“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AFC Leopards can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Ojok Nyogesa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AFC Leopards 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 AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaycie Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ashanti Gold 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.
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.
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Humphrey Katasi had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AFC Leopards can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bandari next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
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.
Signed today, seen by nobody for years, and one of them may one day be the reason the club exists. That is the whole of the argument for an academy, and it is a good one.
The words a physio says slowly. 41 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.87 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 AFC Leopards, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
This is not rotation. James Kinyanjui has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise.
Squad29 May 2028
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaycie Odhiambo 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.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 100% of everything AFC Leopards earn
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A mark of 7.62, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebo Mohlala 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Ojok Nyogesa will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AFC Leopards the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Two goals and a mark of 8.68 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
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.
Marked 8.47 — 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 dugout24 Apr 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” John Manyama kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason AFC Leopards will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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, terms agreed, medical booked. Levis Esambe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AFC Leopards the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 76 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ulinzi Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaycie Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at AFC Leopards 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.
In brief
The dugoutHassan Beja knocks on the manager’s door
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Levis Esambe will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around AFC Leopards the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. AFC Leopards will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Samuel Ssenyonjo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fidel Origa signs something — a contract at AFC Leopards or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Vincent Ogolla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kakamega Homeboyz the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Add another name to the list: Sofapaka have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Ibrahim Wanzala. The answer from Kakamega Homeboyz has not changed — yet.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amos Kahata on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebo Mohlala 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 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 offer from Sofapaka for Vincent Ogolla 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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amos Kahata on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Lebo Mohlala 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Peter Thiong'o trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Glen Masava
The dugoutJoshua Nyatini has become a man the manager trusts
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Sofapaka had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Portipher Odhiambo 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.
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.
The dugout26 Jul 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 Amos Kahata to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebo Mohlala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mara Sugar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amos Kahata on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Sofapaka will make the call about Vincent Ogolla this week. Kakamega Homeboyz have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Lebo Mohlala 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.
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 Peter Thiong'o is on it.
Portipher Odhiambo 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.
Player ratings5 Jul 2027
Joshua Nyatini was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.36. 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.
None of them will be seen by anybody outside the training ground for three years, most of them will never play a senior match, and one of them might change the club. That is the whole proposition, and it is why academies exist.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑1, Amos Kahata could afford to be generous.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebo Mohlala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“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 APS Bomet waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Josephat Lopaga was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. 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.
Mark Shaban 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.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mara Sugar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Marked 6.87 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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.
The dugout21 Jun 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Amos Kahata left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
SquadBrian Wekesa falls out with a teammate over standards
The dugoutBrian Opondo knocks on the manager's door
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.
“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.
Everything agreed with Gor Mahia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Lebo Mohlala 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 dugout14 Jun 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Farouk Musisi'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.
In brief
The dugoutBrian Opondo asks for a word with the manager
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kakamega Homeboyz people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kakamega Homeboyz have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Portipher Odhiambo 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.
21 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.
The dugout7 Jun 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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Amos Kahata to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Boniface Onyango is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“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.
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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Amos Kahata on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadLebo Mohlala falls out with a teammate over standards
38 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kakamega Homeboyz lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
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 dugout19 Apr 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Amos Kahata chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Lebo Mohlala 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.
61 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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kakamega Homeboyz is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebo Mohlala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Boniface Omondi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Kakamega Homeboyz needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Kakamega Homeboyz know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
68 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.
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.
“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.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Amos Kahata left the room before anybody could ask which.
Mark Shaban and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Lebo Mohlala 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 team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 141 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.
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.
Denis Iguma 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.
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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Marko Veselinović trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Derrick Otanga signs something — a contract at Kakamega Homeboyz or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. John Omondi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Kakamega Homeboyz will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Denis Iguma 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.
“I did not go to Bidco United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Kakamega Homeboyz and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
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 Estone Esiye is on it.
Nobody sells a season ticket on a signing like this. Every manager who has been through a bad October wants one anyway, and Kakamega Homeboyz have gone and got theirs early.
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.