Marked for Said Bounedjah
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad12 Mar 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Mar 2029
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“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.
Squad12 Mar 2029
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Nshimirimana 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.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Ninety minutes of James Kinyanjui at his very best
Marked 8.01. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Sofapaka.
Player ratings12 Mar 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Squad12 Mar 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sofapaka know it.
The dugout12 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Stephen Bonney's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market1 Jan 2029
“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.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
This is not rotation. Clifton Miheso has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sofapaka is pretending otherwise.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Titus Achesa 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 Sofapaka this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom1 Jan 2029
Sofapaka counting the cost
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Sofapaka now.
Squad1 Jan 2029
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. James Kinyanjui 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 dugout1 Jan 2029
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Eugene Wethuli, and the manager let it.
Squad1 Jan 2029
A muscle injury sidelines Elvis Chemelil for 14 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Sofapaka will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad1 Jan 2029
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Sofapaka know it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
James Kinyanjui loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is James Kinyanjui's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Sep 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.
Match16 Sep 2028
No end in sight to Sofapaka's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Sofapaka has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad18 Sep 2028
A row about effort at Sofapaka
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and James Kinyanjui was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad18 Sep 2028
Duncan Otieno 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 Sep 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Felix Oluoch, and the manager let it.
Market18 Sep 2028
He signed expecting a bigger stage than the one he found. It has not taken long, and it has not taken the dressing room long to notice either.
Player ratings18 Sep 2028
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.35 on the card, and the Sofapaka support went home talking about one name.
Market18 Sep 2028
He is 18, and nobody at Sofapaka signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad18 Sep 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luke Turner and Sofapaka agree another 3 years.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The dugout11 Sep 2028
This is not rotation. Clifton Miheso has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Sofapaka is pretending otherwise.
Squad11 Sep 2028
A falling-out at Sofapaka
Titus Achesa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets11 Sep 2028
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Words at Sofapaka training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ambrose Sifuna 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 dugout11 Sep 2028
The manager makes an example of Ambrose Sifuna
“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.
Market11 Sep 2028
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market11 Sep 2028
Signings arrive with a picture of the club in their head, and this one’s picture was bigger than the building. He will play well and he will be gone, in that order, and everybody knows it.
Market11 Sep 2028
He is 19, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Squad11 Sep 2028
Sofapaka are still strangers to each other
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.