Marked for Percy Erasmus
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market26 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Kaizer Chiefs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
Kaizer Chiefs asked and Chippa United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad26 Jul 2027
A move Percy Erasmus would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Percy Erasmus is living that version at Kaizer Chiefs, and it tends to show in the first month.
Market26 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Market26 Jul 2027
The fee is $350.0K, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Platinum Stars drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Brandon Petersen and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Bradley Cross 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 dugout26 Jul 2027
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Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Jul 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 The request is on a desk at Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market26 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Gift Motupa 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Percy Erasmus has left for Kaizer Chiefs in a $350.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Themba Lorch 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.
Market26 Jul 2027
Thamsanqa Dala has left for Golden Arrows in a $19.0K deal. The accountants are pleased; the supporters are less certain.
Transfer targets26 Jul 2027
A loan move for Muhammad Bower is in the works
Platinum Stars have made the call to Kaizer Chiefs. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
The dugout26 Jul 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 Jul 2027
Khama Phiri asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Jul 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaizer Chiefs have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market19 Jul 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 Kaizer Chiefs can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Orlando Pirates have kept their man, and Kaizer Chiefs go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Market19 Jul 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Kaizer Chiefs have gone to Platinum Stars with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Asanele Velebayi 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.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Reeve Frosler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Too much change too quickly at Kaizer Chiefs
6 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
The dugout19 Jul 2027
Etiosa Ighodaro has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces19 Jul 2027
Supporters organise against the Platinum Stars board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom19 Jul 2027
Pressure builds in the Platinum Stars boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Match19 Jul 2027
Position 15, 17 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market19 Jul 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market19 Jul 2027
The name of Percy Erasmus has come up in conversations Platinum Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Transfer targets19 Jul 2027
Everything agreed with Golden Arrows, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Gift Motupa and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad19 Jul 2027
Themba Lorch 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 dugout19 Jul 2027
Percy Erasmus 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 Percy Erasmus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Jul 2027
“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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jomo Cosmos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Platinum Stars is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
$130.0K settles it between the clubs for Ramahlwe Mothiba
Black Aces have accepted the money. What Platinum Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Orlando Pirates; Platinum Stars go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
Market12 Jul 2027
The bid was some way short and Platinum Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Themba Lorch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Percy Mkhize commits to Platinum Stars for another 3 years.
Transfer targets12 Jul 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
Thulani Billiat has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Platinum Stars can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boardroom5 Jul 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market5 Jul 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Transfer targets5 Jul 2027
$260.0K settles it between the clubs for Edward Maova
Golden Arrows have accepted the money. What Platinum Stars do not yet have is the man, and between here and the photograph is a conversation about wages that both sides are dreading.
Market5 Jul 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Cohen Stander and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Phila Dlamini and Platinum Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Themba Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
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.
Boardroom7 Jun 2027
The official line will be that it was routine. It was not routine, the timing says so, and every person in that room knows what the next bad result costs.
Market7 Jun 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market7 Jun 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market7 Jun 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Platinum Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad7 Jun 2027
Gift Motupa 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 Jun 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Themba Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Jun 2027
news_b_frozen_out_of_the_side
Market7 Jun 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market31 May 2027
“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.
Squad31 May 2027
Themba Lorch 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 dugout31 May 2027
Percy Erasmus asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces24 May 2027
Supporters organise against the Platinum Stars board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom24 May 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Platinum Stars
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Match24 May 2027
Every point is an argument now for Platinum Stars
Position 15 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Market24 May 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad24 May 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 Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Themba Lorch was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
Percy Erasmus asks for a word with the manager
“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.
The dugout24 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market12 Apr 2027
“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.
Market12 Apr 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Platinum Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Gift Motupa 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom5 Apr 2027
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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Percy Erasmus 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.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Themba Lorch 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.
Market5 Apr 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad5 Apr 2027
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Rivaldo Modiba and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Themba Lorch loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Themba Lorch's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad5 Apr 2027
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
The dugout5 Apr 2027
Percy Erasmus asks for a word with the manager
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Boardroom8 Mar 2027
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.
Market8 Mar 2027
Themba Tau hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Gift Motupa and Platinum Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Themba Lorch 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.
