Marked for Adrian Oloo
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
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.
Match29 Jun 2030
5 matches without a win for Sofapaka
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Sofapaka are no longer polite ones.
Squad1 Jul 2030
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.
Match29 Jun 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Boardroom1 Jul 2030
Wages eat 94% 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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“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.
The terraces1 Jul 2030
Everybody has an opinion about Eugene Wethuli
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Player ratings1 Jul 2030
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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Jun 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad17 Jun 2030
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 ratings17 Jun 2030
A performance of 8.34 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Loan watch17 Jun 2030
“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 1 appearances in 1 say he has earned the hearing.
Match15 Jun 2030
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad17 Jun 2030
Caleb Rupia 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.
Market17 Jun 2030
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.
Player ratings17 Jun 2030
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Sofapaka had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom10 Jun 2030
The numbers do not look good at Sofapaka
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad10 Jun 2030
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad10 Jun 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.
Match8 Jun 2030
Tusker left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad10 Jun 2030
The manager makes an example of Titus Achesa
“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.
Market10 Jun 2030
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.
Player ratings10 Jun 2030
5.76 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
Squad10 Jun 2030
International call for Victor Augo
Victor Augo joins up with his country. Sofapaka lose him for the window and would like him back in one piece.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 May 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Sofapaka may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad20 May 2030
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 ratings20 May 2030
A performance of 8.61 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad20 May 2030
Bourama Boiré is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.36 with 6 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match18 May 2030
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad20 May 2030
“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
Uneasy
Market6 May 2030
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.
Squad6 May 2030
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Tumiso Mogakwe and Sofapaka agree another 2 years.
Squad6 May 2030
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.
Boardroom6 May 2030
Wages eat 106% 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.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.99 on the card, and the Sofapaka support went home talking about one name.
Match4 May 2030
It needed Eugene Wethuli to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kariobangi Sharks, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
Player ratings6 May 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Adrian Oloo
“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.
Squad6 May 2030
3 goals and a season average of 7.24. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match20 Apr 2030
The wait goes on for Sofapaka
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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
“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.
Match20 Apr 2030
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Victor Augo lets one through his hands
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The terraces22 Apr 2030
Everybody has an opinion about Victor Augo
He is the name in every column and on every phone-in, which is a heavy thing to carry at any age. Some footballers thrive on it; others are quietly finished by it.
Market22 Apr 2030
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.
Player ratings22 Apr 2030
Marked 5.78, and generously at that. Nothing came off, and by the end the crowd had stopped expecting it to.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom18 Mar 2030
The numbers do not look good at Sofapaka
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad18 Mar 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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
A performance of 9.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match16 Mar 2030
It finished 2‑1, and it was Maqbul Ochola’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Sofapaka.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad18 Mar 2030
“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.
Player ratings18 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad18 Mar 2030
The first one is the one every signing is asked about until it arrives. It has arrived, and he can stop being asked.
Market18 Mar 2030
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
Steady
Market4 Mar 2030
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.
Squad4 Mar 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.
Squad4 Mar 2030
The medical room confirms 130 days on the sidelines for Elijah Mulinya, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Successful dribbles: 20. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“The easiest signature of my career.” Peter Ochieng and Sofapaka agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Defensive actions: 16, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Player ratings4 Mar 2030
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.55 on the card, and the Sofapaka support went home talking about one name.
Squad4 Mar 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Adrian Oloo, and the manager let it.
Match2 Mar 2030
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Kakamega Homeboyz came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad18 Feb 2030
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Boardroom18 Feb 2030
The numbers do not look good at Sofapaka
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad18 Feb 2030
15 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad18 Feb 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.
Match16 Feb 2030
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Feb 2030
“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.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market18 Feb 2030
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.
Player ratings18 Feb 2030
5.48 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 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.
Squad14 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.
Market14 Jan 2030
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.
Market14 Jan 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Fidel Origa leaves Sofapaka the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Market14 Jan 2030
Adrian Oloo runs his contract down
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Sofapaka money.
Squad14 Jan 2030
Questions about Maqbul Ochola on the training pitch
The standards have slipped, and in a building where everybody watches everybody it has not gone unremarked. This is how a player loses a place before he loses one.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Pressure builds in the Sofapaka boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market10 Dec 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Lewis Shivachi and Sofapaka agree another 2 years.
Squad10 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.
Squad10 Dec 2029
111 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Boardroom10 Dec 2029
Wages eat 96% 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.
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
Market9 Jul 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.
Market9 Jul 2029
Only the photograph left for Jesse Owusu
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Jesse Owusu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Sofapaka the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad9 Jul 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Duncan Otieno and Sofapaka agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jul 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.
Boardroom9 Jul 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Player ratings9 Jul 2029
A performance of 9.26 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Match7 Jul 2029
Three points for Sofapaka, 2‑0 the final word against Posta Rangers in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Jul 2029
8 goals and a season average of 7.29 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market9 Jul 2029
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market29 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.
Squad29 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Sofapaka will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market29 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.
Squad29 Jan 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.
Market29 Jan 2029
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Elijah Mulinya may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Dec 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 Sofapaka, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Felix Mulyungi: 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.” Sofapaka have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market18 Dec 2028
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.
Squad18 Dec 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.
Market18 Dec 2028
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.
Market18 Dec 2028
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.