Marked for Mark Okola
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Jul 2028
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Shabana people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market3 Jul 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 Shabana can pretend not to have heard.
Market3 Jul 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shabana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Maxwell Mulili 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 Jul 2028
$180.0K was the most the club would pay and Muranga Seal were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
This is not rotation. Derrick Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jul 2028
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Mazembe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Jul 2028
100 games in these colours. Service of that kind gets rarer every season, and the crowd knows it.
Player ratings3 Jul 2028
Marked 7.69 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Shabana had the best player on the pitch.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Jun 2028
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and Mara Sugar spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Market5 Jun 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 Shabana can pretend not to have heard.
Market5 Jun 2028
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Shabana they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad5 Jun 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 Shabana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match3 Jun 2028
Whatever happens, Shabana do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The dugout5 Jun 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Mazembe 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
The phone has started ringing about Tholithemba Nyawose again, and this time the name on the line is Sofapaka. Shabana are listening politely and promising nothing.
Match3 Jun 2028
A 1‑0 win over Mara Sugar, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings8 May 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.16 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market8 May 2028
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Derrick Onyango will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shabana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad8 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Cliff Nyakeya and Shabana agree another 2 years.
Squad8 May 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 Shabana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout8 May 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
The terraces8 May 2028
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Onyango 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.
Match6 May 2028
Level with 90 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Shabana had all but put away. Bandari will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 May 2028
“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.
Market1 May 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shabana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. George Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Mazembe 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 Apr 2028
APS Bomet left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adraman Yahaya and Shabana agree another 1 years.
The dugout1 May 2028
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 Victor Ochieng left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Apr 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shabana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad10 Apr 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 Shabana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad10 Apr 2028
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Mazembe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to James Mazembe, and the manager let it.
Player ratings10 Apr 2028
The afternoon belonged to Erick Otieno
A mark of 7.64, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad10 Apr 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brian Magare and Shabana agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market13 Mar 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Shabana is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Maxwell Mulili 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 dugout13 Mar 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Mar 2028
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Mazembe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match11 Mar 2028
A bad afternoon for Shabana against Tusker
0‑1 to Tusker, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
“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 dugout13 Mar 2028
Ezekiah Omuri has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Shabana 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.
Looking ahead13 Mar 2028
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Erick Kipkirui’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Shabana needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Feb 2028
“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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Window shuts: 11 in, 2 out at Shabana
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 11 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
An order from above at Shabana: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Market7 Feb 2028
Mara Sugar come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Shabana did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Feb 2028
As if he never left: Maxwell Kubasu returns
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Maxwell Kubasu is a Shabana player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Words exchanged at Shabana
Maxwell Mulili 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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Graduation day at Shabana
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Feb 2028
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Mazembe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jan 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
$36.0K on the table at Posta Rangers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Gilbert Abala has come up in conversations Shabana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tusker have kept their man, and Shabana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Bryan Michira 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Biron Otieno'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
Market13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
A falling-out at Shabana
Maxwell Mulili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Dec 2027
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Biron Otieno'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.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
Erick Otieno 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 Erick Otieno trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market13 Dec 2027
The name of Bryan Michira keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shabana say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout13 Dec 2027
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.
Market13 Dec 2027
Shabana have let the market know Bryan Michira can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad8 Nov 2027
Words exchanged at Shabana
Maxwell Mulili 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.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad8 Nov 2027
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bryan Michira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market8 Nov 2027
A stepping stone, not a home, for Damian Overmeyer
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Shabana were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
Boardroom8 Nov 2027
Wages eat 89% of everything Shabana 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
Ezekiah Omuri named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Ezekiah Omuri is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout8 Nov 2027
David Odoyo 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.
Squad8 Nov 2027
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout8 Nov 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
Crisis
Match18 Oct 2027
The season ends: position 8 for Shabana
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 50 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market18 Oct 2027
Only the photograph left for Derrick Otieno
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Derrick Otieno will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shabana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match16 Oct 2027
No end in sight to Shabana's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shabana has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Shabana
Maxwell Mulili and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad18 Oct 2027
A move Erick Kipkirui would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Erick Kipkirui is living that version at Shabana, and it tends to show in the first month.
Match16 Oct 2027
0‑1 to Mara Sugar, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Onyango 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 dugout18 Oct 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
The dugout18 Oct 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
The dugout11 Oct 2027
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cliff Nyakeya was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A falling-out at Shabana
George Onyango and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Caleb Omondi, and the manager let it.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
Tholithemba Nyawose is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
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 Derrick Onyango is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Bryan Michira may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Match11 Oct 2027
Continental football is in reach for Shabana
50 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.
Market11 Oct 2027
The clock runs on David Simiyu's contract
12 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market13 Sep 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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Sep 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match11 Sep 2027
7 unbeaten for Shabana
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 7 matches without defeat is a foundation Shabana did not have in the autumn.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Biron Otieno and Shabana agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words exchanged at Shabana
Maxwell Mulili 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.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cliff Nyakeya 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.
Match11 Sep 2027
A 1‑0 win over Bandari, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Transfer targets13 Sep 2027
The window shuts on the Lewis Shivachi deal
Shabana ran out of time with Posta Rangers. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Jul 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market5 Jul 2027
“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.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“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.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Shabana have gone to Posta Rangers with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Shabana have gone to Posta Rangers with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Match3 Jul 2027
Kenya Police left with the points after a 1‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
Shabana 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Humphrey Obina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 1‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 May 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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match29 May 2027
No end in sight to Shabana's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Shabana has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 May 2027
Words exchanged at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri 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.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cliff Nyakeya 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 May 2027
KCB take the points off Shabana
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout31 May 2027
Kevin Munika gets it from the manager
“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 dugout31 May 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 Victor Ochieng to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.
Player ratings31 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 May 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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 May 2027
Only the photograph left for Keith Imbali
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Keith Imbali will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shabana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match22 May 2027
The wait goes on for Shabana
4 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.
Match22 May 2027
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Shabana and Mathare United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad24 May 2027
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 May 2027
2‑4 to Mathare United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings24 May 2027
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout24 May 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 2‑4 defeat, delivered by Victor Ochieng to a room that had heard them before.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Humphrey Obina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shabana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Onyango 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words exchanged at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Derrick Onyango
“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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Shabana will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Market26 Oct 2026
The Erick Otieno story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Erick Otieno signs something — a contract at Shabana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Mark Okola goes up and wins it — 7.61
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.61 for the rest of it.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for Shabana
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Shabana are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ezekiah Omuri is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad19 Oct 2026
George Onyango 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
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dalphine Omuri commits to Shabana for another 3 years.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Wycliffe Omondi, and the manager let it.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
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.” Victor Ochieng chose the glass-half-full version of 2‑2; the supporters left with the other one.