Amitesh Krishna

Central Defender - Ulinzi Stars
1 Jul 2029
Sunday
Process

Marked for Amitesh Krishna

124 Edition

The Ulinzi Stars Courier

11 Dec 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

The dugout

Shannel Makwata says Ulinzi Stars went back on their word

“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.

Squad

Kevin Omondi stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Omondi and Ulinzi Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Alvin Mangeni 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Boniface Muchiri 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.

Squad

7 new faces, and Ulinzi Stars 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.

The dugout

Leonlevitt Osiago gets picked when it counts

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 Leonlevitt Osiago is on it.

The dugout

Kevin Omondi knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Omondi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Javan Omondi

“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.

Match

Continental football is in reach for Ulinzi Stars

51 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.

In brief

Back issues
56 Edition

The Suva Courier

23 Aug 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

15 days out for Patrick Matai after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Suva will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Match

Suva up to position 3

30 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.

Transfer targets

The paperwork begins on Jonasa Ravukitiliva

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Suva have done the hard part with Nadi, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad

Tempers go at Suva

Seb Stacey 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.

Transfer targets

Door shut on Lauren Bali

Suva asked and Nasinu said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Salesitino Caucau

“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.

Squad

Amitesh Krishna 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 dugout

Peniasi Rotidara knocks on the manager's door

“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Suva, and both men came out saying it was fine.

Market

The Simione Nabenu story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Simione Nabenu signs something — a contract at Suva or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief