Marked for Stephen Etyang
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 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 KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at KCB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Etyang 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Samunya Amatton
“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.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Francis Kahiro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KCB 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.
Market23 Nov 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Stephen Etyang signs something — a contract at KCB or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager makes Elvis Ochoro a promise
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at KCB. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Elvis Ochoro: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KCB have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at KCB
Siphelele Mthembu 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 19 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 37 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at KCB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Etyang 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 dugout12 Oct 2026
“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 dugout12 Oct 2026
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.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mathare United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
Patrick Otieno has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at KCB 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Sep 2026
The wait goes on for KCB
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad28 Sep 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 KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at KCB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clyde Senaji 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 15, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Martin Wanyama after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Samunya Amatton, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
Point won or two lost for KCB?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Gor Mahia? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for KCB
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around KCB are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
The game went through Nashon Wekesa — 6.52
Marked 6.52 on 13 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Match19 Sep 2026
Bandari take the points off KCB
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A falling-out at KCB
Humphrey Mieno and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Martin Wanyama to a room that had heard them before.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A row about effort at KCB
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Etyang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One lapse, one goal, and ninety minutes of honest work counting for nothing. That is the job at KCB, and it is a cruel one.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
The leaders are next for KCB
Gor Mahia top the table and they are coming into view. Nothing to lose, which is what every manager says before losing.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Rowland Makati is still paying for one afternoon at KCB
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 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 KCB can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 15 in, 0 out at KCB
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words exchanged at KCB
Stephen Etyang 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Clyde Senaji 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tyron Kariuki makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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 dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
At 36 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.07, and nobody on the pitch better.
Market10 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 KCB can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Peter Ochieng 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
One of our own: George Miheso joins the KCB first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. George Miheso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Jesse Rupia 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Humphrey Mieno had KCB level again within 4 minutes, and Nairobi United never got to play with a lead at all.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A falling-out at KCB
Yafeesi Mubiru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Kenya Police 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
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Match
KCB and Nairobi United take a point apiece
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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Squad
A row about effort at KCB
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match1 Aug 2026
No mercy from KCB
AFC Leopards will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KCB were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Humphrey Mieno, 36, rolls back the years — 8.35
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.35 at 36, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Apollo Otieno and KCB agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at KCB
Yafeesi Mubiru 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.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
Black Aces 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.
The dugout3 Aug 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Martin Wanyama could afford to be generous.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Clyde Senaji 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
KCB and Apollo Otieno are talking past each other
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.