Nairobi United coach Nicholas Muyoti was shaking as the club’s technical director, Salim Ali, spoke in a video clip the club shared on their social media platforms on December 31, 2025.
In the video, Ali and Muyoti shared their optimism about how changes made to the club’s technical bench will keep the 2025 MozzartBet Cup winners on the path of achieving success.
Ali, speaking with his hand under the table, hinted that the changes follow the club reaching a critical turning point – Nairobi United, playing in their maiden top flight season after winning last season’s National Super League (NSL) title, was taking a new direction by levelling up with new faces.
Nairobi United coach Nicholas Muyoti.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
As Ali spoke, Muyoti had his hands in a steeple, with his elbows resting on the edge of a desk he and Ali were sitting behind. He stared at his hands as tremors took over his body until it was his turn to speak.
“What I can say is that Nairobi United is bigger than everyone,” Ali said.
The comments could be contextualized by remarks Samuel Born Maina, the club’s alienated founder, made during a news report by NTV on Tuesday.
“In Nairobi United, the people, players and members of the technical bench, who really worked so hard to ensure that Nairobi United achieved what it has today, were unceremoniously kicked out of the club just because maybe they are allied to the founder of Nairobi United. I find that so ridiculous,” Maina said.
Yet, Ali had presented the changes to the technical bench as a process rooted in an established tradition at the club of reinvigorating itself at critical junctures of its growth.
Nairobi United coach Ali Salim gives instructions from the touchline during the Caf Confederation Cup group stage match against AS Maniema Union at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani on November 30, 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
“The most important thing is that we are trying to have new faces in the team. Last season, when we were in the NSL, we brought Muyoti at the start of the second leg to change a few things and, of course, he did that. He achieved a lot by winning the league and the MozzartBet. It is the same thing this year. We are almost starting the second leg and we are trying to beef up the team by trying to bring in quality and that requires revamping the technical bench,” Ali said.
In a past interview with Nation Sport, Maina had shared how Ali, and later Muyoti, were brought to the club.
Salim Ali was brought on board by Osman Khalif in September 2024 informed by the need for an experienced coach to mentor the team’s youthful technical bench.
Khalif, who is former MCA for South ‘C’ Ward, is currently the Liaison Officer for Nairobi Governor Johnson Sakaja. He has been the “team leader” and a link between the club and its sponsor Sakaja Foundation.
Muyoti's arrival at Nairobi United
Muyoti arrived in January 2025 after being poached from Nairobi City Stars. At the time, Nairobi United was playing its second season in the NSL.
Their first season had ended in a near-miss at promotion after they finished fourth, a point behind third-placed Naivas who clinched the promotion play-off spot.
“Our form nosedived towards the end of that season due to inexperience,” Maina had recalled in that past interview with Nation Sport.
Maina had added that it was the fear of suffering the same fate in the 2024/25 NSL season that prompted head-hunting the tested and proven Muyoti.
Muyoti’s arrival resulted in the demotion of Edwin Mwaura to an assistant coach, a process which Maina revealed was done “cordially and with utmost respect” to the letter.
Nairobi United coach Nicholas Muyoti.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
However, the recent changes to the club’s technical bench have witnessed the exits of Edwin Mwaura, Anthony Muki Kimani (set-piece coach), and Joseph Ruto (goalkeeper coach). Their roles have since been taken by Boniface Omondi (assistant coach), Sadiq Ambani (assistant coach), Samuel Koko (goalkeeper coach), and Kevin Kimani (strength and conditioning coach).
In that video clip that Nairobi United shared on their social media platforms on December 31, Muyoti spoke positively of the changes.
“I take this opportunity to thank the management for what they have done so far as a team. We welcome the changes and whoever has been brought in is experienced,” Muyoti said.
Yet, Muyoti still aimed a sly dig at the coaching experience of one of the new appointees – the pint-sized Kimani, a former footballer who was a reputed dead-ball specialist during his spells with a plethora of clubs including Mathare United, AFC Leopards, and Wazito.
“Kimani is new to the game but not really new. He is experienced in terms of playing, but in terms of coaching, he is new,” stated Muyoti, a CAF ‘B’ coaching license holder and also a former footballer.
Ovella Ochieng (left) of Nairobi United shields the ball from Gor Mahia's Paul Ochuoga during their FKF Premier League match at Dandora Stadium in Nairobi on December 21, 2025.
Photo credit: Chris Omollo | Nation Media Group
Still, Muyoti looked forward to a bright future with his new technical bench.
“It is quite a good team. I believe we can work together to achieve what we want as a team. The quality of the coaches coming is a big plus with the experience they bring from the clubs they are joining from. They will help us maintain our standards and go beyond what we have done before,” he said.
Yet, that bright future lasted only eight days as the rumour mill swirled with reports of Muyoti contemplating leaving the club. January 8 served as the strongest evidence that Muyoti’s days at Nai Bois had come to an end, and unceremoniously so.
After naming the team that would play against AFC Leopards in an FKF Premier League match played at Nyayo National Stadium, Muyoti had supervised the team’s warm-ups.
It turned out to be the calm before the storm. When his players lined up in the tunnel for the long walk to the pitch, Muyoti psyched them up but did not follow them to the pitch, leaving Ali to stand in for him on the technical bench.
Ssenyonjo Samuel (left) of AFC Leopards tussles for an aerial ball with John Otieno of Nairobi United during their FKF Premier League match at Nyayo National Stadium, Nairobi on January 7, 2026.
Photo credit: Sila Kiplagat | Nation Media Group
Later, after the match, which Nairobi United lost 2-0, Ali appeared before an eager battery of journalists shadowed by a staff of the club who jokingly pleaded that hard questions should not be asked.
Yet, there was no evading the elephant in the room. When the question came, Ali swatted the 5,000-kilogram pachyderm with the adeptness of a seasoned parliamentarian.
Ali, a veteran of many press interviews, simply responded to questions about Muyoti’s whereabouts and status at the club by saying, “Right question asked to the wrong person. He (Muyoti) is best placed to answer that.”
When reached for comment by Nation Sport, Muyoti denied resigning from the club, refused to comment on leaving before kick-off, but hinted that his days at Nairobi United are numbered.
“I have not resigned. Official communication on everything will come before the end of the week,” he said.
That official communication may just end up confirming Muyoti’s exit from Nai Bois, hence refreshing the history of Kenyan football with yet another tale of a coach leaving a club in controversial circumstances.
