There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.26 at 34, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Teboho Mothiba 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 Dec 2026
Percy Mkhize 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.
A 2‑1 win over Polokwane City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Marked 8.27 — 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.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bloemfontein Celtic can pretend not to have heard.
Thamsanqa Dala 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teboho Mothiba 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.
Squads form friendships and that is healthy; this is not that. 3 separate groups, 2 players belonging to none of them, and a set of tables at lunch that have stopped rearranging themselves. It very rarely fixes itself.
Hlompho Lorch wins it after the whistle should have gone
92 minutes played. Hlompho Lorch found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Golden Arrows went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Teboho Mothiba 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thamsanqa Dala 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hlompho Lorch. 1‑0 against Golden Arrows, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bloemfontein Celtic can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Maritzburg United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Lebogang Ngcobo reports back to Bloemfontein Celtic with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bloemfontein Celtic this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Percy Mkhize 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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bradley Furman has come out of that comparison in the side, and Bloemfontein Celtic have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The offer from SuperSport United for Percy Mkhize 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.
Thamsanqa Dala 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hlompho Lorch 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Andile Khune and Bloemfontein Celtic agree another 3 years.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Dean Jali has his answer from Bloemfontein Celtic; what he does with it is the next window’s story.