Thulani Ngcobo

Central Defender - Black Aces
12 Sep 2026
Saturday
Process

Marked for Thulani Ngcobo

6 Edition

The Black Aces Herald

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Squad

Luther Vilakazi damages knee ligaments — 148 days out

The words a physio says slowly. 148 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.

Market

Evidence Mkhize asks to leave Black Aces

“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.

Boardroom

Deadline passes with 5 signed and 0 gone

That is the business done at Black Aces until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.

Market

So close: Ramahlwe Grobler’s move dies late

The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Platinum Stars moved on, Ramahlwe Grobler reports back to Black Aces, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.

Squad

Ramahlwe Furman 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.

Transfer targets

Orlando Pirates tell Black Aces: Cemran Dansin is not for sale

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.

The dugout

Ramahlwe Mkhize 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.

Squad

A step back for Thulani Ngcobo at Black Aces

Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.

The dugout

Thulani Ngcobo is still paying for one afternoon at Black Aces

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.

In brief

Back issues
1 Edition

The Black Aces Herald

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Williams Mokoena puts it in writing

“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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad

Words exchanged at Black Aces

Thulani Ngcobo 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.

Squad

A row about effort at Black Aces

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ramahlwe Furman was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

Sifiso Mabunda signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Sifiso Mabunda commits to Black Aces for another 2 years.

Squad

The formation has left Sphamandla Sithole behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Black Aces will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

Transfer targets

Black Aces ask about Bandile Shandu

A loan enquiry to Orlando Pirates: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets

Black Aces try to borrow Kutlwano Letlhaku

Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

The dugout

Ramahlwe Furman knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ramahlwe Furman trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

Market

Nobody at Black Aces has picked up the phone to Sifiso Mabunda

24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.

In brief