Ibrahim Ayumba

Attacking Midfielder (L) - Free Agent
14 Mar 2036
Friday
Process

Marked for Ibrahim Ayumba

457 Edition

The Gor Mahia Chronicle

30 Apr 2035
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Nobody wins at Gor Mahia

48 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Player ratings

Austin Harrison was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 28. 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.

Match

Gor Mahia cannot stop winning

5 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.

Market

Jon Russell puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Lamarana Jallow, 33, rolls back the years — 8.07

There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.07 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.

Match

Lamarana Jallow the difference as Gor Mahia beat Bandari

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Lamarana Jallow. 2‑0 against Bandari, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Squad

Ibrahim Ayumba out for 22 days

The medical room confirms 22 days on the sidelines for Ibrahim Ayumba, and a plan built around him now has to be rebuilt.

Player ratings

Wisdom Ndon was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.01. 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.

Squad

Words exchanged at Gor Mahia

Sam Waller 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.

In brief

  • Squad Osama Ahmed falls out with a teammate over standards
  • The dugout the manager has his say
  • The dugout The manager makes an example of Abeiku Mohammed
Back issues
435 Edition

The Gor Mahia Chronicle

27 Nov 2034
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Koro Coulibaly out for 41 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gor Mahia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Abeiku Mohammed puts it in writing

“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 Gor Mahia, and it is not being withdrawn.

The dugout

Francis Mwendwa: 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.” Gor Mahia have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Squad

Tempers go at Gor Mahia

Sam Waller 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 dugout

Austin Harrison has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Gor Mahia 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.

Market

The Sidnei Tavares story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sidnei Tavares signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

Market

The shop window has Nicholas Okoth in it

Gor Mahia have let the market know Nicholas Okoth can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.

Market

The clock does Mamadou Diop’s negotiating for him

1 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Gor Mahia could ask drops and the wages Mamadou Diop can ask rise.

The dugout

A door opens for Caleb Rupia

He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.

In brief

431 Edition

The Gor Mahia Chronicle

30 Oct 2034
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

A fracture rules Koro Coulibaly out for 72 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Gor Mahia will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Market

Ibrahim Ayumba 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.

Squad

A falling-out at Gor Mahia

Koro Coulibaly and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

David Kamau signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” David Kamau commits to Gor Mahia for another 3 years.

Market

Gor Mahia and Aïmen Moueffek are talking past each other

“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.

The dugout

Austin Harrison has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Gor Mahia 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.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of David Kamau

“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.

Market

Still no signature from Sidnei Tavares

1 months left and the two sides are nowhere near each other. Every week this drags on takes money off what Gor Mahia could get for him.

Market

The Sidnei Tavares story refuses to die

It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sidnei Tavares signs something — a contract at Gor Mahia or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.

In brief