Free State Stars next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phakamani Mahlambi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Siyabonga 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.
9 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
A 3‑1 win over Kaizer Chiefs, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
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.
He is 22 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.
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.
In brief
Player ratingsBandile Shandu did the work nobody counts — 6.75
7 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Another one collected away from home
4 on the bounce on the road for Bloemfontein Celtic. The coaches leave early, arrive at unlovely grounds in the dark, and keep coming home with three points.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Haissem Hassan 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.
Phakamani Mahlambi 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.
25 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 phone has started ringing about Haissem Hassan again, and this time the name on the line is Krasnodar. Bloemfontein Celtic are listening politely and promising nothing.
33 in and 0 out, and no more changes for months. The manager has what he has, the supporters have their opinion of it, and the table will have the last word.
“91 caps was 91 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 39 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from Bloemfontein Celtic.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Phakamani Mahlambi was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Siyabonga 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.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Bloemfontein Celtic are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
The chase for Siyabonga Phiri ended with $1.1M changing hands and Black Aces out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
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.
23 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 words a physio says slowly. 112 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.
0‑5 to Mamelodi Sundowns, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
“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.
Siyabonga Mkhize 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 name of Lebogang Ngcobo has come up in conversations Black Aces were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sifiso Phiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Black Aces asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
The clubs have shaken hands with Black Aces; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
Everything was agreed with another club and then the doctor spoke. Bloemfontein Celtic have walked away from a signing on the advice of somebody who never saw him play, which is how it is supposed to work.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.2M — a club that wants Siyabonga Phiri enough to be asked twice.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Haissem Hassan was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 37. 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.
There were 86 minutes on the clock and Bidvest Wits had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Bloemfontein Celtic did not stop to explain themselves.
The offer went to Black Aces this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.7M — a club that wants Kutlwano Letlhaku enough to be asked twice.
Bloemfontein Celtic asked and Orlando Pirates said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
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.
He is 20, and nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic signed him for this season. Deals like this are judged in four years, by people who may not still be in the building.