“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 The request is on a desk at Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Erick Phiri 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.
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 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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Orlando Pirates in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dean Dala signs something — a contract at Ajax Cape Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at Ajax Cape Town would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
0‑3 against SuperSport United, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bradley Zwane trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Erick Phiri 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.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Successful dribbles: 19. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Given Msimango 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 easiest signature of my career.” Thulani Jali and Ajax Cape Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Remo Stars had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Erick Phiri 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thamsanqa Modiba will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax Cape Town the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“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.
Squad2 Aug 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax Cape Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Hlompho Zungu and Ajax Cape Town agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax Cape Town they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Erick Phiri 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.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dean Dala signs something — a contract at Ajax Cape Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
In brief
The dugoutHlompho Zungu knocks on the manager's door
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ajax Cape Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Sivasspor for Bradley Zwane 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.
Matías Daniele 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Grêmio have kept their man, and Ajax Cape Town go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani 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.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Ajax Cape Town asked and Slavia Prague said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
9 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Zolani Nkombelo 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 May 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ajax Cape Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Position 11, 29 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad17 May 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mário Junior has written the date down.
Bradley 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Phila Dlamini 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.
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 Williams Erasmus is on it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ajax Cape Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Ajax Cape Town they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Bradley 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
“I did not go to SuperSport United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Ajax Cape Town and fight for my place.” 4 appearances in 15 matches say the rest.
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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Dean Dala signs something — a contract at Ajax Cape Town or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luther Mphela and Ajax Cape Town agree another 5 years.
Thokozani Khumalo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
5 goals in 9 games at Kaizer Chiefs — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Ajax Cape Town updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
In brief
SquadMusa Drammeh has seen what the next man earns
The dugoutRamahlwe Dala asks for a word with the manager
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phila Dlamini was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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 Dean Dala is on it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ajax Cape Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Bradley 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.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Ajax Cape Town can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad12 Apr 2027
6 new faces, and Ajax Cape Town are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ajax Cape Town, another week without a signature from Dokou Dodo.
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.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Phila Dlamini 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.
Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Ajax Cape Town know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Bradley Zwane and Ajax Cape Town agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Jomo Cosmos left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ajax Cape Town pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Thulani Khune will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Ajax Cape Town the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thokozani Khumalo and Ajax Cape Town agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Ajax Cape Town asked and Kaizer Chiefs said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Bradley 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Musa Drammeh 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. Ajax Cape Town will try not to make too much of it.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Ajax Cape Town pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
“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 Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” ASO Chlef had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Ajax Cape Town have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Marked 7.83 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Boardroom1 Feb 2027
Ajax Cape Town close the window on a squad of their own making
5 in and 3 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Ajax Cape Town have done the hard part with Golden Arrows, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Ajax Cape Town had done everything except persuade the man himself. He stays at Bylis, and the manager goes back to the drawing board with the money still in the bank.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Sanele Radebe is living that version at Ajax Cape Town, and it tends to show in the first month.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Ajax Cape Town have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bradley Zwane is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Erick Phiri 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.
Ajax Cape Town asked and Astana said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Musa Drammeh 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Ajax Cape Town has been clear about where Luther Mphela stands, which is more than many ever get.
Marks Munyai 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Musa Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.00, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Dean Furman, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Something was said to Musa Drammeh and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
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 Williams Erasmus is on it.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Ajax Cape Town and Bloemfontein Celtic in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Marked 8.41 — 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Musa Drammeh 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.
Erick Phiri 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Dean Furman after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
A mark of 4.67 tells the story without any need for embellishment. He will want the tape of this one quietly lost.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Bradley Zwane's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 10 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Zolani Nkombelo 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 thought about how hard another man trains, and Musa Drammeh was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Bradley Zwane
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bradley Zwane has come out of that comparison in the side, and Ajax Cape Town have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Erick Phiri is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Ajax Cape Town. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.