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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bidco United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Kakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bidco United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bidco United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Kakai 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 109 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and George Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Michael Bodo 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.
Nobody at Bidco United 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kamogelo Malefo signs something — a contract at Bidco United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutJohn Kelwishi asks for a word with the manager
SquadThe training reports on Daniel Kakai are not good
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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 Bidco United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kamogelo Malefo and Bidco United agree another 4 years.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George 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.
Bidco United ran out of time with APS Bomet. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 68 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George 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.
Michael Bodo 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to John Kelwishi, and the manager let it.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Amos Kagere was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Bidco United dressing room was either.
20 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
George 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.
At 22 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.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and KCB were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Everything agreed with Posta Rangers, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Daniel Kakai 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 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kenya Police have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bidco United have made the call to Gor Mahia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Bidco United have made the call to Gor Mahia. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Pheko Phago and Bidco United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Daniel Kakai 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.
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.
In brief
SquadQuestions about Meshack Karani on the training pitch
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.
Michael Bodo 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 Bidco United 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and George Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Monwabisi Mwondla 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.
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 Kevin Ouma is on it.
George 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bidco United are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
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.
In brief
The dugoutMichael Bodo has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutDavid Obasanjo asks for a word with the manager