From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Stanley Amon had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bayelsa United can pretend not to have heard.
Market24 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Bayelsa United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The deal with Kano Pillars 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.
Market24 Aug 2026
Renaissance pay $15.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bayelsa United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Barau: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Bayelsa United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nupe Godstime 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.
The dugout24 Aug 2026
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
4 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Match12 Aug 2026
1‑2 against Wikki Tourists, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Chinedu Onyinjekwu, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 9.91
A mark of 9.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market17 Aug 2026
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Liepaja had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from PWD Bamenda for Stanley Amon 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Bayelsa United, 4‑3 the final word against Enyimba in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Match15 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Bayelsa United and Enyimba, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
The terraces17 Aug 2026
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.
Market17 Aug 2026
The name of Owugha Tonyemiete has come up in conversations Bayelsa United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
At 23 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 dugout10 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gabriel Biriduba, and the manager let it.
Match8 Aug 2026
A 1‑0 win over Warri Wolves, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Nupe Godstime 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Solomon Wegba and Bayelsa United agree another 3 years.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Marked 7.73 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Bayelsa United had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gabriel Biriduba and Bayelsa United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Don-Pedro Samuel 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 dugout3 Aug 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nupe Godstime was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Looking ahead3 Aug 2026
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Warri Wolves.
Market3 Aug 2026
Bina Tombiri is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bayelsa United has been clear about where Bina Tombiri stands, which is more than many ever get.