Marked for Ronwen Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad26 Apr 2027
103 days out for Morgan Manyama after a fracture
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. SuperSport United will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Market26 Apr 2027
“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 The request is on a desk at SuperSport United, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Rivaldo Zwane 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
Oumar Komara 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 dugout26 Apr 2027
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 Teboho Mokotjo is on it.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Sthembiso Hlophe 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 Apr 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Morgan Manyama signs something — a contract at SuperSport United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
Dean Billiat 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 Dean Billiat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market29 Mar 2027
Ronwen Mkhize 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 SuperSport United can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Dumisani Zuma: 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Rivaldo Zwane 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Phiri 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Oumar Komara, and the manager let it.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Thamsanqa Ngcobo 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
Steady
Loan watch15 Mar 2027
26 appearances at Anorthosis and the goals keep coming. SuperSport United are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Market15 Mar 2027
Only the photograph left for Dean Dala
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dean Dala will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around SuperSport United the goodbyes have quietly begun.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Themba Furman and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
When it matters, Gift Phiri 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kabelo Mahlasela, and the manager let it.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Sthembiso Hlophe 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Tsiki Ntsabeleng 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.
Market15 Mar 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Themba Furman signs something — a contract at SuperSport United or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
A season average of 7.99 with 33 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Match27 Feb 2027
4‑1, and Gift Phiri took the headlines on an afternoon when everything SuperSport United tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Match1 Mar 2027
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 54 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
Market1 Mar 2027
Ronwen Mkhize 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 SuperSport United can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
A brace, and Gift Phiri takes the afternoon — 8.28
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Gift Phiri provided it, and the 8.28 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Rivaldo Zwane 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.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Ninety minutes of Williams Zwane at his very best
Marked 9.16. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at SuperSport United.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Thamsanqa Ngcobo 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
Steady
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
25 goals and a season average of 7.70. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.
Match13 Feb 2027
A 1‑4 beating by Mamelodi Sundowns was the sort of result that empties a stadium long before the final whistle.
Loan watch15 Feb 2027
25 appearances away from home and 23 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Market15 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at SuperSport United is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Gift Phiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Rivaldo Zwane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom15 Feb 2027
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
The team sheet said everything about Ronwen Mkhize
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Ronwen Mkhize.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Feb 2027
Defences have started doubling up on Williams Zwane
29 goals and a season average of 7.90 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.
Market1 Feb 2027
“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.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Deadline passes with 0 signed and 0 gone
That is the business done at SuperSport United until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Themba Furman 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.
Match30 Jan 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between SuperSport United and Bidvest Wits, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Match30 Jan 2027
Bidvest Wits left with the points after a 2‑4 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
A performance of 8.85 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Market1 Feb 2027
The name of Dean Mokotjo has come up in conversations SuperSport United were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Marked 8.28 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.