Marked for Peter Wafula
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market4 Dec 2028
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.
The dugout4 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. David Odoyo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad4 Dec 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Cliff Nyakeya commits to Shabana for another 2 years.
Squad4 Dec 2028
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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Mazembe 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.
Squad4 Dec 2028
The decline has begun for Peter Wafula
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 36 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Shabana is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match11 Sep 2028
Shabana are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 49 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market11 Sep 2028
Gilbert Abala has one foot out of the door
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.
The dugout11 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. David Odoyo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Sep 2028
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.
Squad11 Sep 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Wasi Ngala and Shabana agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Shabana
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erick Otieno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Shabana will try again when the window opens; Kenya Police may not be selling by then.
Looking ahead11 Sep 2028
Top-of-the-table clash for Shabana
Gor Mahia next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Time is catching up with Peter Wafula
Everybody at Shabana saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 36 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout7 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. Cliff Nyakeya has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Shabana had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Kenya Police, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Transfer targets7 Aug 2028
Shabana have gone to Posta Rangers with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Ezekiah 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
Match5 Aug 2028
0‑1 to Kakamega Homeboyz, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
“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 Aug 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Peter Wafula and Shabana agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Victor Ochieng to a room that had heard them before.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Posta Rangers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Ezekiah 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.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Jun 2028
James Mazembe 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.
Match10 Jun 2028
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Jun 2028
The manager makes an example of Erick Otieno
“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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 34 days on the sidelines for Timothy Okoth, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad12 Jun 2028
The medical room confirms 48 days on the sidelines for Duncan Kipkirui, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout1 May 2028
“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.
Market1 May 2028
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.
The dugout1 May 2028
This is not rotation. George Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 May 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Mazembe 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.
Match29 Apr 2028
APS Bomet left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad1 May 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Adraman Yahaya and Shabana agree another 1 years.
The dugout1 May 2028
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 0‑1 Victor Ochieng left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings1 May 2028
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Apr 2028
3‑0, and Erick Otieno took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Shabana tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
A brace, and Erick Otieno takes the afternoon — 8.75
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Erick Otieno provided it, and the 8.75 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market3 Apr 2028
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.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
This is not rotation. George Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Match1 Apr 2028
The run at home goes on for Shabana
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad3 Apr 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Shabana training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Mazembe 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 terraces3 Apr 2028
At 21 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
At 35, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Feb 2028
Only the photograph left for Gilbert Abala
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Gilbert Abala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Shabana the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad28 Feb 2028
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 dugout28 Feb 2028
This is not rotation. Derrick Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad28 Feb 2028
James Mazembe 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.
Match26 Feb 2028
Kenya Police left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Shabana are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Victor Ochieng to a room that had heard them before.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Shabana are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jan 2028
“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.
Market10 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
$36.0K on the table at Posta Rangers. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Mark Okola has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Market10 Jan 2028
The name of Gilbert Abala has come up in conversations Shabana were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets10 Jan 2028
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tusker have kept their man, and Shabana go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Bryan Michira 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 dugout10 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Biron Otieno's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market3 Jan 2028
“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 Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Jan 2028
A falling-out at Shabana
Ezekiah Omuri and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
This is not rotation. Derrick Onyango has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Shabana is pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Jan 2028
Kevin Munika 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.
Squad3 Jan 2028
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Shabana can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad3 Jan 2028
5 new faces, and Shabana are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The dugout3 Jan 2028
David Odoyo knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Market3 Jan 2028
At 36, he has seen every situation this season can produce, twice. The legs will be managed; the head is the purchase.