Market8 Mar 2027
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Erick Hlatshwayo 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 dugout8 Mar 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 dugout8 Mar 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Platinum Stars told Themba Erasmus something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
Siyabonga Vilakazi loses the manager who believed in him
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Siyabonga Vilakazi's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Feb 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Themba Lorch 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 Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match20 Feb 2027
0‑2 to Bloemfontein Celtic, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Erick Khune, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
Two sides from the bottom of the table, three points, and an afternoon that will be described afterwards as a relegation decider by whoever loses it.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
No place for Percy Erasmus on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Platinum Stars pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑2 Thulani Billiat left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bongani Mkhize was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match13 Feb 2027
15 matches without a win, and then this, against Black Aces. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Market15 Feb 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Gift Motupa, 33, rolls back the years — 7.90
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.90 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Erick Manyama: 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.” Platinum Stars have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Market15 Feb 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Platinum Stars they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Themba Lorch 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.
Match13 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Gift Motupa. 2‑0 against Black Aces, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Themba Lorch at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Platinum Stars.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match6 Feb 2027
15 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Boardroom8 Feb 2027
Thulani Billiat has until the next board meeting
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at Platinum Stars can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
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 Platinum Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Match6 Feb 2027
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Platinum Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Morgan Vilakazi reports back to Platinum Stars with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Cohen Stander and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Themba Lorch 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 targets8 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Bidvest Wits have kept their man, and Platinum Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Jan 2027
No end in sight to Platinum Stars's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Platinum Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Market11 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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Themba Lorch 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
Platinum Stars have gone to Maritzburg United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
Transfer targets11 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.
Match9 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout11 Jan 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 dugout11 Jan 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Percy Erasmus will call it something else in private.
The dugout11 Jan 2027
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑2, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces4 Jan 2027
The mood at Platinum Stars has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Match2 Jan 2027
10 matches without a win for Platinum Stars
The run now stands at 10, and the questions being asked around Platinum Stars are no longer polite ones.
Match4 Jan 2027
Position 16, 12 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
Market4 Jan 2027
Keagan Modiba hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
Pressure builds in the Platinum Stars boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Transfer targets4 Jan 2027
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Platinum Stars have done the hard part with Kaizer Chiefs, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Themba Lorch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout4 Jan 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.
Match2 Jan 2027
0‑1 to Bidvest Wits, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match26 Dec 2026
No end in sight to Platinum Stars's wait for a win
9 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Platinum Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Market28 Dec 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Erick Khune 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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Themba Lorch 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match26 Dec 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Themba Lorch had Platinum Stars level again within 4 minutes, and Golden Arrows never got to play with a lead at all.
Match26 Dec 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Thulani Billiat chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
Percy Erasmus 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 Percy Erasmus trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 45. 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Gift Motupa 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.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Themba Lorch 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 dugout16 Nov 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Percy Erasmus, and the manager let it.
Match16 Nov 2026
Half the programme played, position 14, 10 on the board. Doubling it is the sum every supporter has done and the only one nobody at the club will do out loud.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Erick Grobler and Platinum Stars agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Marked 7.29 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, Platinum Stars had the best player on the pitch.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thulani Billiat after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Nov 2026
9 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.
Market9 Nov 2026
“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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Themba Lorch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
0‑2 to Bloemfontein Celtic, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bongani Mkhize was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The form table has caught Keagan Zwane
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Platinum Stars's wait for a win
11 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Platinum Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Themba Lorch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Platinum Stars can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and Platinum Stars 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
7.18, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Platinum Stars had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thulani Billiat after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Percy Mkhize 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Platinum Stars lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match9 Sep 2026
Orlando Pirates ended it 1‑3. The season narrows to the league now, and everyone in the ground knew it before the final whistle.
Match12 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Platinum Stars's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Platinum Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Market14 Sep 2026
“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 Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Cohen Stander 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Themba Lorch 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 ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Rivaldo Dolly
“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.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
The deal with Kaizer Chiefs is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Themba Lorch and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
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.
Match15 Aug 2026
0‑1 to Kaizer Chiefs, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Keagan Modiba
“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.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Thulani Billiat left the room before anybody could ask which.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
5 new faces, and Platinum Stars 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ramahlwe Grobler and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.