Marked for Olanipekun Samson
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match16 Jun 2029
3‑0, and Samuel Ssenyonjo took the headlines on an afternoon when everything AFC Leopards tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings18 Jun 2029
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market18 Jun 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 AFC Leopards can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
This is not rotation. James Kinyanjui has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise.
Match16 Jun 2029
3 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.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaycie Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Jun 2029
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Dennis Karisa commits to AFC Leopards for another 3 years.
Squad18 Jun 2029
Olanipekun Samson 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 dugout18 Jun 2029
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Duncan Ayumba on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings14 May 2029
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 2 on the scoresheet, 8.49 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Match9 May 2029
Posta Rangers are out and AFC Leopards go through, 3‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Sam Bolland, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.11
A mark of 8.11 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The dugout14 May 2029
This is not rotation. Humphrey Katasi has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 May 2029
Kaycie Odhiambo 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.
Squad14 May 2029
Yafeesi Mubiru and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces14 May 2029
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Sam Bolland 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.
Match12 May 2029
0‑2 to Ulinzi Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings14 May 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout18 Dec 2028
This is not rotation. Kaycie Odhiambo has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kaycie Odhiambo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Yafeesi Mubiru 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 dugout18 Dec 2028
Lefa Ngwenya 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.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Lefa Ngwenya: “I am not a substitute”
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one AFC Leopards will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The dugout18 Dec 2028
Levis Esambe 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 Levis Esambe trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market18 Dec 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Samuel Ssenyonjo signs something — a contract at AFC Leopards or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market18 Dec 2028
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Emmanuel Lwangu may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout14 Aug 2028
This is not rotation. James Kinyanjui has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at AFC Leopards is pretending otherwise.
Squad14 Aug 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AFC Leopards this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom14 Aug 2028
The paperwork is done long before the player is. Lungisani Mncwabe has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means AFC Leopards have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
AFC Leopards asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Ssenyonjo 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Kariobangi Sharks left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Aug 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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Duncan Ayumba to a room that had heard them before.
Transfer targets14 Aug 2028
A loan enquiry to Sogndal: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market14 Aug 2028
A stepping stone, not a home, for David Obasanjo
He is doing his job and he is not settling. AFC Leopards were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.