It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Khune 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.
A 2‑1 win over Chippa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad7 Dec 2026
The Platinum Stars dressing room has split into 3 groups
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.
“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 The request is on a desk at Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Cohen Stander 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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Dean Khune 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.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Cohen Stander 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dean Khune 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 easiest signature of my career.” Bradley Mphela and Platinum Stars agree another 1 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Luther Khune is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Out, 0‑0 to Orlando Pirates, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Lehlogonolo Mohlabine: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Khune 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.
Dean Khune had done his part in building a 3-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Ajax Cape Town were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A brace, and Dean Khune takes the afternoon — 8.19
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Dean Khune provided it, and the 8.19 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Evidence Manyama did not need any: 8.25, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
He is going to MSK Zilina, the club has $94.0K it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Medeama for Bradley Mphela 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.
“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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
MSK Zilina paid $94.0K and Platinum Stars took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.