Marked for Morgan Grobler
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 36. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Dec 2026
Beaten 0‑3 by Free State Stars, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market21 Dec 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 The request is on a desk at Platinum Stars, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match19 Dec 2026
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.
Match19 Dec 2026
4 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Thulani 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Gift Khune 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Rivaldo Dala, and the manager let it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Anthony Cletus pulls a muscle — 14 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 14 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market9 Nov 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around Platinum Stars are no longer polite ones.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Ronwen Khune 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Platinum Stars are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Siphelo Baloni 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market26 Oct 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.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Mkhize 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.
Match24 Oct 2026
Maritzburg United left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Siphelo Baloni
“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.
Squad26 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 Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad12 Oct 2026
Lebogang Mabunda: 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.
Market12 Oct 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Thulani 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.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Thulani Zwane commits to Platinum Stars for another 3 years.
Match10 Oct 2026
A 2‑1 win over Polokwane City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Thulani Mkhize was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.28. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. João Vitor 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
Steady
Market14 Sep 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
15 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Mkhize 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mandla Grobler, and the manager let it.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 7.92 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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer from Tigres for Thamsanqa Jali was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market3 Aug 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Ronwen Khune 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.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Thulani 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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Erick Dolly told to find a new club
“They were honest with me, and I would rather know.” Erick Dolly has been informed he is not in the manager's thinking at Platinum Stars.