Marked for Bryan Michira
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Shabana have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Ricardo Williams 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.
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
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.
The dugout26 Oct 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.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Bryan Michira 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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
Ricardo Williams 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Everybody at Shabana saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 33 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.
Match17 Oct 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Amos Ochieng after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Market19 Oct 2026
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Keith Imbali has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Shabana.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Gilbert Abala
“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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Bookings catch up with Mark Okola
One yellow too many, and a match watched from the stand. The most avoidable absence in football, and Shabana will feel it on Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Sep 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.
Squad21 Sep 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 Shabana this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Gor Mahia left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
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 dugout21 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Otieno, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead21 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mathare United in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Shabana, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
Bronson Nsubuga 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 7 gone
That is the business done at Shabana until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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 dugout7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bryan Michira, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and James Mazembe has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Humphrey Obina 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 Sep 2026
Ezekiah Omuri 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Justine Nyangwara 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 dugout7 Sep 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.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
Kevin Munika 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 Munika trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Aug 2026
The cup run ends for Shabana
0‑1 against Gor Mahia, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Market31 Aug 2026
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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words exchanged at Shabana
George Onyango 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Biron Otieno, and the manager let it.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Bryan Michira ran the middle of the pitch — 6.87
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.87, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad31 Aug 2026
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.
Match29 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.