Marked for Samukelo Zikalala
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad13 Aug 2029
58 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. KV Kortrijk lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Match11 Aug 2029
Lokeren will want this one forgotten quickly: 4‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. KV Kortrijk were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
A brace, and Joan Tincres takes the afternoon — 9.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Joan Tincres provided it, and the 9.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings13 Aug 2029
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
Zulte Waregem wanted more than $1.0M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. KV Kortrijk have done the hard part with Zwolle, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Julien Ngoy in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad13 Aug 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Transfer targets13 Aug 2029
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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad30 Apr 2029
Marko Ilić and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Julien Ngoy gets picked when it counts
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 Julien Ngoy is on it.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
Lenn De Smet asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout30 Apr 2029
“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.
Market30 Apr 2029
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. KV Kortrijk know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2029
Mohamed Fofana damages knee ligaments — 18 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 18 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Marko Ilić 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.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gilles Dewaele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at KV Kortrijk can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
When it matters, Marko Ilić 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.
The dugout23 Apr 2029
Lenn De Smet 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 Lenn De Smet trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match13 Jan 2029
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 23 matches without defeat is a foundation KV Kortrijk did not have in the autumn.
Market15 Jan 2029
Yanis Hénin 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 KV Kortrijk can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout15 Jan 2029
Mathis Coudour: that is not what I was promised
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” KV Kortrijk have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Transfer targets15 Jan 2029
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Red Bull Salzburg is saying, and nobody at KV Kortrijk is enjoying the guessing.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Marko Ilić in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at KV Kortrijk this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Samukelo Zikalala has just signed for KV Kortrijk, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad15 Jan 2029
Gilles Dewaele 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.
Boardroom15 Jan 2029
Still nobody in the KV Kortrijk dugout
9 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Player ratings15 Jan 2029
Lenn De Smet beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market28 Aug 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Black Aces waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
The dugout28 Aug 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad28 Aug 2028
Cassius Mailula and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad28 Aug 2028
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad28 Aug 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
Match26 Aug 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match26 Aug 2028
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.
Market28 Aug 2028
Jomo Cosmos are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Orlando Pirates will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
Boardroom28 Aug 2028
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Aug 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orlando Pirates have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market7 Aug 2028
“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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Gomolemo Kekana is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
The board have signed the man in the dugout to a longer contract, which says more than any statement of support. Stability is easy to promise and costly to keep.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Cassius Mailula 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.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Deon Hotto has improved at 36, 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.
Boardroom7 Aug 2028
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Orlando Pirates
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad7 Aug 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 Jul 2028
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orlando Pirates have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Jul 2028
The shirt still fits. Monnapule Saleng is back at Orlando Pirates, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Market17 Jul 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orlando Pirates can pretend not to have heard.
Market17 Jul 2028
Thato Mabena has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orlando Pirates they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Cassius Mailula 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.
Squad17 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mpho Padime is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad17 Jul 2028
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad17 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Lebone Seema and Orlando Pirates agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
The terraces17 Jul 2028
The town asked, and Orlando Pirates paid $1.4M
Monnapule Saleng was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $1.4M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
$39.7M was the most the club would pay and Benfica were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Market3 Jul 2028
“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 Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout3 Jul 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market3 Jul 2028
Only the photograph left for Thabiso Sesane
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thabiso Sesane will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orlando Pirates the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Transfer targets3 Jul 2028
Everything agreed with Free State Stars, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Market3 Jul 2028
The offer from Ashanti Gold for Samukelo Zikalala 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.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Thalente Mbatha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Thato Mabena is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad3 Jul 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Nkosinathi Sibisi and Orlando Pirates agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jun 2028
The unthinkable, invoiced: Cemran Dansin sold
Kaizer Chiefs arrived with $2.8M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Transfer targets26 Jun 2028
The offer went to Benfica this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Market26 Jun 2028
“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 Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
The terraces26 Jun 2028
Cemran Dansin has gone, the accounts have $2.8M in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
Market26 Jun 2028
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad26 Jun 2028
At 23 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
At 28 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jun 2028
No footballer has ever cost this club more, and the number will be read out every time he misplaces a pass for the next two years.
Market19 Jun 2028
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Black Aces waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Market19 Jun 2028
Thato Mabena has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orlando Pirates they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Market19 Jun 2028
The shirt still fits. Zeke May is back at Orlando Pirates, and half the ground remembers him in these colours already. Some signings need selling to the town; this one sold itself.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Cassius Mailula 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 terraces19 Jun 2028
The town asked, and Orlando Pirates paid $9.3M
Ramahlwe Mkhize was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $9.3M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Thalente Mbatha 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
There is a level at which a footballer stops being tested and starts being contained, and he reached it some time ago. Orlando Pirates know it, and so does everybody who watches him.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Too much change too quickly at Orlando Pirates
7 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
The clubs have shaken hands with Bidvest Wits; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Transfer targets5 Jun 2028
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 dugout5 Jun 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad5 Jun 2028
Cassius Mailula and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jun 2028
“The easiest signature of my career.” Yanela Mbuthuma and Orlando Pirates agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jun 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
Market5 Jun 2028
The name of Samukelo Zikalala has come up in conversations Orlando Pirates were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Market5 Jun 2028
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Dillan Solomons has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Orlando Pirates.
Squad5 Jun 2028
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Samukelo Zikalala has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout8 May 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad8 May 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Deon Hotto commits to Orlando Pirates for another 2 years.
Squad8 May 2028
Thalente Mbatha and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 May 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamogelo Sebelebele 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 dugout8 May 2028
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 Masindi Nemtajela is on it.
The dugout8 May 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Melusi Buthelezi, and the manager let it.
Market8 May 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thalente Mbatha signs something — a contract at Orlando Pirates or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout8 May 2028
Cemran Dansin 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 Orlando Pirates, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad8 May 2028
Erick Hlatshwayo has seen what the next man earns
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Orlando Pirates that is a harder question to answer.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match17 Apr 2028
Position 15, 15 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.
Market17 Apr 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what University of Pretoria can pretend not to have heard.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Luke Daniels 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Samuel Julies 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 dugout17 Apr 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luke Daniels, and the manager let it.
The dugout17 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Ronald Mbambo'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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout10 Apr 2028
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Squad10 Apr 2028
Cassius Mailula and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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 dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager makes an example of Luke Le Roux
“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 dugout10 Apr 2028
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 Masindi Nemtajela is on it.
Market10 Apr 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thalente Mbatha signs something — a contract at Orlando Pirates or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Orlando Pirates have no good answer.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
Thabiso Sesane 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 Orlando Pirates, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad10 Apr 2028
The language has come, the shrug has gone, and he argues in training like a man who expects to be here next year. None of it shows up on a fee and all of it shows up on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces27 Mar 2028
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.
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Veli Mothwa 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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Samuel Julies was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Luvoyo Phewa 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.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
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 dugout27 Mar 2028
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
Match21 Feb 2028
15 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Match19 Feb 2028
Beaten 0‑4 by Bidvest Wits, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market21 Feb 2028
“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.
Match19 Feb 2028
The run now stands at 7, and the questions being asked around University of Pretoria are no longer polite ones.
Squad21 Feb 2028
7 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Veli Mothwa 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.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Julies 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 dugout21 Feb 2028
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Veli Mothwa, and the manager let it.
Boardroom21 Feb 2028
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.