Marked for Jonas Mailula
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 May 2028
Gad Mathews and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match29 Apr 2028
0‑2 to Bidco United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“Every summer it is another club, another set of team-mates, another manager to convince. I have done all that. Now I want a pre-season at Nairobi United and a proper look at me.” He remains Bidco United’s player until the spell runs out — but the argument is with the club that owns him.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout1 May 2028
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Player ratings1 May 2028
A mark of 3.99 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout1 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Njuguna, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 May 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match22 Apr 2028
No end in sight to Bidco United's wait for a win
12 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bidco United has to find a result from somewhere.
Match24 Apr 2028
Every point is an argument now for Bidco United
Position 18 and 1 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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.
Match22 Apr 2028
Brian Mboya scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to AFC Leopards, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Sandile Ndlovu 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Luciano Van Heerden has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Bidco United is pretending otherwise.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Sandile Ndlovu
“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.
The dugout24 Apr 2028
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Samuel Kibwage to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jan 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Nairobi United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market10 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nairobi United can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Nairobi United asked and AFC Leopards 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Mustafa Kizza
“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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
John Njuguna 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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
John Njuguna asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market10 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with John Njuguna’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad10 Jan 2028
David Wafula has had enough of the bench
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Nairobi United will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Jan 2028
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bidco United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Squad3 Jan 2028
87 days out for Michael Bodo after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Abdulhamid Kabiru arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Abdulhamid Kabiru has, at Bidco United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Banele Mnguni 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 targets3 Jan 2028
Bidco United asked and Kenya Police said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Nairobi United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
A loan move for Bernard Jairo is in the works
Bidco United have made the call to Nairobi United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets3 Jan 2028
Sofapaka have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market3 Jan 2028
He is 20, and nobody at Bidco United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jan 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nairobi United can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kevin Okumu 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Words at Nairobi United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Njuguna 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 dugout3 Jan 2028
Mustafa Kizza 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 Mustafa Kizza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
Dancan Omala 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.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
Wages swallow 113% of the Nairobi United income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Boardroom22 Nov 2027
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Nairobi United now.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Jonas Mailula
“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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Dancan Omala 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 Dancan Omala is on it.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
John Njuguna 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 John Njuguna trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Nairobi United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Michael Karamor 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.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
Wages eat 120% of everything Nairobi United 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.
Boardroom25 Oct 2027
The accounts are being read more closely than the results. Wages before ambition is the order of business now, and the manager has been told so.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Otiende, and the manager let it.
The dugout25 Oct 2027
Dancan Omala 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 Dancan Omala is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Pressure builds in the Nairobi United boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Nairobi United close the window on a squad of their own making
2 in and 7 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer from Mara Sugar for Bernard Jairo 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Gad Mathews 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 Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Sep 2027
John Njuguna 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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A month that belonged to Dancan Omala
The young player of the month award goes to a 20-year-old at Nairobi United who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Manzur Okwaro makes the team of the month
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout6 Sep 2027
The manager makes an example of Dancan Omala
“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
Crisis
Market16 Aug 2027
“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 Nairobi United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Aug 2027
John Njuguna 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 dugout16 Aug 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Victor Chemelil to a room that had heard them before.
Squad16 Aug 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
John Njuguna left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; John Njuguna will call it something else in private.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Jonas Mailula, and the manager let it.
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Shami Mwinyi's mistake
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
The knee: Gad Mathews out for 41 days
41 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nairobi United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match3 Apr 2027
No end in sight to Nairobi United's wait for a win
10 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Nairobi United has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings5 Apr 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match3 Apr 2027
Nairobi United are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 6 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Prince Buregeya 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Time is catching up with Shami Mwinyi
Everybody at Nairobi United saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 34 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
Match3 Apr 2027
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Shabana scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match3 Apr 2027
A 2‑2 draw with Shabana leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Nairobi United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Frank Ouya 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
The knee: Gad Mathews out for 48 days
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nairobi United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Jonas Mailula: 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.” Nairobi United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Mustafa Kizza
“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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Yusuf Mainge 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 Mar 2027
Dancan Omala 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
95 days out for Kevin Otiende after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nairobi United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Yusuf Mainge 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 Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Nairobi United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Njuguna 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 dugout14 Dec 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.
Market14 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Benson Omalla’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
102 days out for Kevin Otiende after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Nairobi United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Yusuf Mainge 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Bernard Jairo commits to Nairobi United for another 2 years.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
3‑0, and Michael Karamor took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Nairobi United tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.45, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad5 Oct 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 Nairobi United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 183% of the Nairobi United income
Every club 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 it has been tried.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Yusuf Mainge was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.08 — 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.
The dugout5 Oct 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.” Victor Chemelil, on a 3‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
Ernest Mohammed asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
14 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Prince Buregeya 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
Ulinzi Stars left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Nairobi United are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Frank Ouya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Njuguna, and the manager let it.
The dugout28 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Mustafa Kizza speaks, and the room listens
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Nairobi United was different afterwards.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Sep 2026
31 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Nairobi United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 14 in, 2 out at Nairobi United
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Nairobi United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yusuf Mainge 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Eric Gichimu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Nairobi United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Market7 Sep 2026
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Jonas Mailula arrives at Nairobi United with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Nairobi United, another week without a signature from Jonas Mailula.
Market7 Sep 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Herman Mwambegu may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.