Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 86th, and Muranga Seal spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tusker have done the hard part with Chippa United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
The 85th minute, half the ground already edging towards the exits, and Eric Kapaito decided nobody was going anywhere. Bidco United had no time left to answer.
Two goals and a mark of 8.54 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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 a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Jacob Onyango has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Two goals and a mark of 8.61 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
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.
Tusker asked and Plateau 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Eric Kapaito. 2‑1 against Kariobangi Sharks, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Marked 7.03 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
Tusker asked and Great Olympics said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Kariobangi Sharks next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Cliff Oruko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Elvis Karisa after 0‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dennis Magio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mathare United have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 7.19, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Douglas Ochoko
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tusker have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
A brace, and Eric Kapaito takes the afternoon — 9.20
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eric Kapaito provided it, and the 9.20 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
Everything agreed with Great Olympics, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Tusker asked and Bendel Insurance said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Cliff Oruko and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings17 Jul 2028
Yakeen Muthelil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.41. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Tusker training over how hard people work
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Victor Mbaoma at his very best
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Great Olympics 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.
Eric Kapaito 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.
This is not rotation. Douglas Omanga has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings10 Jul 2028
Cliff Oruko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cliff Oruko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 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.
Tusker asked and Golden Arrows 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 fixture the rest of the division is looking forward to more than either of the sides in it. Both know a win changes the season and a defeat does not end it, which is what makes it hard to play.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dennis Magio will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Chances created: 17. Not on the scoresheet and not remotely anonymous — a passing performance that pulled a defence apart without leaving a mark on the column that gets read.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Tusker asked and CotonTchad said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Golden Arrows 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.
A loan enquiry to SuperSport United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Sofapaka had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Tusker did not stop to explain themselves.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Tusker asked and SuperSport 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.
Marked 8.34 — 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Thomas Teka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sofapaka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Player ratings12 Jun 2028
A brace, and Eric Kapaito takes the afternoon — 8.40
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Eric Kapaito provided it, and the 8.40 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tusker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
7 goals in one match, Eric Kapaito on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tusker and Posta Rangers.
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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tusker have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tusker have done the hard part with SuperSport United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.18, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
36 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 35 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A 1‑0 win over Nairobi United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.24, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad29 May 2028
Thomas Teka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Eric Kapaito 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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 Victor Mbaoma is on 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 Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Ian Simiyu Jr.’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tusker.
Squad15 May 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑1, Elvis Karisa could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutFabien Adikiny has become a man the manager trusts
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cliff Oruko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Tusker have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
The dugout8 May 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 0‑1 Elvis Karisa left the room before anybody could ask which.
In brief
Boardroom87% of the income goes out in wages at Tusker
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
It finished 1‑0, and it was Yakeen Muthelil’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tusker.
Player ratings1 May 2028
Yakeen Muthelil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.27. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Cliff Oruko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Eugene Ikutwa is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 21 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
27 points, and the rest of the division looking up. Every side that finishes first spends the season pretending it is not thinking about it, and this one has started pretending.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Tusker.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tusker has been clear about where Servyl Akouala stands, which is more than many ever get.
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Tusker will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kwanele Nayo. 2‑1 against Bidco United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Abud Omar 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kwanele Nayo has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Afriyie Amoah has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
A 1‑0 win over Kariobangi Sharks, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Elvis Karisa on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutIan Simiyu Jr. has become a man the manager trusts
The dugoutDennis Wanjala dropped after a run of poor form
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Yakeen Muthelil. 1‑0 against Mara Sugar, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
Player ratings3 Apr 2028
Yakeen Muthelil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.05. 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.
Something was said to Afriyie Amoah and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
Eric Kapaito 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thomas Teka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Victor Mbaoma is on 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 Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Eugene Ikutwa’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tusker needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Marked 7.41. There is a kind of forward whose value only shows up when you count what he was involved in rather than what he finished, and this is the day that argument makes itself.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad20 Mar 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
17 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
7.48, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ian Simiyu Jr.. 2‑1 against Shabana, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 Cliff Oruko was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 4 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
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.
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 Victor Mbaoma is on it.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Elvis Karisa after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
There were 88 minutes on the clock and APS Bomet had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Tusker did not stop to explain themselves.
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
4 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 21 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 Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Tusker asked and SuperSport 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.
Three points for Tusker, 2‑0 the final word against Sofapaka in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Cliff Oruko falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Elvis Karisa kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Sofapaka moved on, Fidel Origa reports back to Tusker, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
14 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Tusker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 8 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
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.
