The Shabana Post
Squad5 Feb 2029
Samuel Njau damages knee ligaments — 54 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 54 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.
Match3 Feb 2029
Cruel end for Kariobangi Sharks as Shabana pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Shabana scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Market5 Feb 2029
Danson Kiprono puts it in writing
“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 The request is on a desk at Shabana, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market5 Feb 2029
So close: Derrick Onyango’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Nairobi United moved on, Derrick Onyango reports back to Shabana, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
An order from above at Shabana: somebody has to go
Balance sheets do not care about form or about who the manager was planning to build around. The board have decided a sale is required, and the only question left is which name ends up carrying it.
Player ratings5 Feb 2029
Nobody could get near Austine Odongo
Successful dribbles: 22. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Boardroom5 Feb 2029
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Shabana
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad5 Feb 2029
Biron Otieno 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.
The terraces5 Feb 2029
The crowd has taken to Austine Odongo
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.
In brief
- Market Shabana promote Patrick Onyango from within
- Market One of our own: John Mbugua joins the Shabana first team
- Match Shabana find a way past Kariobangi Sharks