Marked for Eric Gichimu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match27 Feb 2027
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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Cailin Knock 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Kakai 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 dugout1 Mar 2027
The manager makes an example of Cailin Knock
“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.
Market1 Mar 2027
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bidco United, another week without a signature from Marko Veselinović.
Match27 Feb 2027
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Simon Munala slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Simon Munala is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad1 Mar 2027
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
A move Sandile Ndlovu 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. Sandile Ndlovu is living that version at Bidco United, and it tends to show in the first month.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 6 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Bidco United 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 shirt still fits. Sandile Ndlovu is back at Bidco United, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Sifiso Molefe and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sandile Ndlovu commits to Bidco United for another 3 years.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Keith Imbali has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Bidco United have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ngcebo Nala 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
Simon Munala has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bidco United 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 dugout1 Feb 2027
John Otieno asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Kakai 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
Eric Gichimu knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Eric Gichimu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match26 Sep 2026
3 matches without a goal for Bidco United
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Munala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” James Onyango after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eric Gichimu, and the manager let it.
Match26 Sep 2026
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sofapaka defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A defender's afternoon for Brian Okeyo
Defensive actions: 10. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 9. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.