Tusker asked and Nasarawa 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.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Tusker know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
A season-long audition: Golden Arrows still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Tusker's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
A season-long audition: Berekum Chelsea still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are Tusker's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tusker they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Kgaogelo Monanyane has just signed for Tusker, and for once the answer mattered.
Everything agreed with Golden Arrows, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Tusker asked and Nasarawa 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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Cliff Oruko 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.
A loan enquiry to Berekum Chelsea: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Tusker asked and Shabana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 Cliff Oruko is on 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 Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Ian Simiyu Jr. signs something — a contract at Tusker or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A new face in his position, and Victor Mbaoma suddenly has to win back what he thought he owned. Tusker have promised nothing — clubs rarely do at this stage.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Tusker asked and Real Bamako said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Tusker have made the call to SuperSport United. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Tusker had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 Thomas Teka was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Hearts of Oak 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.
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.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Eric Kapaito 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.
Squad20 Dec 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
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.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
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 Eric Kapaito is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tusker know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tusker they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
5 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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 Victor Mbaoma is on it.
13 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Tusker will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.39, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
Jacob Onyango 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.
Yakeen Muthelil and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Yakeen Muthelil is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Fidel Origa signs something — a contract at Tusker or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Cliff Oruko is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tusker know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Tusker would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
A call-up flatters the player and the club that produced him in the same breath. Tusker would like him back in one piece and know they will not be consulted.
55 points from position 5. The title is somebody else’s business and the drop is somebody else’s problem; what is left is the argument about passports.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tusker. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cliff Oruko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad1 Nov 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Tusker 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 year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at Tusker would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
“I want to stay in the game when I stop, and I am not going to wait until I stop to prepare for it.” At 31 the badges have begun, and every manager in the division remembers doing the same.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tusker know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Victor Mbaoma’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 55 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout18 Oct 2027
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 1‑2 Elvis Karisa left the room before anybody could ask which.
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.
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Tusker has been clear about where Servyl Akouala stands, which is more than many ever get.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Kakamega Homeboyz in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Tusker know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tusker they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
12 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
“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.
Squad4 Oct 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Telena Ochieng is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Elvis Karisa could afford to be generous.
Yakeen Muthelil 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Brandon Obiero will call it something else in private.
15 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
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.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Everybody at Tusker saw it before anybody said it, which is how this always goes. At 35 the decline is real and measurable — 3 points — and the only question left is how the club handles somebody it owes a great deal to.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Prince Maseko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Two goals and a mark of 8.64 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. James Omusinde has, at Tusker, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Tusker asked and Plateau 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.
It finished 2‑0, and it was Victor Mbaoma’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Tusker.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Cliff Oruko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.34. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
In brief
Player ratingsNinety minutes of Yakeen Muthelil at his very best
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“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.
Boardroom6 Sep 2027
Deadline passes with 8 signed and 11 gone
That is the business done at Tusker until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Tusker asked and Enyimba said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Tusker know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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. Great Olympics have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
50 goals in these colours now, every one of them somebody’s memory. There is a supporter in the stand who can tell you where he was for most of them.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
A loan enquiry to Plateau United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Tusker have lost him in all but the paperwork.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Tusker have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Tusker asked and Abia Warriors said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
This is not rotation. Alex Onchwari has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise.
Squad23 Aug 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Tusker had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at KCB, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Tusker asked and AFC Leopards said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Dennis Oalo 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Bidco United will make the call about Eugene Ikutwa this week. Tusker have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cliff Oruko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
1 for Thomas Teka, marked 7.94, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
The deal with KCB 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.
Dennis Oalo 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 22 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Tusker training over how hard people work
Player ratingsYakeen Muthelil was on a different afternoon to everybody else
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Tusker asked and Golden Arrows said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Golden Arrows 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Golden Arrows have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yakeen Muthelil 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 rotation. Alex Onchwari has not been in the manager's plans for some time, and nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Cliff Oruko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.63. 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.
8 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings26 Jul 2027
Eric Kapaito was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.06. 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Posta Rangers waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bayelsa United have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Golden Arrows 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.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Ronny Otieno obliged against Kenya Police. 2‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Tusker.
The first defeat in 11 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Gor Mahia; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Tusker asked and Nasarawa 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.
“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 Tusker, 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.” Tusker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tusker they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Tusker asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.57 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tusker people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Tusker asked and Golden Arrows said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Golden Arrows 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Emmanuel Lwangu has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
Tusker asked and Maritzburg 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Position 5, 27 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
Yakeen Muthelil 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I did not go to KCB to sit and watch. I want to come back to Tusker and fight for my place.” 5 appearances in 19 matches say the rest.
