Marked for Anthony Kamau
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Jan 2036
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Bidco United have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Jan 2036
“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 targets7 Jan 2036
Everything agreed with Ulinzi Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad7 Jan 2036
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sandile Ndlovu and Bidco United agree another 2 years.
Squad7 Jan 2036
Lungelo Kunene 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.
Squad7 Jan 2036
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
Market7 Jan 2036
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bidco United, another week without a signature from Indy Stoller.
Market7 Jan 2036
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Amos Mukangula has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Bidco United.
The dugout7 Jan 2036
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Kamau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad10 Dec 2035
Lungelo Kunene 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 dugout10 Dec 2035
Indy Stoller 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.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
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 dugout10 Dec 2035
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Patrick Mbugua is on it.
Market10 Dec 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lungelo Kunene’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout10 Dec 2035
Patrick Mbugua knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Patrick Mbugua trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Nov 2035
Caleb Omondi 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.
Squad12 Nov 2035
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sandile Ndlovu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Nov 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Kenneth Njeru and Bidco United agree another 3 years.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
Sandile Ndlovu knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sandile Ndlovu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
Anthony Kamau is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The dugout12 Nov 2035
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
Squad15 Oct 2035
Lungelo Kunene 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.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Words at Bidco United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sandile Ndlovu 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 dugout15 Oct 2035
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 dugout15 Oct 2035
Patrick Mbugua has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bidco 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.
Market15 Oct 2035
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lungelo Kunene’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout15 Oct 2035
Timothy Mainge 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 Bidco United, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market15 Oct 2035
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Bernard Jairo may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Boardroom15 Oct 2035
The Bidco United production line keeps running
100 graduates out of an academy now rated 4 out of 20. Clubs this size survive on exactly that, and the town knows every name.
Squad15 Oct 2035
Joseph Masika makes the division’s eleven — 6.87
Marked 6.87, and picked in the team of the week for it. He was the best player on that pitch and the selectors saw the same match everybody else did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings17 Sep 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.00, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Caleb Omondi 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 terraces17 Sep 2035
At 17 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.
Market17 Sep 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Duncan Kamau has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Sep 2035
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. George Odhiambo has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Sep 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Kevin Karisa is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Sep 2035
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Samuel Kagere is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Squad17 Sep 2035
Gilbert Abala is in the form of his life
A season average of 7.36 with 8 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
In brief
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Squad
David Miheso stays put
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Player ratings
George Okoth ran the middle of the pitch — 7.20
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market10 Sep 2035
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Bidco United people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market10 Sep 2035
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Bernard Jairo has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad10 Sep 2035
Sandile Ndlovu 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 targets10 Sep 2035
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.
Transfer targets10 Sep 2035
The window shuts on the Eugene Ikutwa deal
Bidco United ran out of time with Tusker. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Market10 Sep 2035
“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.
Boardroom10 Sep 2035
Wages eat 94% of everything Bidco United earn
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.
The dugout10 Sep 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Michael Chemelil, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
Successful dribbles: 41. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Jul 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.77, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad9 Jul 2035
Lungelo Kunene and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
$1.0K on the table at AFC Leopards. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2035
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.
The terraces9 Jul 2035
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Thamsanqa Vilakazi has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad9 Jul 2035
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” David Miheso and Bidco United agree another 3 years.
The dugout9 Jul 2035
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniel Hoffmann on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 May 2035
Age has not caught Lungelo Kunene yet — 8.13
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.13 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad28 May 2035
Lungelo Kunene 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.
Match26 May 2035
APS Bomet made Bidco United work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings28 May 2035
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 May 2035
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Daniel Hoffmann kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout28 May 2035
The manager makes an example of James Juma
“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 dugout28 May 2035
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.
The dugout28 May 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Kamau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Looking ahead28 May 2035
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Izzadin Juma’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Bidco United needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Apr 2035
Sandile Ndlovu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match14 Apr 2035
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.
Player ratings16 Apr 2035
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match14 Apr 2035
0‑1 to Tusker, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Bernard Jairo, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
Timothy Mainge dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The dugout16 Apr 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Kamau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad19 Mar 2035
Lungelo Kunene and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
Indy Stoller back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Bidco United has worked with Indy Stoller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Daniel Hoffmann on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
Shots: 9, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
The dugout19 Mar 2035
“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 dugout19 Mar 2035
The manager has not finished forgetting Anthony Kamau's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Player ratings19 Mar 2035
Shots: 7. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Mar 2035
A knee injury of the worst kind for Kenneth Olunga
15 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bidco United lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Player ratings5 Mar 2035
A brace, and Lungelo Kunene takes the afternoon — 8.17
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Lungelo Kunene provided it, and the 8.17 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
“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.
Squad5 Mar 2035
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lungelo Kunene and Bidco United agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Mar 2035
Caleb Omondi 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.
Match3 Mar 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lungelo Kunene. 3‑1 against Kariobangi Sharks, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces5 Mar 2035
At 23 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.
The dugout5 Mar 2035
Indy Stoller back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Bidco United has worked with Indy Stoller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Squad5 Mar 2035
200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout12 Feb 2035
Bernard Jairo: 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.” Bidco United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad12 Feb 2035
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match10 Feb 2035
Shabana left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
Indy Stoller back under a manager who knows him
The new man at Bidco United has worked with Indy Stoller before and it went well. He arrives with a view of the player already formed, which is worth more than any pre-season.
Transfer targets12 Feb 2035
The window shuts on the Eugene Ikutwa deal
Bidco United ran out of time with Tusker. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
This is not rotation. Kenneth Olunga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Bidco United is pretending otherwise.
The dugout12 Feb 2035
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sandile Ndlovu, and the manager let it.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
Gilbert Abala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.15. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Player ratings12 Feb 2035
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.