Marked for El Sayed Ashour
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market25 Aug 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kariobangi Sharks have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match23 Aug 2031
The run now stands at 6, and the questions being asked around Kariobangi Sharks are no longer polite ones.
The dugout25 Aug 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.
Market25 Aug 2031
The offer from APS Bomet for Brian Olang'o was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad25 Aug 2031
Lucan Louw 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.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Kariobangi Sharks now.
Match23 Aug 2031
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Kariobangi Sharks can tell you which week it ends in.
Transfer targets25 Aug 2031
Kariobangi Sharks asked and Mathare United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Boardroom25 Aug 2031
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market11 Aug 2031
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kariobangi Sharks they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Match9 Aug 2031
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Kariobangi Sharks are no longer polite ones.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Mark Shaban 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bukho Mkalipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match9 Aug 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Aug 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.
Squad11 Aug 2031
9 goals and a season average of 7.22. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Joseph Karisa after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout11 Aug 2031
When it matters, Rajab Omar plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Kariobangi Sharks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market28 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. Kariobangi Sharks have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The dugout28 Jul 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Lucan Louw 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.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The accounts make uncomfortable reading. Wages first and ambition second is the order of business at Kariobangi Sharks now.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Bukho Mkalipi 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 dugout28 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sergio Sardinha, and the manager let it.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Appearance number 100 for Lucan Louw
100 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match21 Jul 2031
42 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market21 Jul 2031
The offer from APS Bomet for Brian Olang'o was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Lucan Louw 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.
Squad21 Jul 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bukho Mkalipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Kariobangi Sharks support went home talking about one name.
Player ratings21 Jul 2031
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 15 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Joseph Karisa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Kariobangi Sharks dressing room was either.
The dugout21 Jul 2031
Abba Dali knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Kariobangi Sharks, and both men came out saying it was fine.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
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. Kariobangi Sharks have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Jul 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.
Market7 Jul 2031
Brian Olang'o has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kariobangi Sharks they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Mark Shaban 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bukho Mkalipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Kariobangi Sharks asked and KCB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match5 Jul 2031
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Victor Haki. 1‑0 against Bidco United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings7 Jul 2031
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Manyama, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
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.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Lucan Louw 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.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bukho Mkalipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match28 Jun 2031
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout30 Jun 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.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Defences have started doubling up on Bukho Mkalipi
7 goals and a season average of 7.20 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market9 Jun 2031
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kariobangi Sharks have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Lucan Louw 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 Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bukho Mkalipi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets9 Jun 2031
Kariobangi Sharks asked and KCB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Match7 Jun 2031
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout9 Jun 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.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
“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.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout9 Jun 2031
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout2 Jun 2031
Sanchez Phillips: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Kariobangi Sharks have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad2 Jun 2031
Lucan Louw 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.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Wages have outrun income and the accountants have started attending meetings they used to send apologies to. Ambition comes second in a season like this.
Boardroom2 Jun 2031
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Match2 Jun 2031
Position 4, 29 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
The dugout2 Jun 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.
Squad2 Jun 2031
A place in the month's best eleven for Ian Karani
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Ian Karani has come out of that comparison in the side, and Kariobangi Sharks have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Match31 May 2031
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
In brief
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The dugout
The view from the dugout
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The dugout
Abba Dali asks for a word with the manager
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Squad
Franklin Middleton falls out with a teammate over standards
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match7 May 2031
0‑1 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.
Squad12 May 2031
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market12 May 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kariobangi Sharks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad12 May 2031
Lucan Louw 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 Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Ninety minutes of Bukho Mkalipi at his very best
Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kariobangi Sharks.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Ninety minutes of Lucan Louw at his very best
Marked 8.03. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Kariobangi Sharks.
Player ratings12 May 2031
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings12 May 2031
The one goal a footballer does not get to celebrate and does not get to forget either. His name is in the wrong column and nothing about it was meant.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Sardinha
33 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kariobangi Sharks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match12 Apr 2031
The 87th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Ally Salum Omar decided nobody was going anywhere. AFC Leopards had no time left to answer.
Match12 Apr 2031
11 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market14 Apr 2031
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. El Sayed Ashour will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kariobangi Sharks the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Lucan Louw 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 Kariobangi Sharks this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Bukho Mkalipi 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.
Match12 Apr 2031
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and AFC Leopards were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Player ratings14 Apr 2031
Rajab Omar ran the middle of the pitch — 7.04
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 11 combined actions and a mark of 7.04, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Mar 2031
Sergio Sardinha damages knee ligaments — 61 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 61 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.
Match15 Mar 2031
8 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Market17 Mar 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kariobangi Sharks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Mark Shaban 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.
Player ratings17 Mar 2031
Mark Shaban ran the middle of the pitch — 6.93
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.93, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Match15 Mar 2031
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
Squad17 Mar 2031
Bukho Mkalipi 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 dugout17 Mar 2031
“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.
The dugout17 Mar 2031
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Joseph Karisa after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Feb 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Sardinha
89 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kariobangi Sharks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market17 Feb 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kariobangi Sharks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Mark Shaban 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.
Match15 Feb 2031
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad17 Feb 2031
Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franklin Middleton 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 dugout17 Feb 2031
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Joseph Karisa chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout17 Feb 2031
When it matters, Rajab Omar plays
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.
Match15 Feb 2031
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. Mara Sugar came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad27 Jan 2031
A knee injury of the worst kind for Sergio Sardinha
110 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Kariobangi Sharks lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market27 Jan 2031
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kariobangi Sharks people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market27 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 Kariobangi Sharks, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market27 Jan 2031
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kariobangi Sharks is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Mark Shaban 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.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Words at Kariobangi Sharks training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Franklin Middleton 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.
Market27 Jan 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ally Salum Omar signs something — a contract at Kariobangi Sharks or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad27 Jan 2031
Abba Dali needs a bigger stage
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Kariobangi Sharks know which stage they are at.