The words a physio says slowly. 18 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 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.
A 2‑0 win over Gazelle Garoua, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
25 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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 Cotonsport Garoua; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
7 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Robert Ndip Tambe and PWD Bamenda agree another 2 years.
Raphael Ayagwa 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The words a physio says slowly. 39 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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Ndip Tambe provided it, and the 9.31 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda 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: Robert Ndip Tambe. 2‑1 against Aigle Royal de la Menoua, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Match25 Sep 2027
Another one collected away from home
3 on the bounce on the road for PWD Bamenda. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Trésor Feumba
Successful dribbles: 32. 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.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PWD Bamenda can pretend not to have heard.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Stade Renard de Melong will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PWD Bamenda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
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.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
3 goals before the ground had finished arriving. Stade Renard de Melong spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
A new deal for the man in the dugout, and the clearest thing a board can say without calling a press conference about it. Stability is cheap to promise and expensive to deliver.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Trésor Feumba is a PWD Bamenda player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 32 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
PWD Bamenda offered $97.0K; Colombe du Dja et Lobo 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.
The phone has started ringing about Alain Sifor again, and this time the name on the line is Gazelle Garoua. PWD Bamenda are listening politely and promising nothing.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Febe Fritz Gilles is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
The offer went to Colombe du Dja et Lobo 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.
At 33 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
PWD Bamenda offered $75.0K; Canon Yaounde 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PWD Bamenda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nobody at PWD Bamenda 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Raphael Ayagwa 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 offer went to Canon Yaounde 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Raphael Ayagwa has improved at 29, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
$63.0K was the most the club would pay and Victoria United were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gazelle Garoua have kept their man, and PWD Bamenda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Fauve Azur Elite. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Alganam Doubay is 19, and PWD Bamenda have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
In brief
The dugoutAlvin Binsto knocks on the manager's door
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
PWD Bamenda have gone to Victoria 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.
PWD Bamenda asked and Remo Stars said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Gazelle Garoua have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at PWD Bamenda, another week without a signature from Terence Ambe Ngufor.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Gazelle Garoua waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to FC Cincinnati. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Remo Stars have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
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 Fon Boris Kache is on it.
Position 5, 49 points, and a run-in that decides whether next season has Thursday nights in it. Nobody is calling it a race yet, which is what people say during one.
The offer from Dynamo Douala for Alain Sifor 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. PWD Bamenda have done the hard part with Al-Ittihad, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
The deal with HJK 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.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
PWD Bamenda asked and Niger Tornadoes said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Yaya Aluyu 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.
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
PWD Bamenda asked and Al-Ittihad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Add another name to the list: Dynamo Douala have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Alain Sifor. The answer from PWD Bamenda has not changed — yet.
Plateau United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abdoullahi Sabo 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at PWD Bamenda. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at PWD Bamenda, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Al Wahda. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
5 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alain Sifor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Position 5 on 49 points, and the places that carry a European ticket are close enough to count. Seasons like this are decided by two results in April, and the club knows which two.
Rivers United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
In brief
The dugoutAlvin Binsto knocks on the manager's door
21 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. PWD Bamenda have done the hard part with AGF, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
28 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The deal with Barau 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.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
In brief
SquadWords at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
35 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The deal with Niger Tornadoes 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda 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. USM Alger have kept their man, and PWD Bamenda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Plateau United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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 Fon Boris Kache is on it.
In brief
BoardroomOpen for business: PWD Bamenda enter the window
43 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Raphael Ayagwa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad31 May 2027
Alain Sifor 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 at PWD Bamenda 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 Ndonwie Filding trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
50 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
In brief
SquadAlain Sifor falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 57 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.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alvin Binsto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
64 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alain Sifor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alvin Binsto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
71 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Pierre Akono, and the manager let it.
Squad3 May 2027
Alain Sifor 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 at PWD Bamenda 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.
16 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. PWD Bamenda will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Alain Sifor was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ifeagwu Ojukwu signs something — a contract at PWD Bamenda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Nobody at PWD Bamenda 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.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Samuel Nguelle Mbom is on it.
In brief
The dugoutJacques Njie asks for a word with the manager
SquadQuestions about Jacques Njie on the training pitch
46 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
53 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
The dugoutAlvin Binsto asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 60 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at PWD Bamenda has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ifeagwu Ojukwu signs something — a contract at PWD Bamenda or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
67 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Febe Fritz Gilles has come out of that comparison in the side, and PWD Bamenda have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. PWD Bamenda lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Ndip Tambe provided it, and the 9.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 49 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Alain Sifor takes the afternoon — 9.30
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alain Sifor provided it, and the 9.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about PWD Bamenda and Canon Yaounde in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robert Ndip Tambe. 4‑2 against Canon Yaounde, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Alain Sifor 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.
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Unisport Bafang will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PWD Bamenda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.54 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
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.
