Marked for Clinton Okoth
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Jul 2031
A one-man rearguard from Kevin Ouru
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Clinton Okoth out for 14 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KCB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market28 Jul 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at KCB is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market28 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at KCB, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Jul 2031
The wait goes on for KCB
5 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Tempers go at KCB
Kelvin Etemesi 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.
Market28 Jul 2031
The Nyamawi Beja conversation is coming
Everyone has stopped pretending: Mara Sugar will make the call about Nyamawi Beja this week. KCB have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Nashon Wekesa 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.
Player ratings28 Jul 2031
Kelvin Etemesi ran the middle of the pitch — 7.65
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 10 combined actions and a mark of 7.65, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Jul 2031
KCB taken apart
0‑3 to Tusker, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad21 Jul 2031
A fracture rules Clinton Okoth out for 21 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason KCB will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad21 Jul 2031
8 saves: Kevin Ouru was the team
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market21 Jul 2031
Aron Kithae hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what KCB can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Liam Davis is the real thing at 20
A season average of 7.10 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. KCB know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Match19 Jul 2031
The wait goes on for KCB
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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Words exchanged at KCB
Kelvin Etemesi 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.
Transfer targets21 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and KCB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom21 Jul 2031
Inquest at KCB
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market14 Jul 2031
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Bidco United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Match9 Jul 2031
The cup run ends for KCB
0‑3 against Shabana, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Clinton Okoth breaks a bone — 29 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 29 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces14 Jul 2031
KCB are taken apart by Shabana — and the town wants answers
It finished 0-3. A cup exit is a disappointment; this was a public dismantling, and the difference between the two is the number of people who will still be talking about it in August.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KCB have done the hard part with Gor Mahia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad14 Jul 2031
A falling-out at KCB
Kelvin Etemesi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets14 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and KCB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad14 Jul 2031
Nashon Wekesa 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.
Player ratings14 Jul 2031
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market7 Jul 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. KCB have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match5 Jul 2031
A hiding for KCB
Beaten 0‑4 by Kenya Police, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad7 Jul 2031
36 days out for Clinton Okoth after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KCB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Market7 Jul 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 KCB, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KCB have done the hard part with Gor Mahia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jul 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kelvin Etemesi commits to KCB for another 2 years.
Squad7 Jul 2031
A falling-out at KCB
Kelvin Etemesi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market7 Jul 2031
Bidco United are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. KCB will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Gor Mahia have kept their man, and KCB go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
In brief
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Squad
A row about effort at KCB
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The dugout
No hiding place for Clyde Senaji
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Boardroom
Doors closed at KCB
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match28 Jun 2031
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Squad30 Jun 2031
43 days out for Clinton Okoth after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. KCB will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.02, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings30 Jun 2031
Liam Davis, 20, steals the show — 8.33
Marked 8.33 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market30 Jun 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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Everything agreed with Gor Mahia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
No thanks: Nadon Kouassi rejects the move
KCB had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Gor Mahia, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words exchanged at KCB
Kelvin Etemesi 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.