“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia 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 Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Apr 2032
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.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
Squad29 Mar 2032
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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Kakamega Homeboyz? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 89th, and Ulinzi Stars spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
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.
22 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Gor Mahia did not have in the autumn.
Squad1 Mar 2032
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cailin Knock 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Cailin Knock. 1‑0 against Ulinzi Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The words a physio says slowly. 38 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Squad16 Feb 2032
Shariff Musa 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.
17 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gor Mahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Boardroom2 Feb 2032
An order from above at Gor Mahia: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
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.
14 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The shortfall was covered from upstairs again. Supporters are entitled to be relieved and entitled to ask what happens the month it is not, and both feelings usually arrive together.
Squad2 Feb 2032
Shariff Musa 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Victor Olunga is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
26 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gor Mahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
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.
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.
Squad26 Jan 2032
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.
The embargo bars a fee being paid for a player, whatever the manager thinks the squad needs. Every rumour printed about this club between now and its lifting is a rumour about a deal that cannot happen.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gor Mahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
The offer from Muranga Seal for Worthy Yashak 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.
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.
In brief
Boardroom$125.6K of the owner's money at Gor Mahia
SquadShariff Musa falls out with a teammate over standards
61 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gor Mahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
Squad22 Dec 2031
Lewis Bandi 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Morrison signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
Squad24 Nov 2031
Shariff Musa 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Morrison signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia can pretend not to have heard.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dennis Amuka will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gor Mahia the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
In brief
SquadLewis Bandi falls out with a teammate over standards
The words a physio says slowly. 67 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.
“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.
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.
Squad27 Oct 2031
Lewis Bandi 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Morrison signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
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.
Squad29 Sep 2031
Lewis Bandi 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 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Morrison signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 123 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.
“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.
7 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.
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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Gor Mahia have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Shariff Musa 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.
“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.
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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Gor Mahia did not have in the autumn.
Squad4 Aug 2031
Lewis Bandi 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.
Marked 8.28 — 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.
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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Bandi 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.
8.55. 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.
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mathare United will make the call about Victor Juma this week. Gor Mahia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 34 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.
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.
Squad23 Jun 2031
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lewis Bandi 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 words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Lewis Bandi 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Julio Caballero has his answer from Gor Mahia; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The words a physio says slowly. 48 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia 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 Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad9 Jun 2031
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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mathare United will make the call about Dennis Amuka this week. Gor Mahia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Sylvester Owino and Gor Mahia agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 May 2031
Lewis Bandi 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.
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Gor Mahia is running low.
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.
Squad28 Apr 2031
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 132 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 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.
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.
Squad17 Mar 2031
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.
It needed Patrick Ekandjoum to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Nairobi United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shariff Musa signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The words a physio says slowly. 139 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.
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.
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.
Squad10 Mar 2031
Lewis Bandi 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.
Ahmed Ndidi is 18, and Gor Mahia 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.
Shahzodbek Ubaydullayev had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Muranga Seal were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
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.
Squad10 Feb 2031
Lewis Bandi 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.
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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Enock Morrison 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alpha Onyango 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.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Muranga Seal will make the call about Gad Mathews this week. Gor Mahia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
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.
The offer from KCB for Victor Juma 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.
Enock Morrison 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.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alpha Onyango 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 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.
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.
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.
Enock Morrison 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alpha Onyango 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 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.
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.
Squad9 Dec 2030
Alpha Onyango 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.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The words a physio says slowly. 45 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.
Position 1, 66 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Samuel Masika will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Gor Mahia 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 Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Chijioke Ahiaeke has just signed for Gor Mahia, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad25 Nov 2030
Alpha Onyango 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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gor Mahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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.
Enock Morrison 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.
Squad4 Nov 2030
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Alpha Onyango 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Shahzodbek Ubaydullayev signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
37 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Gor Mahia lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Ben Stanley Omondi is a Gor Mahia player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
Squad9 Sep 2030
Alpha Onyango 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.
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. Gor Mahia will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sofapaka will make the call about Collins Owusu this week. Gor Mahia have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Gor Mahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
18 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Giscard Mavoungou has given nobody the chance.
Boardroom2 Sep 2030
An order from above at Gor Mahia: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Enock Morrison 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.
Squad2 Sep 2030
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.
The offer from Spartak Trnava for Shahzodbek Ubaydullayev 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.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere 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 Gor Mahia this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Aug 2030
Getting past Giscard Mavoungou has become the hardest job in the division
15 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
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 phone has started ringing about Victor Juma again, and this time the name on the line is Ulinzi Stars. Gor Mahia are listening politely and promising nothing.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
23 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
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.
Squad29 Jul 2030
Alpha Onyango 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.
Marked 8.79 — 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Gor Mahia can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Enock Morrison 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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad22 Jul 2030
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 47 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.
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.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Alpha Onyango 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.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Enock Morrison 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.
9 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad10 Jun 2030
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.
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
Frank Odhiambo was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.81. 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.