Marked for Morgan Williams
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Jun 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
58 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market7 Jun 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.
Market7 Jun 2027
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Black Aces have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad31 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
65 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market31 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 The request is on a desk at Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
Squad31 May 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Furman 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
Squad24 May 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
74 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad24 May 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad17 May 2027
Morgan Williams damages knee ligaments — 82 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 82 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.
Squad17 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 107 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad10 May 2027
Morgan Williams damages knee ligaments — 91 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 91 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.
Squad10 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 114 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market10 May 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 May 2027
Morgan Williams damages knee ligaments — 98 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 98 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.
Squad3 May 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 121 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market3 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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Apr 2027
Morgan Williams damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Agustín Díaz gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Agustín Díaz has just signed for Black Aces, and for once the answer mattered.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad19 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
112 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad19 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andile Mahlangu out for 137 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market19 Apr 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Black Aces is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
119 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andile Mahlangu out for 144 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market12 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Apr 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Morgan Williams
126 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad5 Apr 2027
A fracture rules Andile Mahlangu out for 151 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Market5 Apr 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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Erick Jali
Successful dribbles: 39. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Erick Mkhize breaks a bone — 18 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market18 Jan 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Zoey Monyepao pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luther Furman 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.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Zoey Monyepao 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market18 Jan 2027
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Morgan Williams has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Black Aces.
Market18 Jan 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Thulani Furman signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad19 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Andile Mahlangu out for 115 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Black Aces will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Erick Jali
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
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.
Match17 Oct 2026
It finished 2‑0, and it was Sifiso Mabunda’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Black Aces.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Zoey Monyepao
“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.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
7.91, 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.
Market19 Oct 2026
The name of Thulani Furman keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Black Aces say nothing, which says plenty.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Luther 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Morgan Williams commits to Black Aces for another 1 years.
Market3 Aug 2026
Mandla Mkhize is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Black Aces has been clear about where Mandla Mkhize stands, which is more than many ever get.