room that had heard them before.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bayelsa United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ndidi Ejuke did not need any: 7.69, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Shooting Stars have done the hard part with Djoliba, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Shooting Stars have gone to Plateau United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shooting Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ndidi Ejuke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Olisa Balogun and Shooting Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Victor Adeleye.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shooting Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sunday Ajayi and Shooting Stars agree another 4 years.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shooting Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sunday Ajayi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Daniel Balogun and Shooting Stars agree another 3 years.
Squad16 Oct 2034
Osayi Awoniyi 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Peter Nwankwo is on it.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Shooting Stars, another week without a signature from Oche Osayi-Samuel.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Shooting Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
BoardroomThe Shooting Stars production line keeps running
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 13 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ndidi Ejuke will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Stanley Kanu and Shooting Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Gimba Ajiji
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Shooting Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
A mark of 8.05 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Oche Akpan will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shooting Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 3‑2 win over El-Kanemi Warriors, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
At 18 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.83 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Sep 2034
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 23 gone
That is the business done at Shooting Stars until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Remo Stars have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shooting Stars will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Moses Olayinka did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Henry Oduya. 3‑2 against Wikki Tourists, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Barau waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Everything agreed with Hearts of Oak, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Shooting Stars had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gor Mahia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shooting Stars asked and Liepaja said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Marked 8.42 — 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.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Shooting Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Maccabi Tel Aviv have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Wikki Tourists waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Henry Oduya did not need any: 7.88, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Shooting Stars asked and Maccabi Tel Aviv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
A season average of 7.40 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Player ratings5 Jun 2034
Maren Kefas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.35. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Édouard Marchand after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Henry Oduya did not need any: 7.67, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.24, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Shooting Stars and Barau in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
He is 16 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
In brief
Player ratingsThe pass was always on for Stanley Kanu
Monsoor Saleh 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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Monsoor Saleh 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.
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Ndidi Ejuke had Shooting Stars level again within 2 minutes, and Kwara United never got to play with a lead at all.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Édouard Marchand after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Squad3 Apr 2034
A place in the month's best eleven for Stephen Sadiq
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Stephen Sadiq has come out of that comparison in the side, and Shooting Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shooting Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shooting Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Monsoor Saleh 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 easiest signature of my career.” Stanley Kanu and Shooting Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
At 16 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Stanley Kanu is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Ndidi Ejuke did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.87, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Shooting Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plateau United have kept their man, and Shooting Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Remo Stars spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.39 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shooting Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shooting Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
“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 Shooting Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Plateau United have accepted the money. What Shooting Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Monsoor Saleh 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.