Marked for Exauce Misuri
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match18 Mar 2028
5‑1, and Exauce Misuri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Muranga Seal tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Squad20 Mar 2028
The match ball belongs to Exauce Misuri, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
No sign of nerves from Victor Mainge at 18 — 7.64
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Victor Mainge did not need any: 7.64, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Up for the corner, and Telvin Irungu delivers — 7.78
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Telvin Irungu scored, was marked 7.78, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match18 Mar 2028
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Muranga Seal and Bidco United in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Player ratings20 Mar 2028
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.58, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad20 Mar 2028
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 terraces20 Mar 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Exauce Misuri has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
A debut Caleb Njeru will not forget — 8.82
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 8.82 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match8 Mar 2028
A 2‑0 win over Mara Sugar, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Victor Mainge: that is not what I was promised
“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.
Player ratings13 Mar 2028
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Christopher Ochieng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces13 Mar 2028
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
The dugout13 Mar 2028
Job Ochieng gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad28 Feb 2028
Comfort Ngubo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match26 Feb 2028
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. KCB had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lucas Maina was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market28 Feb 2028
No place for Lucas Maina in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Lucas Maina has his answer from Muranga Seal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Match26 Feb 2028
A 1‑1 draw with KCB leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Duncan Olunga after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout28 Feb 2028
Ayanda Bophela has become a man the manager trusts
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market7 Feb 2028
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
Muranga Seal close the window on a squad of their own making
6 in and 4 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
Everything agreed with Gor Mahia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market7 Feb 2028
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Mustapha Oduor reports back to Muranga Seal with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Comfort Ngubo 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.
Transfer targets7 Feb 2028
The clock did what Nairobi United would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.
The dugout7 Feb 2028
The manager makes an example of Job Ochieng
“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.
Player ratings7 Feb 2028
Ayanda Bophela was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Match5 Feb 2028
Late, late show earns Muranga Seal a point
Minute 97, against Bandari, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad22 Nov 2027
Victor Haki breaks a bone — 17 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market22 Nov 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.
Squad22 Nov 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 Muranga Seal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Daniel Mjengu 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 dugout22 Nov 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Christopher Ochieng, and the manager let it.
Squad22 Nov 2027
No place for Exauce Misuri in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Muranga Seal are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The dugout22 Nov 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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
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.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Robert Mudenyu knocks on the manager's door
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Nov 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Alvin Mangeni
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kenya Police lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market1 Nov 2027
“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 Kenya Police, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market1 Nov 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kenya Police is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Khadime N'Diaye 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 Nov 2027
Awesu Awesu 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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Joash Onyango has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kenya Police 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 Nov 2027
The manager makes an example of Robert Mboya
“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 dugout1 Nov 2027
Geordy Ndecket 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 Geordy Ndecket trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market1 Nov 2027
The name of Yves Koutiama keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Kenya Police say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The dugout4 Oct 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kenya Police may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market4 Oct 2027
Alvin Mangeni 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 Kenya Police can pretend not to have heard.
Market4 Oct 2027
Exauce Misuri has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kenya Police they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Marvin Nabwire in trouble away from the ground
Every paper's favourite story and every manager's least. What happened is being dealt with internally, which is the phrase clubs use when they would rather nobody asked again.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Samuel Ayanrinde 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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Kenya Police have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Training ground row involving Marvin Nabwire
Tempers went at Kenya Police this week. Nothing a hard session and a quiet word cannot repair, though the story got out all the same.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
The manager makes an example of David Owino
“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 dugout4 Oct 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.59, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market6 Sep 2027
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Mara Sugar moved on, Khadime N'Diaye reports back to Kenya Police, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Market6 Sep 2027
“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 Kenya Police, and it is not being withdrawn.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Kenya Police close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 17 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Market6 Sep 2027
Exauce Misuri has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kenya Police they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Transfer targets6 Sep 2027
Everything agreed with another club, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market6 Sep 2027
He left as a boy and has come back still knowing where the away end is. Most signings have to be explained to a town; this one needed a photograph and nothing else.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Khadime N'Diaye 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Baraka Badi beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Aug 2027
30 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kenya Police lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
Market9 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Exauce Misuri
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Exauce Misuri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kenya Police the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Aug 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Joash Onyango and Kenya Police agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Match7 Aug 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad9 Aug 2027
Awesu Awesu 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.
