6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KCB can tell you which week it ends in.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Markus Schmitt after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Vella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Tyron Kariuki.
9 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.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
5 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at KCB can tell you which week it ends in.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Patrick Otieno.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Stephen Etyang was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsBryson Jerome beats them one at a time
The dugoutLefa Hlongwane loses the manager who believed in him
5 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.
Eric Omondi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Nashon Alembi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A point taken on 88 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Andreas Vella 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.
The dugout4 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Markus Schmitt was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the KCB dressing room was either.
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.99 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Stephen Etyang. 2‑1 against Bandari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad7 May 2029
Nashon Alembi 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kenneth Wambua has come out of that comparison in the side, and KCB have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Markus Schmitt could afford to be generous.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Gor Mahia.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Vella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
In brief
The dugoutTyron Kariuki asks for a word with the manager
7 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon KCB had all but put away. Kakamega Homeboyz will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Andreas Vella was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
6 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KCB can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nashon Alembi 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Jesse Mukangula has come out of that comparison in the side, and KCB have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KCB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
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.
Eric Omondi 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.
Marked 8.18 — 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.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
In brief
SquadWords at KCB training over how hard people work
Boardroom90% of the income goes out in wages at KCB
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KCB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between KCB and Kariobangi Sharks, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Kenneth Mukangula has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KCB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Eric Omondi 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 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Michael Kibwage 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.
In brief
The dugoutFrancis Kahiro has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutThe manager's exit leaves Bryson Jerome exposed
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 7.94 for the rest of it.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
43 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KCB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KCB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Kenya Police scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
4 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
65 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KCB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KCB can pretend not to have heard.
Gideon Werre 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 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.
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.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
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.” Kenneth Mukangula chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at KCB 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
80 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KCB lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 7.67, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Clyde Senaji was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
88 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. KCB lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Josphat Andafu Mukhwana will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around KCB the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Nashon Alembi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Clyde Senaji 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 are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KCB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around KCB they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Nashon Alembi 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Stephen Etyang 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.
A mark of 7.49, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
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.” Kenneth Mukangula chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.