Percy Hlatshwayo

Right Wingback - Bloemfontein Celtic
13 Apr 2027
Tuesday
Process

Marked for Percy Hlatshwayo

36 Edition

The Bloemfontein Celtic Sentinel

5 Apr 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Squad

Hlompho Jali breaks a bone — 78 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 78 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Boardroom

Pressure builds in the Bloemfontein Celtic boardroom

The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.

Boardroom

Bloemfontein Celtic put Sifiso Grobler on notice

The board have said in public what they had been saying in private. Results between now and the next meeting decide it, and everybody in the building knows the arithmetic.

Squad

Tempers go at Bloemfontein Celtic

Percy Hlatshwayo 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.

Squad

The manager's exit leaves Kutlwano Letlhaku exposed

Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Kutlwano Letlhaku is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.

Squad

No hiding place for Justine Mthwane

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Justine Mthwane, and the manager let it.

In brief

Back issues
26 Edition

The Bloemfontein Celtic Sentinel

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Crisis

Match

No end in sight to Bloemfontein Celtic's wait for a win

26 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Bloemfontein Celtic has to find a result from somewhere.

The terraces

Anger at Bloemfontein Celtic spills outside the ground

It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.

Match

Bloemfontein Celtic sink to position 16

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

Market

Bloemfontein Celtic turn down Free State Stars for Hlompho Zwane

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Kutlwano Letlhaku at 20 — 7.78

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kutlwano Letlhaku did not need any: 7.78, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Squad

Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Gift Zwane 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 terraces

The crowd has taken to Kutlwano Letlhaku

At 20 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Player ratings

Teboho Manyama runs at them all day

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.

Squad

Kermit Mahlangu left out for the big one

A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Kermit Mahlangu will call it something else in private.

In brief

3 Edition

The Bloemfontein Celtic Sentinel

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market

Bloemfontein Celtic turn down Polokwane City for Erick Phiri

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Squad

Gift Zwane in a row with a teammate

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.

The terraces

The crowd has taken to Hlompho Hlatshwayo

At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.

Squad

No hiding place for Kermit Mahlangu

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kermit Mahlangu, and the manager let it.

Squad

Words at Bloemfontein Celtic training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hlompho Jali 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.

Player ratings

The afternoon belonged to Hlompho Hlatshwayo

A mark of 7.52, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.

Player ratings

A defender's afternoon for Kermit Mahlangu

Defensive actions: 15. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Kutlwano Letlhaku

Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Point won or two lost for Bloemfontein Celtic?

Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bidvest Wits? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.

In brief