Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gor Mahia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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 Mohammed Siraji is on it.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gor Mahia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Bryson Jerome will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gor Mahia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frank Odhiambo is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Joseph Odhiambo is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
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 Daniel Sakari is on it.
“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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Bryson Jerome is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
In brief
The dugoutAlpha Onyango has become a man the manager trusts
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Gor Mahia have had the benefit of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Gor Mahia is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Ben Stanley Omondi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Daniel Sakari 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.
In brief
The dugoutMohammed Siraji has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutKevin Omondi knocks on the manager’s door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gor Mahia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frank Odhiambo 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.
Alpha Onyango 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Gor Mahia, another week without a signature from Sylvester Owino.
Nobody at Gor Mahia 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Gor Mahia, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Gor Mahia will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about 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.
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
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 Alpha Onyango is on it.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Gor Mahia they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
At 36, 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.
Daniel Sakari 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Shariff Musa 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.
Something was said to Samukelo Zikalala and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Daniel Sakari is on it.
Kariobangi Sharks next, and one man in the Gor Mahia dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
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.
“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 Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Gor Mahia have done the hard part with Liberty Professionals, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Gor Mahia asked and Real Bamako said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.