Marked for Keith Imbali
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Feb 2027
Dalphine Omuri damages knee ligaments — 17 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 17 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market8 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shabana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Shabana may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 25. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market8 Feb 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A falling-out at Shabana
Bryton Onyona and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
A move Uzoigwe Odinaka 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. Uzoigwe Odinaka is living that version at Shabana, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
1 academy players handed senior numbers at Shabana
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Market8 Feb 2027
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kevin Masika has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Dalphine Omuri damages knee ligaments — 24 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 24 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market1 Feb 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shabana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
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.
Market1 Feb 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Shabana
Bryton Onyona 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Davis Morwaswi and Shabana agree another 4 years.
Squad1 Feb 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.
Market1 Feb 2027
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad25 Jan 2027
36 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Shabana lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market25 Jan 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Shabana have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Market25 Jan 2027
APS Bomet 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.
Boardroom25 Jan 2027
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Derrick Otieno has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Dalphine Omuri is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad25 Jan 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Market25 Jan 2027
Mathare United are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Shabana will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad18 Jan 2027
Wycliffe Omondi damages knee ligaments — 43 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 43 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market18 Jan 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kakamega Homeboyz waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market18 Jan 2027
Only the photograph left for David Odoyo
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. David Odoyo will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shabana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad18 Jan 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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about Keith Imbali again, and this time the name on the line is Sofapaka. Shabana are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad18 Jan 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.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
“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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The name of Biron Otieno keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Shabana say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout18 Jan 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad14 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Abisalom Onyango out for 40 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shabana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad14 Dec 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.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Keith Imbali, and the manager let it.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Humphrey Obina 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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 Austine Odongo is on it.
Market14 Dec 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Cliff Nyakeya signs something — a contract at Shabana or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad7 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kevin Munika and Shabana agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad7 Dec 2026
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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
A falling-out at Shabana
Dalphine Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Gilbert Abala, and the manager let it.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
Derrick Otieno 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.
Market7 Dec 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Biron Otieno’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
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 Humphrey Obina is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Abisalom Onyango out for 84 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Shabana will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad2 Nov 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.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Wages swallow 102% of the Shabana income
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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Keith Imbali 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.
Squad2 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 93 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Wycliffe Omondi: that is not what I was promised
“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
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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Dalphine Omuri 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“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.
Market26 Oct 2026
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Shabana know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Shabana close the window on a squad of their own making
10 in and 5 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Cliff Nyakeya 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 dugout7 Sep 2026
Keith Imbali 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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
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 Justine Nyangwara is on it.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
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.
Market7 Sep 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
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.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Collins Odhiambo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ibrahim Owusu has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Brian Chemelil is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. David Kibwage has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.