2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Dean Khune will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Dean Khune has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Dean Khune was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.21. 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.
The offer from Renaissance for Kermit Erasmus 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.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Itumeleng 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Andile Phiri trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $360.0K for Thabo Nkwana, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Dean Khune and Bloemfontein Celtic agree another 4 years.
1‑4 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.
The terraces14 Dec 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 5 of the 23 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
Beaten 4 times, with 4 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Morgan 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Hlompho Dala. 1‑0 against Free State Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng 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.
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Hlompho Dala was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.09. 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng 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.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic can tell you which week it ends in.
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.
Morgan 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.
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Siyabonga Furman leaves Bloemfontein Celtic the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Bloemfontein Celtic can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Morgan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng 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.
The offer from Middlesbrough for Andile Phiri 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.
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.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Bloemfontein Celtic will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Itumeleng 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.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Bidvest Wits? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Bloemfontein Celtic heard it as anything else.
Morgan 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Itumeleng 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.