Marked for Muhammad Bower
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jan 2030
Siyabonga Ngcobo damages knee ligaments — 95 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 95 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.
Player ratings7 Jan 2030
A brace, and Ronwen Mokotjo takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ronwen Mokotjo provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Boardroom7 Jan 2030
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at SuperSport United is running low.
Squad7 Jan 2030
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SuperSport United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad7 Jan 2030
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market7 Jan 2030
The interest is real enough to have reached print. SuperSport United have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Market7 Jan 2030
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bradley Mahlangu has his answer from SuperSport United; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad7 Jan 2030
Paseka Mako 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
Squad14 May 2029
Fredrick Asare 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 May 2029
Ronwen Mokotjo 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.
Loan watch14 May 2029
“I watch every SuperSport United game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at FC Tokyo runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
Sifiso Phiri: 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.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Fredrick Asare 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.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Ronwen Mokotjo 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Mar 2029
Joslin Kamatuka: 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.” SuperSport United have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Fredrick Asare 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.
Squad19 Mar 2029
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Baba Adamu 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
Crisis
Squad29 Jan 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronwen Mokotjo 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.
Squad29 Jan 2029
Khama Tau 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.
Match27 Jan 2029
0‑1 to Bidvest Wits, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad29 Jan 2029
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ahmed Abdelaziz and SuperSport United agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Market29 Jan 2029
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. SuperSport United will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Market29 Jan 2029
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Teboho Grobler’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
Player ratings29 Jan 2029
5.67. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings20 Nov 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.74 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad20 Nov 2028
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad20 Nov 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 SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad20 Nov 2028
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronwen Mokotjo 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 terraces20 Nov 2028
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Ronwen Grobler 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.
Squad20 Nov 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.
Market20 Nov 2028
The Khama Tau story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khama Tau signs something — a contract at SuperSport United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
The terraces4 Sep 2028
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 8 of the 32 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Squad4 Sep 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” SuperSport United may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Kieran Craig is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad4 Sep 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 SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match2 Sep 2028
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad4 Sep 2028
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ronwen Mokotjo 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 ratings4 Sep 2028
Successful dribbles: 16. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings4 Sep 2028
3.83 on the card. Some afternoons a footballer looks like a man who has only just been introduced to the game, and this was one of them.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Ronwen Mokotjo takes the afternoon — 9.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ronwen Mokotjo provided it, and the 9.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings14 Aug 2028
A brace, and Teboho Grobler takes the afternoon — 8.72
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Teboho Grobler provided it, and the 8.72 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Siyabonga Billiat is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market14 Aug 2028
The offer from Asante Kotoko for Muhammad Bower 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now SuperSport United have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Fredrick Asare 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 Aug 2028
A late step up for Khama Tau
At 27 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 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.
Match12 Aug 2028
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about SuperSport United and Black Aces in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad31 Jul 2028
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Siyabonga Khumalo is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Fredrick Asare 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.
Squad31 Jul 2028
Trésor Mossi has improved at 26, 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. 4 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market19 Jun 2028
The offer from Orlando Pirates for Ronwen Grobler 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.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Fredrick Asare 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.
Boardroom19 Jun 2028
Nothing happens for months and then he simply arrives, at no cost, having signed a pre-contract while still turning out for somebody else. It is the least dramatic way to sign a footballer and frequently the shrewdest.
Squad19 Jun 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Muhammad Bower and SuperSport United agree another 4 years.
Squad19 Jun 2028
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Boxall 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
Uneasy
Squad22 May 2028
Fredrick Asare 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.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Michael Boxall 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.
Squad22 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad15 May 2028
Muhammad Bower is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
Squad15 May 2028
Khama Tau 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad24 Apr 2028
Fredrick Asare 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.
Squad24 Apr 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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Khama Tau has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 Apr 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 SuperSport United this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Michael Boxall 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Teboho Grobler has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at SuperSport United 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.