Marked for Daniel Mjengu
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces28 Jul 2031
The mood at Bidvest Wits has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Boardroom28 Jul 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Bidvest Wits
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bidvest Wits is running low.
Market28 Jul 2031
The offer from Free State Stars for Luther Mokoena was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Boy Madingwana 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.
Squad28 Jul 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Transfer targets28 Jul 2031
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
The dugout28 Jul 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad28 Jul 2031
Sibongakonke Nkosi has improved at 27, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Market28 Jul 2031
Morgan Furman is 20, and Bidvest Wits have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
The paperwork begins on Aden Dreyer
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Bidvest Wits have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Morgan Grobler is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
Transfer targets7 Jul 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orlando Pirates have kept their man, and Bidvest Wits go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Market7 Jul 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad7 Jul 2031
Daniel Mjengu 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.
Boardroom7 Jul 2031
Intake day at the Bidvest Wits academy
8 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
The dugout7 Jul 2031
When it matters, Sipho Mbule plays
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces30 Jun 2031
Anger at Bidvest Wits spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Boardroom30 Jun 2031
The scrutiny sharpens at Bidvest Wits
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at Bidvest Wits is running low.
Squad30 Jun 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thato Sibiya commits to Bidvest Wits for another 5 years.
Squad30 Jun 2031
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Transfer targets30 Jun 2031
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Sevilla have kept their man, and Bidvest Wits go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad30 Jun 2031
Lungelo Kunene and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Market30 Jun 2031
Morgan Lorch is 19, and Bidvest Wits have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
The dugout30 Jun 2031
The manager makes an example of Daniel Mjengu
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match16 Jun 2031
Position 15, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The dugout16 Jun 2031
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad16 Jun 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Bidvest Wits asked and Benfica 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 dugout16 Jun 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout16 Jun 2031
The manager makes an example of Boy Madingwana
“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 Jun 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Mjengu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
Bidvest Wits have made the call to Estudiantes. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Transfer targets16 Jun 2031
A loan enquiry to Sporting CP: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 May 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout26 May 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Squad26 May 2031
Daniel Mjengu 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.
Market26 May 2031
Experience through the door at Bidvest Wits
Nabil Jaadi arrives at 35 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
Market26 May 2031
Experience through the door at Bidvest Wits
Dumisani Msibi arrives at 36 with nothing left to prove and plenty left to pass on. Legs are a young man's currency; knowing where to stand never ages.
The dugout26 May 2031
The manager makes an example of Morgan Grobler
“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 dugout26 May 2031
Luther Dolly has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bidvest Wits 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.
Market26 May 2031
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bidvest Wits, another week without a signature from Dumisani Msibi.
Squad26 May 2031
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 Bidvest Wits would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 May 2031
“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.
The dugout5 May 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 May 2031
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sipho Mbule commits to Bidvest Wits for another 2 years.
Squad5 May 2031
Thato Sibiya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout5 May 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
Market5 May 2031
“There is a gap, and pretending there is not helps nobody.” Neither side has moved, and the calendar is working for exactly one of them.
Squad5 May 2031
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Mjengu 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.
Squad5 May 2031
Bidvest Wits are still strangers to each other
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.
The dugout5 May 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad14 Apr 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Bidvest Wits can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
news_b_reunited_with_his_manager
The dugout14 Apr 2031
The manager makes an example of Boy Madingwana
“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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Mjengu 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.
Squad14 Apr 2031
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bayanda Zulu and Bidvest Wits agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The dugout14 Apr 2031
Sipho Mbule has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Bidvest Wits 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.
Market14 Apr 2031
Lungelo Kunene is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bidvest Wits has been clear about where Lungelo Kunene stands, which is more than many ever get.
Market14 Apr 2031
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Bidvest Wits know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match24 Mar 2031
Position 15, 14 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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.
Squad24 Mar 2031
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Mjengu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market24 Mar 2031
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Sifiso Mlungwana signs something — a contract at Bidvest Wits or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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 Luyanda Makhathini is on it.
The dugout24 Mar 2031
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad3 Mar 2031
13 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match1 Mar 2031
12 matches without a win for Bidvest Wits
The run now stands at 12, and the questions being asked around Bidvest Wits are no longer polite ones.
Squad3 Mar 2031
A fracture rules Sipho Mbule out for 25 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidvest Wits will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Match3 Mar 2031
14 points, and the season has a number on it. Whatever it felt like from the inside, this is what it will look like in a book.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market3 Mar 2031
“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 Bidvest Wits, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad3 Mar 2031
Nkosinathi Sibisi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match1 Mar 2031
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout3 Mar 2031
“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.