Marked for Lebogang Vilakazi
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market12 Jul 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jomo Cosmos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Black Aces is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
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.
Squad12 Jul 2027
Happy Mashiane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Happy Mashiane 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.
Market12 Jul 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lebogang Vilakazi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout12 Jul 2027
Evidence 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 Evidence Dala is on it.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market14 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Jomo Cosmos waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Black Aces is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Happy Mashiane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Sboniso Madonsela 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.
Market14 Jun 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lebogang Vilakazi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
The dugout14 Jun 2027
Evidence Dala has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
The move was somebody else's story. What it left behind was a dressing-room stall nobody has taken and a player who keeps looking at it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad24 May 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sboniso Madonsela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout24 May 2027
Morgan Zwane 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 dugout24 May 2027
Siyanda Khumalo 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.
Market24 May 2027
The name of Thato Sibiya keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Black Aces say nothing, which says plenty.
The dugout24 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 Lebogang Zwane is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market17 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Sboniso Madonsela 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.
Market17 May 2027
Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Lebogang Vilakazi’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market19 Apr 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 Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Thato Sibiya 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luther Zungu, and the manager let it.
Market19 Apr 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Black Aces know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
Evidence Dala has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
The dugout19 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Mar 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 Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Itumeleng Tau 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.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Sboniso Madonsela 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 dugout22 Mar 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.
Market22 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Black Aces know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The dugout22 Mar 2027
Evidence 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 Evidence Dala is on it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market15 Mar 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 Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Happy Mashiane 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Lebogang Mahlangu 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 dugout15 Mar 2027
Themba Modiba has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Black Aces 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.
The dugout15 Mar 2027
Themba Mphela 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 Themba Mphela trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market15 Mar 2027
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Black Aces know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match1 Mar 2027
Full time on the season at Black Aces
Position 11 on 25 points. Every season is a story and this is the last line of it, and now the club has three months to decide what the next one is about.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Happy Mashiane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.45 on the card, and the Black Aces support went home talking about one name.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Siyanda Khumalo will call it something else in private.
Market1 Mar 2027
2 appearances and 0 goals is not a season away, it is a year lost. He is back at Black Aces no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their fault.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad1 Mar 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ngcebo Nala was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Black Aces lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
Match27 Feb 2027
Point won or two lost for Black Aces?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Golden Arrows? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market22 Feb 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 Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Black Aces may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Ronwen Vilakazi 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.
Match20 Feb 2027
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sbusiso Mtshali. 1‑0 against Free State Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sboniso Madonsela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Marked 7.45. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
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.” Thamsanqa Williams, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market22 Feb 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Ramahlwe Hlatshwayo has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Black Aces.
Looking ahead22 Feb 2027
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Golden Arrows in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match19 Dec 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
8 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.
Match19 Dec 2026
The goals have deserted Black Aces
8 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Black Aces can tell you which week it ends in.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Sboniso Madonsela and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
University of Pretoria left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Itumeleng Tau
“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 dugout21 Dec 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Ngcebo Nala 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 dugout21 Dec 2026
The form table has caught Gift Mokoena
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
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Black Aces may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Match21 Nov 2026
The goals have deserted Black Aces
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Black Aces can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Thato Sibiya 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.
Squad23 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sbusiso Mtshali and Black Aces agree another 3 years.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Somebody else is better right now than Sboniso Madonsela
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
Match21 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes, two goalkeepers with clean gloves, and not one finish worth keeping. Bidvest Wits will be the happier side with the point.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Evidence 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 Evidence Dala is on it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Black Aces's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Black Aces has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad19 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ramahlwe Hlatshwayo has improved at 25, which nobody expected
Careers are supposed to plateau and then decline, and the players who ignore that are always the ones who were listening on the training ground. 3 points of it, over months, at an age where the direction normally only goes one way.
Loan watch19 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Black Aces, and 0 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Match17 Oct 2026
A 2‑2 draw with Kaizer Chiefs leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mandla Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
5 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for Black Aces
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Thato Sibiya and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
7.64, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Black Aces had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Happy Mashiane and Black Aces agree another 4 years.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Black Aces are still strangers to each other
6 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luther Zungu, and the manager let it.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thamsanqa Williams after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mandla Grobler 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
Match5 Oct 2026
Black Aces are in real trouble now
Position 14, 6 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.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Black Aces may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Match3 Oct 2026
The wait goes on for Black Aces
4 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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Siyanda Khumalo commits to Black Aces for another 2 years.
Match3 Oct 2026
3 matches without a goal for Black Aces
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Thato Sibiya 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Siyanda Khumalo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad5 Oct 2026
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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match5 Sep 2026
5 matches without a win for Black Aces
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Black Aces are no longer polite ones.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Window shuts: 5 in, 3 out at Black Aces
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 5 arrived, 3 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Transfer targets7 Sep 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Sboniso Madonsela 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Lebogang Vilakazi is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Thamsanqa Williams was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Black Aces dressing room was either.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mandla Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 Aug 2026
17 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Andile Mahlangu commits to Black Aces for another 4 years.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Andile Mahlangu and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
1 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.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Black Aces asked and Ujpest said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Lebogang Mabunda has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Squad10 Aug 2026
A row about effort at Black Aces
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mandla Grobler was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Market10 Aug 2026
“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.