Marked for Itumeleng Erasmus
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 May 2027
Yanela Mbuthuma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad3 May 2027
Deon Hotto 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.
Squad3 May 2027
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Itumeleng Erasmus has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The dugout3 May 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 Evidence Makgopa is on it.
The dugout3 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Ntando Ngcobo
“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.
Market3 May 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orlando Pirates know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Loan watch3 May 2027
30 starts and a season average of 6.75. The loan is doing exactly what it was arranged to do.
Loan watch3 May 2027
29 starts now, an average of 6.83, and the team sheet at SuperSport United has stopped being a question. Exactly what everybody signed up for.
The dugout3 May 2027
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 Patrick Maswanganyi has written the date down.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match26 Apr 2027
Position 2 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orlando Pirates may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market26 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Yanela Mbuthuma 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tshepang Moremi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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 Oswin Appollis is on it.
The dugout26 Apr 2027
“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.
Market26 Apr 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Yanela Mbuthuma’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
Williams Erasmus and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Apr 2027
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Mário Junior 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 dugout19 Apr 2027
Dean Dala gets picked when it counts
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.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager makes Musa Drammeh a promise
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.
Market19 Apr 2027
The name of Bradley Zwane keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ajax Cape Town say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match29 Mar 2027
Position 2 and 62 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Market29 Mar 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 Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout29 Mar 2027
Kabelo Moagi: 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.” Orlando Pirates have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market29 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mpho Padime is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Deon Hotto 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Itumeleng Erasmus 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 dugout29 Mar 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Nkosinathi Sibisi, and the manager let it.
Loan watch29 Mar 2027
“I did not go to Gor Mahia to sit and watch. I want to come back to Orlando Pirates and fight for my place.” 7 appearances in 30 matches say the rest.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match20 Mar 2027
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. Orlando Pirates scored in the 90th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Match22 Mar 2027
The season ends: position 2 for Orlando Pirates
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 62 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orlando Pirates may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 7.76 at 20, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Market22 Mar 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 20 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Deon Hotto 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
At 37, 3 points below where he was, and a body that has started charging interest. It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph on this page.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match6 Feb 2027
10 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Orlando Pirates people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 9.06, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Market8 Feb 2027
The offer from Leyton Orient for Yanela Mbuthuma 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The window shuts on the Brayan León deal
Orlando Pirates ran out of time with Mamelodi Sundowns. The paperwork was open when the deadline passed, and a transfer that was almost done is now a transfer that never happened.
Match6 Feb 2027
Orlando Pirates make home a hard place to visit
10 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
Transfer targets8 Feb 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad8 Feb 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 Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market18 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 29. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Market18 Jan 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 Ajax Cape Town, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
Terms were offered and declined. Whether it was the wages, the role or the town, nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is saying, and nobody at Ajax Cape Town is enjoying the guessing.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Teboho Erasmus is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 17 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets18 Jan 2027
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Match16 Jan 2027
Free State Stars left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad18 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market11 Jan 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 Ajax Cape Town can pretend not to have heard.
Market11 Jan 2027
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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 26. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Transfer targets11 Jan 2027
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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
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.
Market11 Jan 2027
Luther Mphela is free to find somewhere else
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market10 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Luther Mphela, 21, steals the show — 7.68
Marked 7.68 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Ajax Cape Town asked and OB said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Erick Phiri commits to Ajax Cape Town for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
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.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean 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.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
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.