The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Squad25 Aug 2036
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bryan Meyo 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 89. Ikorodu City had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Abia Warriors will make the call about Daniel Bassey this week. Remo Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
39 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
8 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Two goals and a mark of 8.37 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Remo Stars offered $3.1M; Enyimba said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
38 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Wikki Tourists will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Remo Stars were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.59 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
74 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
6 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.
In brief
Player ratingsNo sign of nerves from Jamilu Moffi at 19 — 8.26
The words a physio says slowly. 37 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Remo Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chukwueze Onyekuru will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
35 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Chinedu Ajayi did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
34 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bendel Insurance had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Rivers United next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Bassey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Meyo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Marked 8.13 — 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.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Remo Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.15 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Wassim Dardake and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 Mar 2036
Bryan Meyo 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Remo Stars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Nobody at Remo 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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
27 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Mathieu Acapandié 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.
Squad3 Mar 2036
Bryan Meyo 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.
Marked 8.35 — 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Niger Tornadoes waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Wassim Dardake has, at Remo Stars, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 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 Remo Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Okocha will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Al Ahly 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.
24 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Two goals and a mark of 9.00 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bendel Insurance waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Remo Stars will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.85 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Remo Stars will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Goïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Antonio Galeano is on it.
The dugout17 Dec 2035
Jamilu Moffi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Remo Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Emmanuel Dung 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 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Remo Stars, another week without a signature from Younes Idder.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Remo Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Goïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Nobody at Remo 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.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Remo Stars has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Bassey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oscar Naasei and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Nov 2035
5 new faces, and Remo Stars are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
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.
Squad19 Nov 2035
Isaac Lawal 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Remo Stars are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout19 Nov 2035
Jamilu Moffi 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Remo Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
3 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Remo Stars could ask drops and the wages Godwin Akpobolouka can ask rise.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Oct 2035
Ahmed Helmy 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 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Godwin Akpobolouka signs something — a contract at Remo Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Oduya trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A new face in his position, and Sulaiman Oyewale suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Remo Stars have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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 Antonio Galeano is on it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Remo Stars would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Remo Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Emmanuel Jonas’s negotiating for him
BoardroomThe Remo Stars production line keeps running
SquadQuestions about Wilfred Akpan on the training pitch
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Remo Stars know which stage they are at.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Katsina United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The offer from Bendel Insurance for Daniel Bassey 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Remo Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Wilfred Akpan reports back to Remo Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Goïta 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaiserslautern have kept their man, and Remo Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Olayinka Ogu is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 8.75 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
5 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.
“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 Remo Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
The offer from Bendel Insurance for Chinedu Ajayi 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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2035
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 18 gone
That is the business done at Remo 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 settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
4 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.
The offer from Katsina United for Joseph 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Aka David will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The deal with Kaiserslautern 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.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
SquadDefences have started doubling up on Ayman Azhil
SquadWords at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.17 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo 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 Remo Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Katsina United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
The first defeat in 8 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against El-Kanemi Warriors; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Jul 2035
Adama Goïta 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.
16 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ikorodu City waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The offer from Enyimba for Wilfred 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.92 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The offer from Bayelsa United for Daniel Bassey 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Everybody at Remo Stars saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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: Enyimba have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Wilfred Akpan. The answer from Remo Stars has not changed — yet.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Goïta 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.
Nasarawa United will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Remo Stars were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.45 at 35, and nobody on the pitch was better.
4 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chukwueze Onyekuru will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The offer from Barau for Bright Ademola 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
In brief
Player ratingsEmmanuel Jonas was on a different afternoon to everybody else
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.29 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Everything agreed with Asante Kotoko, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abraham Ademola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Squad18 Jun 2035
Adama Goïta 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Remo Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 7.78 for the rest of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ademola Oduya will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
2‑3 to Barau, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad4 Jun 2035
Adama Goïta 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Katsina United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
Marked 8.05 — 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Aminu Balogun could afford to be generous.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Remo Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad2 Apr 2035
Adama Goïta 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.
Oscar Naasei 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.
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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Emmanuel Jonas’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Remo Stars needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Remo Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.18 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“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.
Boardroom5 Feb 2035
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Remo 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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Wilfred Akpan reports back to Remo Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Younes Idder has, at Remo Stars, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Oscar Naasei 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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Remo Stars have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Plateau United for Antonio Galeano 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo Stars can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Pape Diong, marked 7.71, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Adama Goïta was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Remo Stars asked and Hearts of Oak said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Bassey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad25 Dec 2034
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ahmed Helmy 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.
Nobody at Remo 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oscar Naasei trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Remo Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
Full confidence, expressed in the dull, deliberate language boards reserve for when they mean it. The window that follows will show whether the words came with money attached.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Remo Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Abraham Ademola will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Dec 2034
Words at Remo Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adama Goïta 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.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Remo Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Remo Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Oscar Naasei 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.
Squad27 Nov 2034
Adama Goïta 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 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.
The shrug has gone, the language is coming, and he now argues in training like somebody who expects to be here next year. Half a signing's value is this and none of it appears on a fee.
In brief
SquadTerem Dennis is not doing himself any favours
BoardroomThe Remo Stars board put their names to it
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Aka David
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Daniel Bassey will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Remo Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Remo Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Oct 2034
Adama Goïta 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 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.