Marked for Michael Isabwa
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Nov 2026
Kelvin Mwavali: 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.” Mara Sugar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market30 Nov 2026
“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 The request is on a desk at Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Nov 2026
Alex Imbusia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Aineah Ndete
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mara Sugar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Alex Imbusia 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 Nov 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad2 Nov 2026
Thomas Harun: 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.” Mara Sugar have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages eat 106% of everything Mara Sugar earn
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Alex Imbusia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Mara Sugar may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
6 new faces, and Mara Sugar are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Alex Imbusia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Nassor Shikokoti is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
In brief
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Squad
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
141% of the income goes out in wages at Mara Sugar
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Mara Sugar's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mara Sugar has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kelvin Mwavali 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad21 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Timothy Ndayala dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.41 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Market21 Sep 2026
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Mara Sugar have gone and got theirs early.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
5.71 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Sep 2026
8 matches without a win for Mara Sugar
The run now stands at 8, and the questions being asked around Mara Sugar are no longer polite ones.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Mara Sugar are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 11. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A day to forget for Jim Owili
Marked 5.50, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 Aug 2026
The wait goes on for Mara Sugar
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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Sofapaka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Michael Isabwa
“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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
5.42 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match22 Aug 2026
No end in sight to Mara Sugar's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mara Sugar has to find a result from somewhere.
Market24 Aug 2026
“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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia 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 Aug 2026
Michael Isabwa 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Timothy Ndayala, and the manager let it.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Hamed Abdulhameed was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.16. 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.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Michael Isabwa dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Match22 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Posta Rangers leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 11 of the 22 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A brace, and Kelvin Mwavali takes the afternoon — 8.27
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kelvin Mwavali provided it, and the 8.27 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match8 Aug 2026
2‑3 to Nairobi United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Luvuyo Memela
“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.
Market10 Aug 2026
Kelvin Mwavali is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mara Sugar has been clear about where Kelvin Mwavali stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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. Mara Sugar will not keep him by pretending otherwise.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alex Imbusia and Mara Sugar agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Alex Imbusia 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Michael Isabwa is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Mara Sugar has been clear about where Michael Isabwa stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Michael Isabwa
“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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Luvuyo Memela has outgrown this division
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Mara Sugar know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Ibrahim Ochieng’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 1‑1 draw with AFC Leopards leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.