Marked for Mindinho
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Jul 2029
Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Golden Arrows have gone to Bidvest Wits with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad9 Jul 2029
Sbonelo Cele 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 targets9 Jul 2029
Golden Arrows 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Maritzburg 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.
Transfer targets9 Jul 2029
Golden Arrows have made the call to Bloemfontein Celtic. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Sboniso Madonsela'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.
The dugout9 Jul 2029
Mindinho gets it from the manager
“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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom21 May 2029
Pressure builds in the Golden Arrows boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market21 May 2029
Kwanele Nayo hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Golden Arrows can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 May 2029
Selaelo Rasebotja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 May 2029
Omar Khailoti 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 dugout21 May 2029
The manager makes an example of Ethan Visagie
“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 dugout21 May 2029
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thokozani Khumalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces30 Apr 2029
Supporters organise against the Golden Arrows board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Velemseni Ndwandwe was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market30 Apr 2029
Neo Mokoena is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Golden Arrows has been clear about where Neo Mokoena stands, which is more than many ever get.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Neo Mokoena knocks on the manager's door
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Golden Arrows, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
No hiding place for Mindinho
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mindinho, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market16 Apr 2029
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Golden Arrows can pretend not to have heard.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Omar Khailoti and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Velemseni Ndwandwe 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 dugout16 Apr 2029
Omar Khailoti knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Omar Khailoti trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market16 Apr 2029
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jerome Karelse signs something — a contract at Golden Arrows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout16 Apr 2029
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Golden Arrows. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad20 Nov 2028
Omar Khailoti 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.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Sbonelo Cele 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 dugout20 Nov 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Keenan Phillips trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thakasani Mbanjwa, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead20 Nov 2028
Maritzburg United next, and one man in the Golden Arrows dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Market20 Nov 2028
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Jerome Karelse’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
Themba Mkhize has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Golden Arrows will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
The dugout20 Nov 2028
A door opens for Mindinho
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.
Market20 Nov 2028
6 months remain and no agreement is close. Every week without a signature costs Golden Arrows money.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market21 Feb 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Golden Arrows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Match19 Feb 2028
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Selaelo Rasebotja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sbonelo Cele 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.
Match19 Feb 2028
Mamelodi Sundowns held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Golden Arrows answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“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.
Match19 Feb 2028
It needed Teboho Tlolane to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mamelodi Sundowns, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Squad21 Feb 2028
No place for Mindinho in the new shape
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Golden Arrows are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Feb 2028
0‑4 against SuperSport United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Market14 Feb 2028
The bid was some way short and Golden Arrows did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Match12 Feb 2028
4 matches without a win for Golden Arrows
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Golden Arrows are no longer polite ones.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Selaelo Rasebotja 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 dugout14 Feb 2028
“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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Siphamandla Ncanana 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.
Boardroom14 Feb 2028
Nobody left the Golden Arrows dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout14 Feb 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 0‑4 Ramahlwe Mothiba left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Mindinho signs on for more
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Mindinho and Golden Arrows agree another 4 years.