It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars 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 Kano Pillars has been clear about where Muhammed Usman stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 The request is on a desk at Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mujahid Ibrahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jamilu Aribo is a Kano Pillars player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
The shirt still fits. Ebere Osimhen is back at Kano Pillars, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Abuchi Okeke 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
107% of the income goes out in wages at Kano Pillars
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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 The request is on a desk at Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Usman Fahad 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Questions about Stephen Amos on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kano Pillars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Usman Fahad 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom30 Nov 2026
129% of the income goes out in wages at Kano Pillars
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried 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 Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
Abuchi Okeke 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mujahid Ibrahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Usman Fahad 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.
Aminu Sani 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
129% of the income goes out in wages at Kano Pillars
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Usman Fahad 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.
He looks like a man who lives here now rather than one who is working here. It took most of a season, and at Kano Pillars the difference is visible from the back of the stand.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kano Pillars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Abuchi Okeke 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.
“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 Kano Pillars, 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
237% of the income goes out in wages at Kano Pillars
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Abuchi Okeke 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kano Pillars, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Kano Pillars, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kano Pillars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Mujahid Ibrahim will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Usman Fahad 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.
A 1‑0 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.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Ayuba Mukhtar, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
In brief
SquadJunior Aliyu asks for a word with the manager
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kano Pillars can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Out, 0‑0 to Niger Tornadoes, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows 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 Kano Pillars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Chinedu Ozor will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kano Pillars 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Marked 8.71 — 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.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Abuchi Okeke knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
The offer from Plateau United for Junior Aliyu 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.
Usman Fahad 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.
He is doing things on a Saturday afternoon that nobody around him can answer, which is flattering for about one season and a problem after that. Kano Pillars will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 17 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Abuchi Okeke 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.
Marked 8.39 — 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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Kano Pillars know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Still no offer on the table, and Usman Fahad’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 16 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Charles Tambe has his answer from Kano Pillars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Kano Pillars, 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 Kano Pillars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Add another name to the list: Warri Wolves have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Muhammed Usman. The answer from Kano Pillars has not changed — yet.
24 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
It needed Junior Aliyu to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Rangers International, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.