“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nasarawa United can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofrank Istifanus 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Babatunde has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Alex Omeruo is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Everybody at Nasarawa United 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.
Sunday Ogunjobi 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.
In brief
SquadA Nasarawa United teenager takes the young player award
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Musa Ihenacho's mistake
The dugoutOjo Johnson knocks on the manager’s door
“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 The request is on a desk at Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasarawa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Daniel Ogu 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.
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 8.26 — 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kun Khalifat waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kelechi Omeruo did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nasarawa United can pretend not to have heard.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Match18 Aug 2035
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Nasarawa United. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
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 2‑0 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.
In brief
SquadOjo Johnson falls out with a teammate over standards
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Nasarawa United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
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 7.94 for the rest of it.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nasarawa United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings16 Jul 2035
Kelechi Omeruo, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.88
A mark of 7.88 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofrank Istifanus 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Olayinka Aribo 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 last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nasarawa United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Etebo Okocha did not need any: 7.91, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The offer from Kun Khalifat for Joshua Musa 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jofrank Istifanus was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 20 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.
In brief
Player ratingsJofrank Istifanus 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 Nasarawa United people have started saying his name 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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jofrank Istifanus 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.
He is 22 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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 7.65 for the rest of it.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ojo Johnson 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.
Ebere Iheanacho 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout28 May 2035
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Olisa Lawal chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Dennis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout14 May 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 0‑3 defeat, delivered by Olisa Lawal to a room that had heard them before.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ojo Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Daniel Ogu 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 hardest thing about being 16 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Leon Eze did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
At 22 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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 about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Nasarawa United will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasarawa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Umar Ada 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ojo Johnson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutUmar Ada has become a man the manager trusts
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.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
Kelechi Osimhen, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.60
A mark of 7.60 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
7.53, 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Nasarawa United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
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.
Minute 92, against Wikki Tourists, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as 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 Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It needed Ifeanyi Akinola to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Wikki Tourists, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Simon Dennis will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Timothy Zechariah 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.
9 combined actions and 6.63. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nasarawa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joshua Musa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Nasarawa United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jofrank Istifanus 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 Jofrank Istifanus is on it.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Katsina United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Nasarawa United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Nasarawa United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
1 on the scoresheet on his first appearance and a mark of 7.65 beside it. Most debuts are got through; this one was enjoyed, by him and by everybody watching 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 Nasarawa United, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Nasarawa United has been clear about where Sunday Dapma stands, which is more than many ever get.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Timothy Zechariah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.