Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bidco United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Clinton Asiago 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Kakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sfundo Nzama is on it.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bidco United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Kakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Mara Sugar waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Tusker is saying, and nobody at Bidco United is enjoying the guessing.
The offer from Shabana for Brian Olunga was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Posta Rangers will keep picking him until June and will get nothing for him after it. Jackson Macharia has pre-agreed a move to Bidco United, and the only people who lose in that arrangement are the ones who let the contract run down.
Squad26 Jan 2032
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Francis Chege 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.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Bidco United know which stage they are at.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 84 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Francis Chege 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.
Add another name to the list: Posta Rangers have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Brian Olunga. The answer from Bidco United has not changed — yet.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bidco United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bidco United, another week without a signature from Joseph Ogenda.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Kakai was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Joseph Ogenda’s negotiating for him
Daniel Kakai 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 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bidco United could ask drops and the wages Rivaldo Williams can ask rise.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Position 5 on 58 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Player ratings22 Sep 2031
Caleb Mwendwa, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.63
A mark of 7.63 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sfundo Nzama and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Sep 2031
Simon Munala 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Brian Olunga 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.
8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bidco United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
7 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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 13 arrived, 14 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at KCB is saying, and nobody at Bidco United is enjoying the guessing.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Brian Olunga reports back to Bidco United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Sfundo Nzama 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 offer from APS Bomet for Brian Olunga was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Daniel Kakai 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.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
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.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Joseph Ogenda had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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 bid was some way short and Bidco United did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings4 Aug 2031
Rivaldo Williams, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.70
A mark of 7.70 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Munala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Joseph Ogenda has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Boardroom4 Aug 2031
92% of the income goes out in wages at Bidco United
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Muranga Seal is saying, and nobody at Bidco United is enjoying the guessing.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidco United have done the hard part with KCB, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Kariobangi Sharks waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Two goals and a mark of 8.92 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
0-4, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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 clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” George Njeru and Bidco United agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Dennis Onyango left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
BoardroomWages eat 93% of everything Bidco United earn
Add another name to the list: Kariobangi Sharks have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Joseph Ogenda. The answer from Bidco United has not changed — yet.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Olunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidco United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Clinton Asiago and Bidco United agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Simon Munala 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.
Marked 8.03 — 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.
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.
The words a physio says slowly. 22 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Rivaldo Williams did not need any: 8.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Olunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidco United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The words a physio says slowly. 50 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
AFC Leopards left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Dennis Onyango to a room that had heard them before.
3 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Clinton Asiago will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Bidco United escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brian Olunga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidco United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Bidco United did not have in the autumn.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Simon Munala 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Bidco United scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Gor Mahia is saying, and nobody at Bidco United is enjoying the guessing.
Prosper Padera 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.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Mustapha Koma 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bidco United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom3 Feb 2031
Deadline passes with 5 signed and 4 gone
That is the business done at Bidco United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Gor Mahia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The offer from Posta Rangers for Brian Olunga was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Everything agreed with Gor Mahia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Gor Mahia keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Itumeleng Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidco United will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng Hlatshwayo 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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Bidco United. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Brian Olunga trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidco United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Bidco United they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Squad2 Dec 2030
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Daniel Kakai has his answer from Bidco United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 97 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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 Bidco United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Munala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Joseph Ouma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidco United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Sfundo Nzama 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 paperwork is done long before the player is. Yafeesi Mubiru has agreed terms to come here when his current deal runs out, which means Bidco United have spent a summer's transfer budget on a phone call.
Squad21 Oct 2030
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simon Munala 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bidco United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Bidco United have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Bidco United know which stage they are at.
Sfundo Nzama 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Munala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 9.05 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The deal with Gor Mahia is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simon Munala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nyamawi Beja. 2‑1 against Nairobi United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Brian Olunga 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.