The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason APS Bomet will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Sven Yidah 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.
Something was said to Ochieng Miheso and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at APS Bomet has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. APS Bomet will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Player ratings24 Sep 2029
Francis Miheso, 17, plays like he has been here for years — 7.69
A mark of 7.69 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 17-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Marked 7.29 on 14 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
He is 17 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 Sep 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Luis Álvarez, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
Player ratingsHalf an hour was enough for Aziz Okaka
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. APS Bomet will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Sven Yidah 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 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Aziz Okaka will call it something else in private.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at APS Bomet can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” APS Bomet have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
APS Bomet close the window on a squad of their own making
12 in and 9 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Muranga Seal is saying, and nobody at APS Bomet is enjoying the guessing.
The deal with Kariobangi Sharks is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sven Yidah 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason APS Bomet will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 17 combined actions and a mark of 6.95, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The deal with Nairobi United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
APS Bomet have gone to Muranga Seal 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Muranga Seal have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout27 Aug 2029
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.” Luis Álvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason APS Bomet will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
The deal with Bandari is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
APS Bomet have gone to Muranga Seal 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
8.02. 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.
The dugout20 Aug 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Luis Álvarez, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. APS Bomet will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
The deal with Posta Rangers is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
$150.0K on the table at Muranga Seal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Sven Yidah 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jonathan Boakye and APS Bomet agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout13 Aug 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Luis Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at APS Bomet, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. APS Bomet will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
$65.0K on the table at Muranga Seal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Sven Yidah 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at APS Bomet, another week without a signature from Morgan Ambuka.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 20 actions, 7.60, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. APS Bomet have done the hard part with Shabana, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Enock Wanyama’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to APS Bomet.
Player ratings30 Jul 2029
Enock Wanyama was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
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.
The deal with Posta Rangers is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Player ratings23 Jul 2029
Enock Wanyama was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.29. 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.
It needed Enock Wanyama to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Sofapaka, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout23 Jul 2029
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.” Luis Álvarez chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Posta Rangers were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Sven Yidah 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.
A 2‑1 win over Posta Rangers, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nicholas Kibwage is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Michael Juma is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Timothy Masika is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. George Wanyama is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
$65.0K on the table at Muranga Seal. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Sven Yidah 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.
A point taken on 92 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at APS Bomet is running low.
APS Bomet and Muranga Seal have settled on $4.0K. 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Muranga Seal have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Player ratings2 Jul 2029
Curtis Wekesa was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luis Álvarez after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A loan enquiry to Kakamega Homeboyz: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
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.
Everything was agreed with Kenya Police and then the doctor spoke. APS Bomet have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
Successful dribbles: 23. 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.
Sven Yidah 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.
$900.00 on the table at Gor Mahia. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
A loan enquiry to Bandari: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The dugout18 Jun 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Luis Álvarez was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the APS Bomet dressing room was either.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Tusker defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Position 16 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The deal with Mathare United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sven Yidah 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.
1‑3 to Ulinzi Stars, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout11 Jun 2029
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Luis Álvarez to a room that had heard them before.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. APS Bomet told Sven Yidah something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
0‑4 to Muranga Seal, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Sven Yidah 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.
Beaten 4 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Sven Yidah 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Alex Juma has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
Squad7 May 2029
The division's best last weekend was a APS Bomet man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Rodgers Kipkemoi was the best thing in any of them.
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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rodgers Kipkemoi provided it, and the 8.26 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Sven Yidah 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.
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Mara Sugar in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at APS Bomet can tell you which week it ends in.
0‑1 to Shabana, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Luis Álvarez left the room before anybody could ask which.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against KCB in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Luis Álvarez after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Something was said to Ramahlwe Williams and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The words a physio says slowly. 15 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.
Sven Yidah 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
Something was said to Ochieng Miheso and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. APS Bomet know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
22 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Sven Yidah 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between APS Bomet and Mathare United, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Marked 7.66 on 9 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
4 saves does not settle the argument about whose fault it was, and the argument will run all week. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines whoever caused them.
29 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. APS Bomet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout26 Mar 2029
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 Luis Álvarez to a room that had heard them before.
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 mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Sven Yidah scored, was marked 7.65, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sven Yidah. 1‑0 against Posta Rangers, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Luis Álvarez on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
SquadA APS Bomet teenager takes the young player award
The words a physio says slowly. 46 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.
A 1‑0 win over Posta Rangers, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match7 Mar 2029
Ochieng Owusu wins it after the whistle should have gone
100 minutes played. Ochieng Owusu found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Posta Rangers went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 0 on the scoresheet, 7.21 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
Sven Yidah 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.
