Marked for Brian Omondi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad11 Oct 2027
Eric Omondi 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 AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Humphrey Katasi 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 dugout11 Oct 2027
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 Kennedy Odhiambo is on it.
Market11 Oct 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Ssenyonjo signs something — a contract at AFC Leopards or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad11 Oct 2027
A window away with the national side, and a shirt at AFC Leopards that briefly doubles as an advertisement. A call-up flatters the player and the club that built him in the same breath.
Market11 Oct 2027
24 months and counting on Brian Omondi
Still no offer on the table, and Brian Omondi’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.
The dugout11 Oct 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at AFC Leopards, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market11 Oct 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Peter Maker may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Squad11 Oct 2027
Vincent Mahiga is not doing himself any favours
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Sep 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 AFC Leopards can pretend not to have heard.
Match27 Sep 2027
Full time on the season at AFC Leopards
Position 1 on 71 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
At 33 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.06, and nobody on the pitch better.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Brian Omondi ran the middle of the pitch — 7.52
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 16 combined actions and a mark of 7.52, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Eric Omondi 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.
Player ratings27 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 20. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Humphrey Katasi 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.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
The manager makes an example of Tyson Otieno
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The dugout
Boniface Munyendo has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Prince Buregeya out for 88 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nairobi United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match19 Aug 2026
A 2‑1 win over Gor Mahia, and the draw for the next round can be watched with some interest for once.
Market24 Aug 2026
Michael Jairo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Nairobi United can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Roy Okal delivers — 7.71
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Roy Okal scored, was marked 7.71, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer from Mathare United for Brian Omondi 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.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to AFC Leopards this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$81.0K was the most the club would pay and Kenya Police were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market24 Aug 2026
AFC Leopards pay $37.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
A fracture rules Prince Buregeya out for 95 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Nairobi United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match12 Aug 2026
APS Bomet are out and Nairobi United go through, 3‑1 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Two goals and a mark of 9.17 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market17 Aug 2026
The offer from AFC Leopards for Kevin Otiende 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.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kenya Police is saying, and nobody at Nairobi United is enjoying the guessing.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
Nairobi United asked and AFC Leopards said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 8.69 — 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.