Brian Opondo 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dennis Manyama after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz 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.
6 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Every debut is a small story about the future: Ibrahim Kamau, 15 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. Josephat Lopaga provided it, and the 8.67 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 The request is on a desk at Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga 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.
There was one mistake and it ended in the net. Defenders are judged on the worst thing they did rather than on the eighty-nine minutes either side of it, which is unfair and is also the job.
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Kakamega Homeboyz are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Kakamega Homeboyz scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 9 gone
That is the business done at Kakamega Homeboyz 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mathare United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
5 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.
Brian Opondo 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.
Kakamega Homeboyz asked and APS Bomet said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
In brief
The dugoutThe view from the dugout
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Oliver Machaka
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Successful dribbles: 27. 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.
4 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dennis Manyama after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Sbusiso Mtshali 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.
1‑5 to Mara Sugar, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Kakamega Homeboyz deserved better, and so did he.
6 goals in one match, Derrick Otanga on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Kakamega Homeboyz and Mara Sugar.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑5, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutBoniface Omondi has become a man the manager trusts
Boniface Omondi had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and KCB were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kakamega Homeboyz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Marked 8.77 — 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oliver Machaka and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 3 years.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Muranga Seal waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Brian Opondo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Derrick Otanga was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Oliver Machaka and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 3 years.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ulinzi Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ben Saul will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Joshua Nyatini 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: 14. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Charles Momanyi and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“I watch every Kakamega Homeboyz game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Shabana runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Marked 8.00 — 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
A 1‑0 win over Kariobangi Sharks, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
There were 87 minutes on the clock and Kariobangi Sharks had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Kakamega Homeboyz did not stop to explain themselves.
“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 Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Ibrahim Wanzala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz 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 Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kakamega Homeboyz they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped 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 Kakamega Homeboyz 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.
The words a physio says slowly. 20 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.
93 minutes played. Josephat Lopaga found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Kenya Police went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Kakamega Homeboyz can pretend not to have heard.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and John Omondi reports back to Kakamega Homeboyz with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Marked 7.83 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Kakamega Homeboyz had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout14 Sep 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.” Dennis Manyama, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Derrick Otanga 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. 27 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Posta Rangers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Successful dribbles: 28. 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.
“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 Kakamega Homeboyz, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at Kakamega Homeboyz 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 deal that would have taken Chris Masinza to Ulinzi Stars has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Kakamega Homeboyz with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
34 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kakamega Homeboyz lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
KCB go through and Kakamega Homeboyz go home, 0‑2 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kakamega Homeboyz have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Gor Mahia; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
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.
Denis Iguma 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.
Add another name to the list: Posta Rangers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Oliver Machaka. The answer from Kakamega Homeboyz has not changed — yet.
102 appearances across 8 seasons in one shirt. Nobody builds a career like that on purpose any more; it happens to a certain kind of footballer at a certain kind of club.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Josephat Lopaga and Kakamega Homeboyz agree another 4 years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Kakamega Homeboyz this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.