At 19 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 words a physio says slowly. 53 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sven Yidah 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 9 actions, 7.00, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Hillary Otieno has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
60 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. APS Bomet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout26 Feb 2029
Sven Yidah is playing like a man with something to prove
The oldest phenomenon in the sport: a new voice in the dressing room and suddenly everybody is available for everything. Sven Yidah is training as though the last team sheet never existed, because as far as he is concerned it does not.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against AFC Leopards? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
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.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 15. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Francis Miheso and APS Bomet agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout19 Feb 2029
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 Nicholas Masika to a room that had heard them before.
The words a physio says slowly. 75 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.
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. APS Bomet scored in the 93th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Two goals and a mark of 8.97 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Sven Yidah 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.
Day 11 of the vacancy. Candidates have been priced, sounded out and quietly ruled out — and the caretaker’s win ratio is becoming an argument all by itself.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
82 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. APS Bomet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 4 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Sven Yidah 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.
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
89 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. APS Bomet lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
APS Bomet have made the call to Mathare United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. APS Bomet will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
96 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Position 16 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around APS Bomet people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Alex Sunga has, at APS Bomet, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
The shirt still fits. Alex Sunga is back at APS Bomet, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
The words a physio says slowly. 103 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.
Sven Yidah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Nairobi United have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Enock Wanyama has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
The words a physio says slowly. 110 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sven Yidah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bandari have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
117 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
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.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Curtis Wekesa has moved up it.
Sven Yidah has been around long enough to know what the spring feels like when it goes wrong, and he can feel it. A dressing room that is frightened plays like one.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The words a physio says slowly. 124 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Delton Oyo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Sven Yidah 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sven Yidah 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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Hillary Otieno’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Jesse Kipkirui's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Alex Juma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Sven Yidah 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.
Sven Yidah 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 table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at APS Bomet says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Sven Yidah is on it.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Enock Wanyama is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. APS Bomet will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Sven Yidah 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” APS Bomet have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 Sven Yidah is on it.
The table has started to be checked before the results are in, and that is always the tell. Nobody at APS Bomet says the word out loud, and everybody in the building is thinking it.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Position 16 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Morgan Ambuka has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at APS Bomet.
Squad2 Oct 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Patrick Njeru
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Patrick Njeru has come out of that comparison in the side, and APS Bomet have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
In brief
The dugoutMorgan Ambuka asks for a word with the manager
Position 16 on 28 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Player ratings25 Sep 2028
Ochieng Miheso, 16, plays like he has been here for years — 7.73
A mark of 7.73 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 16-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The shirt still fits. Morgan Ambuka is back at APS Bomet, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Sven Yidah 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at APS Bomet, another week without a signature from Morgan Ambuka.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Hillary Otieno
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at APS Bomet is running low.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
Sven Yidah 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 1‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Hansel Ochieng trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
Boardroom4 Sep 2028
APS Bomet close the window on a squad of their own making
7 in and 10 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at APS Bomet pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sven Yidah 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 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.
APS Bomet asked and Nairobi 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.
Kakamega Homeboyz 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.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
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.” Ochieng Odhiambo chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
Successful dribbles: 26. 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.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mathare United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Sven Yidah 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A loan enquiry to Nairobi United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Ochieng Miheso is living that version at APS Bomet, and it tends to show in the first month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mathare United have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Gor Mahia left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
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 Ochieng Odhiambo to a room that had heard them before.
He is 16, and nobody at APS Bomet signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Anthony Miheso
106Edition
The APS Bomet Sentinel
7 Aug 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces7 Aug 2028
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
The whole football department in one room on a weekday morning. Nothing was announced afterwards, which is what a board announces when it has run out of patience.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.99 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Sven Yidah 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.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Dennis Cheruiyot will call it something else in private.
The dugout31 Jul 2028
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Ochieng Odhiambo, on a 3‑2 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Sven Yidah 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.
Mathare United next, and both sides can do the sum. Win and the table looks different; lose and it looks the way everybody has been fearing.
Boardroom24 Jul 2028
Nobody left the APS Bomet dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout24 Jul 2028
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑3 Ochieng Odhiambo left the room before anybody could ask which.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
100 games in the shirt. Nobody sets out to build a record like that; it happens to a certain kind of player at a certain kind of club, and this town knows what it has.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Posta Rangers? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
The deal with Kakamega Homeboyz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: Mathare United keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Sven Yidah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Muranga Seal have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at APS Bomet is running low.
The shirt still fits. Dennis Cheruiyot is back at APS Bomet, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Sven Yidah 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at APS Bomet can tell you which week it ends in.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Off the academy pitches and onto a senior team sheet at 16. The debut is the easy part; the second appearance is the one every young player has to earn.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at APS Bomet, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Player ratingsCurtis Wekesa beats them one at a time
The dugoutDelton Oyo has become a man the manager trusts
98Edition
The APS Bomet Sentinel
12 Jun 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces12 Jun 2028
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Successful dribbles: 20. 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at APS Bomet can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
The deal with Nairobi United is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Sven Yidah 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rodgers Kipkemoi and APS Bomet agree another 4 years.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Anthony Miheso is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 7.41 for the rest of it.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sven Yidah 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nobody at APS Bomet is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. APS Bomet know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Nobody at APS Bomet 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.
