Marked for Abdulhamid Kabiru
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 Jan 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Ulinzi Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mpho Mathekgane 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.
Market1 Jan 2029
Omar Boraafya is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ulinzi Stars has been clear about where Omar Boraafya stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad1 Jan 2029
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Ulinzi Stars has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“Ask me in the summer. I will know before anybody else does.” He is 34 with 79 appearances behind him, and Ulinzi Stars have to plan for both answers.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match12 Feb 2028
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.
Match12 Feb 2028
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Ulinzi Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Boniface Andayi 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 Feb 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
A mark of 7.18, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Squad14 Feb 2028
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Match12 Feb 2028
Point won or two lost for Ulinzi Stars?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against APS Bomet? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Market14 Feb 2028
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ulinzi Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Squad14 Feb 2028
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Jan 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.
Squad24 Jan 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom24 Jan 2028
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Ulinzi Stars now.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom17 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the Ulinzi Stars boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad17 Jan 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Eugene Ikutwa gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Eugene Ikutwa has just signed for Ulinzi Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Boniface Andayi 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.
Squad17 Jan 2028
The manager makes an example of Fahrul Aditia
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Jan 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 Ulinzi Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Jan 2028
Words at Ulinzi Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Boniface Andayi 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.
Market10 Jan 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Boniface Muchiri’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.