Marked for James Omusinde
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 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. Bandari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market15 Feb 2027
“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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bandari this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market15 Feb 2027
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Ibrahim Kipkirui is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market15 Feb 2027
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brian Mulee 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager makes an example of Izzadin Juma
“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.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Martin Masika was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Bandari dressing room was either.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at Bandari 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at Bandari
Amza Moubarack 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
Words at Bandari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Abdallah 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
The phone has started ringing about James Omusinde again, and this time the name on the line is Mathare United. Bandari are listening politely and promising nothing.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Brian Otieno Odera 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.
The dugout1 Feb 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 Bonface Mwangemi is on it.
Squad1 Feb 2027
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Bandari has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 Feb 2027
“I will play as long as the body lets me and stop the day it does not.” He is 35, with 59 appearances behind him, and the club has to plan for a decision that is not yet made.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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. Bandari have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market25 Jan 2027
Binga come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Bandari did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Amza Moubarack 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.
Market25 Jan 2027
The phone has started ringing about William Wadri again, and this time the name on the line is US Bougouba. Bandari are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Bandari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bertrand Konfor Ngafei was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout25 Jan 2027
The manager makes an example of Geoffrey Ojunga
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
The deal with Gor Mahia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A falling-out at Bandari
Amza Moubarack and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A row about effort at Bandari
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Hassan Abdallah was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market11 Jan 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bandari have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Everybody at Bandari saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Posta Rangers are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Bandari will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match19 Aug 2026
Bandari out of the cup
Kenya Police ended it 1‑1. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Alain Ngeleka decides it from twelve yards
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: University of Pretoria keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A falling-out at Bandari
Amza Moubarack and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Bandari training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hassan Abdallah 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.
Match22 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Amza Moubarack. 2‑1 against Mathare United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
From twelve yards, and Alfred Emoni misses
A penalty is the one moment in football with nowhere to hide, and he did not score it. The walk back was long and the week will be longer.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.93 on the card, and the Bandari support went home talking about one name.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
141 days out for Douglas Mokaya after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mathare United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Match19 Aug 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Douglas Mokaya decided otherwise. Ulinzi Stars had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
A brace, and Musa Masika takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Musa Masika provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.22, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad24 Aug 2026
A one-man rearguard from Kevin Ouru
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mathare United have done the hard part with Bandari, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and Mathare United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑2 to Bandari, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market10 Aug 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Shabana waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mathare United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Mathare United — 7.91
1 for Brian Ndenga, marked 7.91, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Victor Omune commits to Mathare United for another 2 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Victor Omune 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 Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Francis Kipkirui 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
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kenneth Kagere 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. Kenneth Karisa 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.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Brian Ndenga. 1‑0 against APS Bomet, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Bandari have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.