35 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Mara Sugar has to find a result from somewhere.
The terraces20 Mar 2028
The mood at Mara Sugar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Mara Sugar can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Vincent Mulama 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.
Kelvin Mwavali 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Caleb Mukangula after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mara Sugar told Nehemiah Onchiri something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Bidco United left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Caleb Mukangula to a room that had heard them before.
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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Michael Isabwa has his answer from Mara Sugar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Mara Sugar will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
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 is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mara Sugar told Dennis Kweyu something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kabelo Mokoele did not need any: 7.73, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Mara Sugar asked and Shabana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
Dennis Kweyu 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.
“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 dugout17 Jan 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Junior Mpanza'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.
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Mara Sugar are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
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.
“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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Vincent Mulama was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Evans Omondi Ouma signs something — a contract at Mara Sugar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
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.
Alex Imbusia 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Junior Mpanza 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Junior Mpanza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Mara Sugar will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Evans Omondi Ouma signs something — a contract at Mara Sugar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The best deals are the ones the accountants never notice. Dennis Kweyu arrives at Mara Sugar with his wages the only cost and something to prove the only clause.
Alex Imbusia 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 dugout25 Oct 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Junior Mpanza'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.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Isabwa 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 has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Evans Omondi Ouma signs something — a contract at Mara Sugar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I watch every Mara Sugar game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Sofapaka runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Vincent Mulama signs something — a contract at Mara Sugar or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The mood at Mara Sugar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Ibrahim Ochieng has his answer from Mara Sugar; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
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.
27 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.
Position 18 on 8 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.
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Caleb Mukangula after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
Junior Mpanza 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Derrick Otieno is living that version at Mara Sugar, and it tends to show in the first month.
Evans Omondi Ouma 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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.
Transfer targets30 Aug 2027
$6.0K settles it between the clubs for Brian Olunga
AFC Leopards have accepted the money. What Mara Sugar do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Alex Imbusia 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.
Words at Mara Sugar training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Oliver Machaka 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager has not finished forgetting Junior Mpanza's mistake
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Mara Sugar have done the hard part with Nairobi United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Musa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout16 Aug 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Caleb Mukangula was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Mara Sugar dressing room was either.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mara Sugar, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Lulama Nxumalo
The mood at Mara Sugar has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 Mara Sugar, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 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.
Oliver Machaka scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑3 to Bandari, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad17 May 2027
Brian Musa 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Caleb Mukangula after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
In brief
The dugoutJunior Mpanza knocks on the manager's door
Player ratingsAineah Ndete beats them one at a time
23 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mara Sugar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mara Sugar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad29 Mar 2027
7 new faces, and Mara Sugar 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
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 1‑4 Caleb Mukangula left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
The dugoutJunior Mpanza knocks on the manager’s door
Looking aheadMara Sugar take on the side everybody is chasing
44 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mara Sugar lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 7 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Alex Imbusia 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.
51 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mara Sugar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mara Sugar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Mara Sugar this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brian Musa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mara Sugar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 59 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Mara Sugar can pretend not to have heard.
Alex Imbusia 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
87 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mara Sugar lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Mara Sugar will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The offer from Ulinzi Stars for Joseph Ogenda 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Leopards have kept their man, and Mara Sugar go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.