Marked for Jacob Onyango
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
Thabang Molefe 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. Thabang Molefe has, at Mathare United, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Victor Omune and Mathare United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Victor Omune 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 dugout9 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of Sammy Imbuye
“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 dugout9 Nov 2026
Bernard Jairo 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 Bernard Jairo is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
0‑4 against KCB, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Elvis Ronack out for 44 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Mathare United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Mathare United's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mathare United has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Victor Omune 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 Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. 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.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑4, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Jacob Onyango 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Beaten 4 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
A 0‑3 beating by Bandari was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Elvis Ronack breaks a bone — 89 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 89 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Aug 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mathare United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Victor Omune 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.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Mathare United dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
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 0‑3 Timothy Kipkirui left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jacob Onyango was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. 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.
Market17 Aug 2026
No place for Robert Mboya in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Robert Mboya has his answer from Mathare United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.