“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Muranga Seal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Ethen Sampson 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mudenyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout17 Sep 2029
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 1‑2 Francis Ochieng left the room before anybody could ask which.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Evans Kipkemoi reports back to Muranga Seal with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Posta Rangers left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings10 Sep 2029
Tumiso Mogakwe was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mudenyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Muranga Seal pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
That is the business done at Muranga Seal 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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Muranga Seal will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
10 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Muranga Seal have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Two goals and a mark of 9.24 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“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 Muranga Seal, and it is not being withdrawn.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.36, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad27 Aug 2029
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Mudenyu 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bidco United waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Muranga Seal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Fredrick Alushula and Muranga Seal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad6 Aug 2029
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Mudenyu 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is doing his job and he is not settling. Muranga Seal were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.
He is 20, and nobody at Muranga Seal signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
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.
The offer from APS Bomet for Jonas Mailula was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Bidco United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Ethen Sampson 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 Dennis Munyovi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Add another name to the list: APS Bomet have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Jonas Mailula. The answer from Muranga Seal has not changed — yet.
Muranga Seal asked and Kakamega Homeboyz said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mudenyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout16 Jul 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Wilson Mwangi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Francis Ochieng after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutCalvin Odongo knocks on the manager’s door
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Muranga Seal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
It finished 3‑2, and it was Elly Saenyi’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Muranga Seal.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
Gilbert Abala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Fredrick Alushula 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. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Christopher Ochieng and Muranga Seal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Muranga Seal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Marked 10.00 — 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Munyovi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Half the programme played, position 6, 25 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Muranga Seal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad21 May 2029
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dennis Munyovi 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 board was up, the win was priced in, and then Sofapaka scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
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.
Successful dribbles: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout21 May 2029
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.” Francis Ochieng chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Nobody at Muranga Seal is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
APS Bomet next, and one man in the Muranga Seal dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Robert Mudenyu and Muranga Seal agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Munyovi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Kaden Scott and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Somebody else is better right now than Wilson Mwangi
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Ochieng signs something — a contract at Muranga Seal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Ethen Sampson 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mudenyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Muranga Seal told Wilson Mwangi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
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.
Nairobi United next, and one man in the Muranga Seal dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Muranga Seal will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Muranga Seal will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
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.
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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
5 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.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Francis Ochieng, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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 Joseph Waithira is on it.
Kaden Scott 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Muranga Seal know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Muranga Seal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Muranga Seal had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Christopher Ochieng 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 Jan 2029
Ethen Sampson 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.
Nobody at Muranga Seal 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dennis Munyovi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gilbert Abala has his answer from Muranga Seal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“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 Muranga Seal, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
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.
“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 Muranga Seal, and it is not being withdrawn.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ethen Sampson was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Tumiso Mogakwe. 2‑1 against Shabana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.19 — 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.
Antony Naibei 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 dugout19 Jun 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Brian Chemelil, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Robert Mudenyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom12 Jun 2028
92% of the income goes out in wages at Muranga Seal
Every club in football 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 somebody has tried it.
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 Joseph Waithira is on it.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Muranga Seal scored in the 122th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Tumiso Mogakwe and Muranga Seal agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Christopher Ochieng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ethen Sampson 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.
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.
“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 Muranga Seal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Christopher Ochieng 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.
Marked 7.98. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Brian Chemelil, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
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 Frank Ouya is on it.
In brief
Looking aheadThe leaders are next for Muranga Seal
“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 Muranga Seal, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Muranga Seal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 7.62 for the rest of it.
Words at Muranga Seal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Robert Mudenyu 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Muranga Seal can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mathare United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Dennis Munyovi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dennis Munyovi, and the manager let it.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
Nobody left the Muranga Seal 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 dugout14 Feb 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 0‑3 Brian Chemelil left the room before anybody could ask which.