The Ulinzi Stars Courier
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Boniface Muchiri runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Poni Reatile arrives at the club he grew up with
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Poni Reatile has, at Ulinzi Stars, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Graduation day at Ulinzi Stars
2 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market8 Feb 2027
One of our own: Elvis Mulee joins the Ulinzi Stars first team
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Elvis Mulee is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market8 Feb 2027
John Wanyama steps up from the Ulinzi Stars academy
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. John Wanyama has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Ulinzi Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ibrahim Shambi 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Too much change too quickly at Ulinzi Stars
8 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Market8 Feb 2027
Abongwe Newman already looking beyond Ulinzi Stars
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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Ulinzi Stars sign Poni Reatile, one for the future
Poni Reatile is 20, and Ulinzi Stars 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.
In brief
- Squad Abongwe Newman signs on for more
- The dugout Kevin Kagere on the point
- Boardroom Ulinzi Stars turn down the training-ground plan