Marked for Jesse Njeru
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Mar 2036
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad17 Mar 2036
Sandile Ndlovu 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.
Squad17 Mar 2036
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.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
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.” Daniel Hoffmann chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
James Juma 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 dugout17 Mar 2036
Somebody else is better right now than Timothy Mainge
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match15 Mar 2036
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Muranga Seal defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The dugout17 Mar 2036
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.
Market17 Mar 2036
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Christopher Raila signs something — a contract at Bidco United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market21 Jan 2036
Jesse Njeru 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 Bidco United can pretend not to have heard.
Market21 Jan 2036
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidco United have done the hard part with Gor Mahia, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad21 Jan 2036
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.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
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 targets21 Jan 2036
A loan enquiry to Kenya Police: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Transfer targets21 Jan 2036
Ulinzi Stars have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Market21 Jan 2036
The name of Lungelo Kunene keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Bidco United say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout21 Jan 2036
Timothy Mainge asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Nov 2035
Caleb Omondi 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 Bidco United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Nov 2035
Sandile Ndlovu 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 dugout26 Nov 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market24 Sep 2035
“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.
Market24 Sep 2035
Only the photograph left for James Juma
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. James Juma will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidco United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout24 Sep 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.
Squad24 Sep 2035
Caleb Omondi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match22 Sep 2035
Sofapaka left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Daniel Hoffmann to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout24 Sep 2035
The manager makes an example of Jesse Njeru
“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.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Shots: 8, enough of them from close enough that a striker in form scores two. He is not a striker in form.
Player ratings24 Sep 2035
Chances created: 9. The column nobody reads carried the whole story of the match, and his name was at the top of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad20 Aug 2035
A one-man rearguard from Caleb Omondi
There were 9 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.
Market20 Aug 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.
Market20 Aug 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market20 Aug 2035
“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 targets20 Aug 2035
Bidco United and Tusker have settled on $130.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
The dugout20 Aug 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
The offer went to AFC Leopards this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Squad20 Aug 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.
Transfer targets20 Aug 2035
Bidco United asked and Posta Rangers said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings16 Jul 2035
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Market16 Jul 2035
“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.
Market16 Jul 2035
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Bidco United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market16 Jul 2035
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad16 Jul 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.
Match14 Jul 2035
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Transfer targets16 Jul 2035
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. AFC Leopards have kept their man, and Bidco United go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Match14 Jul 2035
It finished 2‑0, and it was Gilbert Abala’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Bidco United.
Squad16 Jul 2035
Defences have started doubling up on Gilbert Abala
6 goals and a season average of 7.30 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
Upbeat
Market25 Jun 2035
Terms done: James Juma is going
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sofapaka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Bidco United is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings25 Jun 2035
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.81, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Match23 Jun 2035
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Bidco United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad25 Jun 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.
Transfer targets25 Jun 2035
Bidco United have gone to AFC Leopards with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Match23 Jun 2035
KCB made Bidco United work for it, but the scoreboard read 2‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad25 Jun 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Moses Muguna commits to Bidco United for another 3 years.
Squad25 Jun 2035
4 goals and a season average of 7.27. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
The dugout25 Jun 2035
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 2‑0, already talking about the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jun 2035
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.
Market11 Jun 2035
“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.
Market11 Jun 2035
The name of Izzadin Juma has come up in conversations Bidco United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidco United have done the hard part with Tusker, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Transfer targets11 Jun 2035
Bidco United have gone to AFC Leopards with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad11 Jun 2035
Caleb Omondi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The terraces11 Jun 2035
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match9 Jun 2035
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Thamsanqa Vilakazi. 1‑0 against Gor Mahia, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad11 Jun 2035
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Kenneth Njeru commits to Bidco United for another 3 years.