Marked for Eric Mainge
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Aug 2034
3‑0, and Justin Lonwijk took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Gor Mahia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Player ratings28 Aug 2034
A brace, and Justin Lonwijk takes the afternoon — 8.78
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Justin Lonwijk provided it, and the 8.78 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Market28 Aug 2034
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Gor Mahia have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match26 Aug 2034
Gor Mahia cannot stop winning
6 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market28 Aug 2034
Gor Mahia say no — this time
The offer from Shooting Stars for Abeiku Mohammed 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.
Player ratings28 Aug 2034
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.99 for the rest of it.
Market28 Aug 2034
Eric Mainge 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 Gor Mahia can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Defences have started doubling up on Justin Lonwijk
17 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Squad28 Aug 2034
Words at Gor Mahia training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Koro Coulibaly 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.
In brief
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Match
Another one collected away from home
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Boardroom
Gor Mahia are $45.9M in the red
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Squad
Eric Mainge in a row with a teammate
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match8 Jul 2034
33 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Match8 Jul 2034
4‑0, and Ibrahim Obansa took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Gor Mahia tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market10 Jul 2034
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ulinzi Stars waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Gor Mahia is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market10 Jul 2034
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings10 Jul 2034
No sign of nerves from John Okoth at 17 — 7.74
The hardest thing about being 17 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. John Okoth did not need any: 7.74, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Player ratings10 Jul 2034
Age has not caught Aïmen Moueffek yet — 8.20
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.20 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Match8 Jul 2034
Gor Mahia make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gor Mahia have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings10 Jul 2034
Up for the corner, and Ibrahim Obansa delivers — 7.97
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ibrahim Obansa scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Market10 Jul 2034
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match27 May 2034
Gor Mahia make it 8 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Gor Mahia have 8 straight wins of it.
Match27 May 2034
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.
Player ratings29 May 2034
At 34 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 8.21, and nobody on the pitch better.
Match27 May 2034
Gor Mahia are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Squad29 May 2034
Koro Coulibaly 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 ratings29 May 2034
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings29 May 2034
A performance of 8.44 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Looking ahead29 May 2034
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Gor Mahia will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking it.
Boardroom29 May 2034
The Gor Mahia debt reaches $46.7M
Football clubs borrow; that is not the story. Borrowing more than the facility allows is, because from here it is the owner's money or somebody else's decision, and neither of those belongs to the board.
In brief
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Squad
Tempers go at Gor Mahia
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The dugout
the manager has his say
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The dugout
Koro Coulibaly has become a man the manager trusts