Marked for Thomas Wainaina
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Meshack Karani out for 28 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Transfer targets14 Dec 2026
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad14 Dec 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 Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market14 Dec 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad14 Dec 2026
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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Tshiamo Masisi is 18, and Bidco United 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Raila, and the manager let it.
The dugout14 Dec 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
It is the least glamorous business a club does and the reason seasons do not collapse in February. Owami Dlamini is here for the weeks when three men are injured and somebody still has to play.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
57 days out for Meshack Karani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Kevin Ouru: 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.” Bidco United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Bryton Onyona 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 Kakai 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.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Koloti, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Thomas Wainaina has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bidco United 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
Squad19 Oct 2026
86 days out for Meshack Karani after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bryton Onyona and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David Simiyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Meshack Karani, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Marked 7.35. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Eric Okoth was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bidco United dressing room was either.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The form table has caught John Otieno
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Match17 Oct 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Bandari defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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 Thomas Wainaina is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Meshack Karani out for 131 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
20 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bidco United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 21 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Bidco United 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.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
Bidco United have gone to Tusker 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Bryton Onyona 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Simiyu 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Bodo, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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 Thomas Wainaina is on it.
Looking ahead7 Sep 2026
Kakamega Homeboyz next, and one man in the Bidco United dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑6 by AFC Leopards, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑0 win over KCB, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Squad24 Aug 2026
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bidco United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $9.0K — a club that wants Brian Chonjo Otieno enough to be asked twice.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidco United have done the hard part with Posta Rangers, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Simon Munala has a hand in both — 7.66
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.66, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Match22 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Bidco United and AFC Leopards, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Bidco United offered $8.0K; Kenya Police 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match8 Aug 2026
1‑5 against Ulinzi Stars, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidco United have done the hard part with Kenya Police, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Match8 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Bidco United and Ulinzi Stars, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Daniel Kakai and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Thomas Wainaina ran the middle of the pitch — 7.08
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 7.08, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Leopards have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Francis Kibwage 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Dennis Kibwage is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.