SquadQuestions about Bob Cetric on the training pitch
94Edition
The APS Bomet Sentinel
15 May 2028
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces15 May 2028
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Sven Yidah 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 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.
Squad8 May 2028
A place in the month's best eleven for Brian Buleti
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Brian Buleti has come out of that comparison in the side, and APS Bomet have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at APS Bomet is running low.
Sven Yidah 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Enock Wanyama. 1‑0 against KCB, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 8.09 — 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. APS Bomet told Hansel Ochieng something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Ochieng Odhiambo could afford to be generous.
In brief
The dugoutHansel Ochieng loses the manager who believed in him
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Ochieng Odhiambo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at APS Bomet, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Sven Yidah 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.
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 Sven Yidah is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ochieng Odhiambo after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bob Cetric trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bandari? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Wanyama signs something — a contract at APS Bomet or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Mathare United were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Sven Yidah 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.
Dealt with internally, which is the phrase a club uses when it would rather nobody asked twice. He will be fined, he will apologise, and he will play on Saturday.
A 2‑1 win over Mathare United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Hansel Ochieng was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.40. 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.
It involved Cosmas Abuta, it was loud enough to reach the car park, and it was over by lunch. Dressing rooms run hot; the ones that should worry you are the silent ones.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Sofapaka defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Mathare United next, and one man in the APS Bomet dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evans Kipkemoi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Rodgers Kipkemoi to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Posta Rangers, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ochieng Odhiambo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
In brief
The dugoutHansel Ochieng asks for a word with the manager
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
Sven Yidah 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.
“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.
Squad13 Mar 2028
Words at APS Bomet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evans Kipkemoi 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Sven Yidah 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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Morgan Ambuka, and the manager let it.
The dugout6 Mar 2028
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 Ochieng Odhiambo to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. APS Bomet told Hillary Otieno something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
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.
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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Rodgers Kipkemoi scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Tusker, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
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 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Ochieng Odhiambo to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Evans Kipkemoi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bob Cetric trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
Sven Yidah 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.
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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Ochieng Odhiambo after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ochieng Owusu is 18, and for one weekend he was the best of everybody his age in the division. Nobody should build a career on it and everybody quietly does.
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. APS Bomet have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Tusker in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
“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.
Boardroom7 Feb 2028
APS Bomet close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 1 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
The deal that would have taken Evans Kipkemoi to Mathare United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to APS Bomet with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Sven Yidah 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bidco United have kept their man, and APS Bomet go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
He is 18 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. APS Bomet have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The deal with Kakamega Homeboyz is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at APS Bomet, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The mood at APS Bomet has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around APS Bomet they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Kakamega Homeboyz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Sven Yidah 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jesse Kipkirui 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Patrick Ochieng has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Timothy Masika has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
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.
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 Sven Yidah is on it.
In brief
The dugoutMaxwell Kubasu asks for a word with the manager
The offer from Etoiles du Mande for Aziz Okaka 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Kariobangi Sharks moved on, Evans Kipkemoi reports back to APS Bomet, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Everything agreed with Kakamega Homeboyz, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kenya Police is saying, and nobody at APS Bomet is enjoying the guessing.
Sven Yidah 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.
APS Bomet asked and Bidco 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.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Ochieng Odhiambo has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Sven Yidah 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.
APS Bomet have made the call to Kakamega Homeboyz. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Enock Wanyama is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sven Yidah 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Enock Wanyama signs something — a contract at APS Bomet or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Delton Oyo are not good
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at APS Bomet is running low.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at APS Bomet can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
Sven Yidah 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Hansel Ochieng's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. APS Bomet lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Sven Yidah 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.
In brief
The dugoutMaxwell Kubasu asks for a word with the manager
The words a physio says slowly. 26 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.
“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 APS Bomet, and it is not being withdrawn.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Bob Cetric is a APS Bomet player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at APS Bomet this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Something was said to Bob Cetric and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Nobody at APS Bomet 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.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. APS Bomet have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Maxwell Kubasu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Delton Oyo are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Morgan Ambuka
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at APS Bomet has been clear about where Delton Oyo stands, which is more than many ever get.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. APS Bomet know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.
Nothing has been announced and everybody understands what it means. A board that summons the whole football department on a Tuesday morning is a board that has stopped believing the problem will fix itself.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what APS Bomet can pretend not to have heard.
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Sven Yidah 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.
Words at APS Bomet training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Evans Kipkemoi 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.
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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Enock Wanyama's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.