Marked for Stephen Bonney
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match31 Jul 2027
The wait goes on for Sofapaka
11 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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
11 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Titus Achesa breaks a bone — 30 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 30 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom2 Aug 2027
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Clinton Olunga has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market2 Aug 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Sofapaka people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The dugout2 Aug 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sofapaka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Titus Achesa 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market2 Aug 2027
The phone has started ringing about Wasi Ngala again, and this time the name on the line is Bidco United. Sofapaka are listening politely and promising nothing.
Player ratings2 Aug 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 May 2027
A fracture rules Titus Achesa out for 100 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Sofapaka will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Sofapaka
David Nshimirimana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Sofapaka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and David King'atua was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match22 May 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout24 May 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Clinton Olunga after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout24 May 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Elijah Mulinya, and the manager let it.
Market24 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until John Ndirangu signs something — a contract at Sofapaka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 May 2027
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Apr 2027
Anger at Sofapaka spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad19 Apr 2027
George Mbugua breaks a bone — 14 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 14 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Andrew Waswa: 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.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market19 Apr 2027
Only the photograph left for Brian Marani
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Marani will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sofapaka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A falling-out at Sofapaka
David Nshimirimana and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match17 Apr 2027
0‑2 to Shabana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A row about effort at Sofapaka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Titus Achesa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Clinton Olunga to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes an example of Levian Ochieng
“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
Squad17 Aug 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Douglas Ochoko
“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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Maqbul Ochola 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 dugout17 Aug 2026
Brian Olang'o 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.
Match15 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Clinton Olunga was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Sofapaka dressing room was either.
Squad17 Aug 2026
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Looking ahead17 Aug 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Victor Ochieng’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Sofapaka needing him to play as if none of it matters.