Marked for Tim Stamatelopoulos
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match27 Nov 2028
66 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Squad27 Nov 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” AFC Leopards may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaycie Odhiambo 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
No sign of nerves from Thomas Partey at 18 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 18 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thomas Partey did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Hassan Beja in a row with a teammate
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.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Words at AFC Leopards training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kaycie Odhiambo 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.
The terraces18 Sep 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Jamal Abubakar 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
A 1‑0 win over Mathare United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Hassan Beja has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at AFC Leopards 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
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Aug 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.
Match7 Aug 2028
AFC Leopards are in among the leaders
Position 3 and 54 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Hassan Beja 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Brian Wanyama and AFC Leopards agree another 3 years.
Squad7 Aug 2028
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.
Match5 Aug 2028
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Samuel Ssenyonjo. 1‑0 against Kariobangi Sharks, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Aug 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.97 on the card, and the AFC Leopards support went home talking about one name.
Market7 Aug 2028
Tim Stamatelopoulos is 19, and AFC Leopards have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 Jan 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sam Van Hattum
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. WaiBOP United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The terraces31 Jan 2028
The mood at WaiBOP United has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match31 Jan 2028
Position 5, 10 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad31 Jan 2028
“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.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
Pressure builds in the WaiBOP United boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market31 Jan 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 WaiBOP United, and it is not being withdrawn.