Match7 Aug 2027
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 6 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
Alvin Mangeni was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.58. 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.
Player ratings9 Aug 2027
A performance of 8.07 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Jul 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Yves Koutiama
52 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kenya Police lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market19 Jul 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.
Match17 Jul 2027
4 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kenya Police may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
The offer went to Kakamega Homeboyz 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Yusuf Mainge 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market12 Jul 2027
“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 Kenya Police, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Kenya Police may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market12 Jul 2027
Only the photograph left for Exauce Misuri
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Exauce Misuri will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kenya Police the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Match10 Jul 2027
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Kenya Police have 3 straight wins of it.
Boardroom12 Jul 2027
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market12 Jul 2027
Job Ochieng has left for Muranga Seal in a $100.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Yusuf Mainge 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.
Match10 Jul 2027
Three points for Kenya Police, 2‑0 the final word against Mara Sugar in a contest settled by the finer margins.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Jul 2027
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Muranga Seal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Two goals and a mark of 9.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings12 Jul 2027
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
Market12 Jul 2027
The chase for Job Ochieng ended with $100.0K changing hands and Kenya Police out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Christopher Ochieng and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Muranga Seal asked and Bandari said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match10 Jul 2027
A 3‑2 win over Kariobangi Sharks, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces12 Jul 2027
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Job Ochieng from Kenya Police for $100.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mohammed Kilume damages knee ligaments — 41 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 41 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Kevin Simiyu 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 dugout2 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Exauce Misuri, and the manager let it.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
101% of the income goes out in wages at Mathare United
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.
Market2 Nov 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Mathare United, another week without a signature from Elvis Kipkirui.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Oct 2026
48 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mathare United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Exauce Misuri: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Mathare United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kevin Simiyu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kevin Simiyu, and the manager let it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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 Douglas Mokaya is on it.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Sammy Imbuye knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Mathare United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Oct 2026
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kenya Police is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Samuel Ayanrinde and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Kenya Police training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erick Zakayo 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
David Owino has been promised minutes
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and David Owino has written the date down.
Market19 Oct 2026
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Hernest Malonga’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Oct 2026
26 days out for Clinton Okinyi after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Kenya Police will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Khadime N'Diaye 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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages swallow 386% of the Kenya Police income
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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Ayanrinde was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Khadime N'Diaye
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Khadime N'Diaye has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kenya Police have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Market5 Oct 2026
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Khadime N'Diaye may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kenya Police, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market5 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Alvin Mangeni signs something — a contract at Kenya Police or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad21 Sep 2026
Mohammed Kilume damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad21 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Cleo Ssetuba
There were 7 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.
Match19 Sep 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Mathare United are no longer polite ones.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
One scored and one made, which is a different afternoon from scoring twice and an easier one to overlook. Marked 7.96, and involved in 2 of his side's goals.
Match19 Sep 2026
2‑3 to AFC Leopards, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Victor Omune and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.11, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Mohammed Kilume
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Mathare United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market14 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Donald Ange Paterne will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Mathare United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Market14 Sep 2026
So close: Robert Mboya’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bandari moved on, Robert Mboya reports back to Mathare United, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Match12 Sep 2026
Musa Masika scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to Shabana, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Cleo Ssetuba
“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.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.09 — 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Mathare United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kevin Simiyu 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” George Kahata commits to Mathare United for another 3 years.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 2‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 Sep 2026
98 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Mathare United lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Tusker, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market7 Sep 2026
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bandari waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Mathare United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 18 in, 0 out at Mathare United
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 18 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Kevin Simiyu 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.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑3, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
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
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.69, and nobody on the pitch better.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
No thanks: Erick Balecho rejects the move
Mathare United had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bandari, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Match8 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Musa Masika. 2‑1 against Kenya Police, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kenneth Mukangula 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
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Eric 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.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Michael Mukangula 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.
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
In brief
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Squad
Victor Omune in a row with a teammate
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Transfer targets
A loan move for Exauce Misuri is in the works
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict