Black Aces offered $860.0K; Polokwane City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Anothando Menemene is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Anothando Menemene from Mamelodi Sundowns for $220.0K, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Black Aces will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
“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.
Evidence Vilakazi 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.
$250.0K was the most the club would pay and Golden Arrows were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Squad26 Jul 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Themba Mokotjo 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Percy Mkhize signs something — a contract at Black Aces or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 48 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
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.
Squad28 Jun 2027
Luther Ngcobo has improved at 27, 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Black Aces will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Lebogang Zungu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The loan was meant to give him football. 2 games and 0 goals later he is back at Black Aces no further forward, and everybody involved will explain why it was not their doing.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Black Aces have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
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 May 2027
Percy Tau 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.
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.
“Judge me on him.” Managers do not say that kind of thing by accident — it moves the pressure from Rivaldo Mothiba’s shoulders onto his own, and both of them know it.
42 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Black Aces will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“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.
Themba Mokotjo and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Apr 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Percy Tau 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.
66 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
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.
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.
“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 2 appearances in 6 say he has earned the hearing.
81 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.
Position 12 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.
“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.
Successful dribbles: 25. 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.
Themba Mokotjo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Percy Tau was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
88 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Themba Mokotjo 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Percy Tau was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Themba Mokotjo to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Free State Stars, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
118 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 10 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
“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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Ajax Cape Town waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Black Aces is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Themba Mokotjo 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.
“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.
Themba Mokotjo 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Percy Tau was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
“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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 38 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Themba Mokotjo 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 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.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Something was said to Rivaldo Mabunda and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
The words a physio says slowly. 30 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Black Aces will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Themba Mokotjo 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.
Successful dribbles: 20. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Percy Tau 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.
Something was said to Tumiso Mogakwe and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 0‑0 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Free State Stars? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
37 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Black Aces lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
“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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.55 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Thulani Erasmus did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 5 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
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.
0‑3 against Mamelodi Sundowns, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
“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.
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.
Add another name to the list: ES Mostaganem have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thulani Erasmus. The answer from Black Aces has not changed — yet.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Evidence Vilakazi from Free State Stars for $1.3M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Estudiantes have kept their man, and Black Aces go back to a list with one name crossed off it.