Marked for Anthony Kahata
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Jun 2031
The mood at Posta Rangers 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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Caleb Olilo breaks a bone — 40 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 40 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
Pressure builds in the Posta Rangers boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match28 Jun 2031
No end in sight to Posta Rangers's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Posta Rangers has to find a result from somewhere.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The numbers do not look good at Posta Rangers
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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Posta Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match28 Jun 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad30 Jun 2031
“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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Posta Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Anthony Kahata 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
Crisis
Match9 Jun 2031
8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market9 Jun 2031
“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 The request is on a desk at Posta Rangers, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match7 Jun 2031
4 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.
Match7 Jun 2031
4 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Posta Rangers can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Lucky Oktavianto 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.
Match7 Jun 2031
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Anthony Kahata 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.
Squad9 Jun 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Calvin Madu and Posta Rangers agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Victor Ndinya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Posta Rangers 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
Crisis
Market19 May 2031
“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.
Market19 May 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Posta Rangers is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad19 May 2031
Words at Posta Rangers training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubakar Salisu 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.
Squad19 May 2031
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Posta Rangers this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 May 2031
Jackson Dwang has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Posta Rangers 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.
Squad19 May 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Anthony Kahata, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 May 2031
Position 17, 7 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.
Market12 May 2031
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Posta Rangers can pretend not to have heard.
Squad12 May 2031
“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.
Squad12 May 2031
Caleb Olilo 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 ratings12 May 2031
The afternoon belonged to Veron Ombina
7.80, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Posta Rangers had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad12 May 2031
Nafiu Abubakar 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.
Squad12 May 2031
Victor Ndinya has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Posta Rangers 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.
Market12 May 2031
1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Posta Rangers could get for him.