Marked for Peter Mainge
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Jan 2032
“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 The request is on a desk at Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Jan 2032
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kevin Okumu commits to Mathare United for another 2 years.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Words at Mathare United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ala Eddine Limane 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.
Squad5 Jan 2032
Kevin Okumu 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 dugout5 Jan 2032
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Squad5 Jan 2032
Peter Mainge pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Market5 Jan 2032
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
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.
The dugout5 Jan 2032
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Mainge, and the manager let it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Nov 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 Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad10 Nov 2031
Ala Eddine Limane 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 dugout10 Nov 2031
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The dugout10 Nov 2031
“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.
Market10 Nov 2031
“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.
The dugout10 Nov 2031
Ala Eddine Limane has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Mathare United 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
Steady
Player ratings1 Sep 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. 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.
Market1 Sep 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Mathare United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market1 Sep 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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout1 Sep 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.
Boardroom1 Sep 2031
Mathare United close the window on a squad of their own making
14 in and 13 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Zakhele Shabangu 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.
Transfer targets1 Sep 2031
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.
Squad1 Sep 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ala Eddine Limane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match30 Aug 2031
Mathare United make home a hard place to visit
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 May 2031
0‑3 against AFC Leopards, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
The dugout19 May 2031
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Squad19 May 2031
Zakhele Shabangu 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 dugout19 May 2031
“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.
Squad19 May 2031
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Peter Mainge and Mathare United agree another 3 years.
Boardroom19 May 2031
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout19 May 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout19 May 2031
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Squad19 May 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Monty Singh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Everything agreed with Kenya Police, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Herit Atariza 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.
Transfer targets20 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Muranga Seal have kept their man, and Mathare United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad20 Jan 2031
Brian Marani 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 dugout20 Jan 2031
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ditebogo Sibanda trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Jan 2031
Brian Marani gets it from the manager
“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.
Market20 Jan 2031
The Peter Oudu talk will not go away
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Mathare United know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Match20 Jan 2031
Continental football is in reach for Mathare United
51 points from position 6. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Market20 Jan 2031
“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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market13 Jan 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 Mathare United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad13 Jan 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 Mathare United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets13 Jan 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Leopards have kept their man, and Mathare United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
“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.
Market13 Jan 2031
He is 19, and nobody at Mathare United signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
Squad13 Jan 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Monty Singh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad13 Jan 2031
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
The dugout13 Jan 2031
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Mathare United told Peter Mainge something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Market13 Jan 2031
The Jonah James story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jonah James signs something — a contract at Mathare United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.