Marked for Luther Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Sep 2027
A fracture rules Teboho Grobler out for 59 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bloemfontein Celtic will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market6 Sep 2027
The offer from Asante Kotoko for Siyabonga Mabena 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.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Teboho Lorch, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.84
A mark of 7.84 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Player ratings6 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Selwyn Stevens is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Market6 Sep 2027
The deal that would have taken Luther Mkhize to Chippa United has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Bloemfontein Celtic with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Squad6 Sep 2027
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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
Grant Kekana 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 terraces6 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Teboho Lorch 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 May 2027
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Percy Kekana 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.
Boardroom3 May 2027
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Squad3 May 2027
Fredrick Asare 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 Bloemfontein Celtic, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Squad3 May 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Evidence Mkhize
19 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Bloemfontein Celtic lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market5 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 Bloemfontein Celtic, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad5 Apr 2027
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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Percy Kekana 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Erick Kekana 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.
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
The board have put money on the table rather than an encouraging word. What happens to it now is somebody else's problem, and somebody else's job.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Khama Zwane reports back to SuperSport United with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Market7 Sep 2026
“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 Sep 2026
Thulani Ngcobo 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“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.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at SuperSport United training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Andile Kekana 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A month that belonged to Luther Dolly
The young player of the month award goes to a 19-year-old at SuperSport United who has looked like the finished article for four weekends running. The next four are the ones that decide whether he is.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market7 Sep 2026
A season-long audition: Mamelodi Sundowns still own him, but the shirt and the minutes are SuperSport United's to give. A loan is a bet both clubs believe they are winning.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 34. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market31 Aug 2026
“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.
Match29 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market31 Aug 2026
The name of Luther Mkhize has come up in conversations Bloemfontein Celtic were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thamsanqa Manyama 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Khotso Malope
“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.