Marked 8.25 — 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Christian Anguissa on a 4‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Marius Obekop
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
PWD Bamenda asked and Kun Khalifat said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Christian Anguissa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at PWD Bamenda would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Successful dribbles: 40. 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 hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Febe Fritz Gilles did not need any: 7.60, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.13 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Everything agreed with USM Alger, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The deal that would have taken Ali Nsangou to Panthere du Nde has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to PWD Bamenda with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A season average of 7.00 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. PWD Bamenda know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
A 0‑4 beating by Colombe du Dja et Lobo was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at PWD Bamenda 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 PWD Bamenda is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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. Niger Tornadoes have kept their man, and PWD Bamenda go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Nobody left the PWD Bamenda dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
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 0‑4 Christian Anguissa left the room before anybody could ask which.
The words a physio says slowly. 115 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 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.
Raphael Ayagwa 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 8.27 — 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.
122 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Two goals and a mark of 8.45 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PWD Bamenda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” PWD Bamenda have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The words a physio says slowly. 131 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.
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.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. PWD Bamenda have done the hard part with Al Ahly, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
138 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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. PWD Bamenda will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Raphael Ayagwa 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: 21. 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.
Cotonsport Garoua 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.
146 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A mark of 7.75 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.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.24 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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 dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Christian Anguissa, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
In brief
SquadWords at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Two goals and a mark of 9.19 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A mark of 8.03 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between PWD Bamenda and Stade Renard de Melong, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Fauve Azur Elite will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PWD Bamenda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ifeagwu Ojukwu provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Febe Fritz Gilles 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.
2 goals inside twenty minutes with Ifeagwu Ojukwu in the middle of it, and Fauve Azur Elite unable to get near the ball long enough to change anything. Some matches are won before the first drink.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Marius Obekop 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.
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.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ifeagwu Ojukwu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
Position 4, 26 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Canon Yaounde scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.” Christian Anguissa chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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 9.71 — 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Nchanji Nfor 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. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Christian Anguissa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at PWD Bamenda 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.
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
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.
9 goals and a season average of 7.20. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Christian Anguissa, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad2 Nov 2026
5 new faces, and PWD Bamenda 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Christian Anguissa after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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 Samuel Nguelle Mbom is on it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Robert Ndip Tambe. 3‑1 against Aigle Royal de Moungo, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Christian Anguissa could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The 89th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ifeagwu Ojukwu decided nobody was going anywhere. Gazelle Garoua had no time left to answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Marked 9.03 — 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.
Gazelle Garoua go through and PWD Bamenda go home, 2‑3 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Raphael Ayagwa 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 23 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.
17 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. PWD Bamenda lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Dynamo Douala will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. PWD Bamenda were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Two goals and a mark of 9.23 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Raphael Ayagwa 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.
He is 20 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.
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.
In brief
SquadPWD Bamenda are still strangers to each other
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Christian Anguissa on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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 words a physio says slowly. 31 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.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A brace, and Alain Sifor takes the afternoon — 8.52
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Alain Sifor provided it, and the 8.52 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
8 goals in one match, Alain Sifor on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of PWD Bamenda and Fortuna Mfou.
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.
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.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Panthere du Nde moved on, Ali Nsangou reports back to PWD Bamenda, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Fon Boris Kache 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.
8.39. 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.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Christian Anguissa kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every debut is a small story about the future: David Fernande, 18 years old, off the academy pitches and into the first team. The parents in the stand will keep the programme.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Robert Ndip Tambe provided it, and the 8.99 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Panthere du Nde waiting with a shirt. Nobody at PWD Bamenda is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 PWD Bamenda, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
PWD Bamenda close the window on a squad of their own making
21 in and 1 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.
Ifeagwu Ojukwu 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 a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Marcel Kunde has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Kadad Ning Che was one of the reasons people came, and $180.0K does not replace that by itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PWD Bamenda can pretend not to have heard.
PWD Bamenda asked and Cotonsport Garoua said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and PWD Bamenda know which stage they are at.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at PWD Bamenda training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alain Sifor 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” David Fernande has his answer from PWD Bamenda; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. PWD Bamenda have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what PWD Bamenda 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 PWD Bamenda this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
PWD Bamenda asked and Colombe du Dja et Lobo said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Rivers United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
In brief
SquadAbdoullahi Sabo falls out with a teammate over standards
Raphael Ayagwa 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 name of Kadad Ning Che has come up in conversations PWD Bamenda were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. PWD Bamenda know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Radnicki 1923. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
A loan enquiry to Gazelle Garoua: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
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 were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Cotonsport Garoua is saying, and nobody at PWD Bamenda is enjoying the guessing.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Fabrice Oyongo has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Desire Ekambi has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Olivier Anguissa 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jacques Njie has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Robert Ndip Tambe 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.
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. PWD Bamenda will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Cotonsport Garoua have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
PWD Bamenda have made the call to Canon Yaounde. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abdoullahi Sabo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.