The dugout31 May 2027
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.” Elvis Karisa, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Chances created: 9. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Marked 8.14 — 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.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then AFC Leopards scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Squad24 May 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
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.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
91 minutes played. Yakeen Muthelil found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Mathare United went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Dennis Oalo 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 dugout17 May 2027
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.” Elvis Karisa, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Ulinzi Stars will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Tusker were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Yakeen Muthelil 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tusker, and 5 appearances in 15 say he has earned the hearing.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Elvis Karisa after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Francis Oduor has his answer from Tusker; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager has not finished forgetting Brandon Obiero's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Elvis Karisa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Tusker dressing room was either.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Tusker will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Tusker is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Marked 8.20 — 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.
Marked 6.98 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Elvis Karisa kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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: 14. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
The dugout12 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Elvis Karisa was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Tusker dressing room was either.
At 22 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Thomas Teka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Eric Kapaito’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Tusker needing him to play as if none of it matters.
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.
“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 Tusker, 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.” Tusker have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tusker, and 3 appearances in 10 say he has earned the hearing.
Dennis Oalo 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Collins Odhiambo is on it.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cliff Oruko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dennis Oalo 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
6 goals in one match, Eric Kapaito on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Tusker and Shabana.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings15 Mar 2027
Cliff Oruko was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. 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 was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Elvis Karisa on a 4‑2 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Elvis Karisa after 2‑3, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Eric Kapaito is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Victor Mbaoma signs something — a contract at Tusker or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
The dugoutFabien Adikiny has become a man the manager trusts
7.91, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 86. Bandari had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Tusker, and 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Abud Omar is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Cliff Oruko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Tusker the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. David Polepole has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Elvis Karisa, on a 2‑1 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. George Kaddu is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
In brief
The dugoutEric Kapaito has become a man the manager trusts
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.76 beside his name.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Golden Arrows have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Tusker people have started saying his name in the past tense.
4 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. George Wanyama 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.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Kevin Onyango 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.
Successful dribbles: 17. 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.
In brief
SquadWords at Tusker training over how hard people work
The bid was some way short and Tusker did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 2 signed and 2 gone
That is the business done at Tusker until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
The deal with Kano Pillars 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Rangers International have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The phone has started ringing about Cliff Oruko again, and this time the name on the line is Sofapaka. Tusker are listening politely and promising nothing.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Dennis Oalo 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.
Tusker and Gor Mahia have settled on $26.0K. 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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Tusker they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Plateau United have kept their man, and Tusker go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Yakeen Muthelil and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Nobody at Tusker 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. Tusker have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
The words a physio says slowly. 16 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.
Tusker had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Rivers United, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Prince Maseko has, at Tusker, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
Ulinzi Stars paid $65.0K and Tusker took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Tusker asked and Rivers 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.
Abud Omar 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 words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Sofapaka waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Tusker is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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 Tusker, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal with Rivers 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.
Abud Omar 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Victor Mbaoma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and George Kaddu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
32 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Tusker lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Tusker can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Gor Mahia, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Tusker have had the benefit of it.
The phone has started ringing about Cliff Oruko again, and this time the name on the line is Sofapaka. Tusker are listening politely and promising nothing.
Rivers United 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
John Otieno falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker 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 George Kaddu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Edwin Simiyu has written the date down.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Abud Omar and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thomas Teka 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.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Thomas Teka falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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 Eric Kapaito is on it.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Tusker will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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 said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Abud Omar 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 Victor Mbaoma trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Tusker had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.
Ian Simiyu Jr. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Otieno 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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tusker. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
The dugoutJohn Otieno knocks on the manager's door
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 George Kaddu is on it.
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
The dugoutJohn Otieno knocks on the manager’s door
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abud Omar 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.
Dennis Oalo 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.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Abud Omar 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.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Tusker training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. John Otieno 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.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Ian Simiyu Jr. has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
In brief
SquadIan Simiyu Jr. is training like a man with a point to make
At 34, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
Abud Omar 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 dugout19 Oct 2026
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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Elvis Karisa to a room that had heard them before.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and John Otieno was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Shots: 12. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Nobody at Tusker 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.
Successful dribbles: 10. 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.
Ian Simiyu Jr. and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Abud Omar falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Tusker. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. Eric Kapaito scored in the 86th minute, Nairobi United had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Tusker took the lot.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Every club pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time it has been tried.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Tusker this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Elvis Karisa could afford to be generous.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Tusker, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Every run ends on an afternoon somebody had marked down as routine. This one went 10 matches, which is long enough that a town had stopped counting, and short enough that it will remember exactly who stopped it.
Abud Omar 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.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Vincent Owino
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 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.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.