Marked for Ebrima Jatta
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market28 Jan 2030
“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.
Market28 Jan 2030
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad28 Jan 2030
The medical room confirms 90 days on the sidelines for Titus Achesa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad28 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market28 Jan 2030
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Clifton Miheso’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Squad28 Jan 2030
Ebrima Jatta 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 Ebrima Jatta trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market31 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad31 Dec 2029
The medical room confirms 120 days on the sidelines for Titus Achesa, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Squad31 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad31 Dec 2029
“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.
Market31 Dec 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Clifton Miheso’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Market31 Dec 2029
Sofapaka have let the market know Jamal Abubakar can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market24 Dec 2029
Fidel Origa 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom24 Dec 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Market24 Dec 2029
Harun Mainge has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sofapaka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad24 Dec 2029
Clifton Miheso 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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“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.
Squad24 Dec 2029
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Sofapaka, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market17 Dec 2029
Godwin John 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market17 Dec 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Sofapaka know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom3 Dec 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dennis Wanyama has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Dec 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad3 Dec 2029
149 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad3 Dec 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Titus Achesa commits to Sofapaka for another 2 years.
Squad3 Dec 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad3 Dec 2029
Fidel Origa 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 Fidel Origa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Nov 2029
Victor Augo 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom26 Nov 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Market26 Nov 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sofapaka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Nov 2029
Clifton Miheso 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.
Squad26 Nov 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Jesse Rupia and Sofapaka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market26 Nov 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Duncan Otieno’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom5 Nov 2029
Dennis Wanyama has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Sofapaka can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Market5 Nov 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad5 Nov 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Nov 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sadiq Saleh commits to Sofapaka for another 3 years.
Loan watch5 Nov 2029
“I did not go to Ulinzi Stars to sit and watch. I want to come back to Sofapaka and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 41 matches say the rest.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Sofapaka will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom8 Oct 2029
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.
Market8 Oct 2029
“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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bourama Boiré and Sofapaka agree another 4 years.
Squad8 Oct 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Loan watch8 Oct 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sofapaka, and 4 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Market8 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Clifton Miheso’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Oct 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Market1 Oct 2029
Harun Mainge has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Sofapaka they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad1 Oct 2029
Clifton Miheso 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.
Boardroom1 Oct 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Squad1 Oct 2029
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Sofapaka would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
Market1 Oct 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Duncan Otieno’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Dennis Wanyama has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Market3 Sep 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings3 Sep 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market3 Sep 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Sofapaka is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Clifton Miheso 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 ratings3 Sep 2029
A defender's afternoon for Ebrima Jatta
Defensive actions: 22. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Squad3 Sep 2029
Fidel Origa 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.
Squad3 Sep 2029
8 goals and a season average of 7.30. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jun 2029
“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.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match16 Jun 2029
4 matches without a win for Sofapaka
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Sofapaka are no longer polite ones.
Squad18 Jun 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Titus Achesa 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.
Match16 Jun 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jun 2029
7 goals and a season average of 7.22 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad18 Jun 2029
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. Victor Augo knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
Loan watch18 Jun 2029
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Sofapaka, and 0 appearances in 21 say he has earned the hearing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market2 Apr 2029
“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.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
The scrutiny sharpens at Sofapaka
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Sofapaka is running low.
Market2 Apr 2029
Only the photograph left for Harun Mainge
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Harun Mainge will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sofapaka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad2 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Apr 2029
The manager makes an example of Fidel Origa
“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 ratings2 Apr 2029
Marked 8.56 — 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.
Player ratings2 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom2 Apr 2029
Wages eat 95% of everything Sofapaka earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Match31 Mar 2029
It needed Bourama Boiré to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Bandari, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match24 Feb 2029
No end in sight to Sofapaka's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sofapaka has to find a result from somewhere.
Market26 Feb 2029
Fidel Origa 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 Sofapaka can pretend not to have heard.
Squad26 Feb 2029
Clifton Miheso 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.
Squad26 Feb 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to David Nshimirimana, and the manager let it.
Match24 Feb 2029
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Loan watch26 Feb 2029
“I watch every Sofapaka game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Ulinzi Stars runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings26 Feb 2029
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market26 Feb 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Clifton Miheso signs something — a contract at Sofapaka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sofapaka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market1 Jan 2029
“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 Sofapaka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Clifton Miheso 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 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Fidel Origa, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
The captaincy has been taken off Duncan Otieno. Sofapaka will call it a decision about the team; a dressing room reads it as a verdict on a man.
Market1 Jan 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Clifton Miheso signs something — a contract at Sofapaka or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 27. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market4 Sep 2028
“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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
Defensive actions: 25, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Clifton Miheso 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.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Getting past Victor Augo has become the hardest job in the division
14 clean sheets and counting. Forwards used to back themselves here; now they shoot early, shoot wide, and look for somebody to blame.
Squad4 Sep 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.
Match2 Sep 2028
A 1‑0 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.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
A performance of 8.09 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.