28 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Bidvest Wits lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Zuko Mdunyelwa was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Bidvest Wits this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 95. SuperSport United had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
It needed Happy Mashiane to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against SuperSport United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Thulani Furman after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Lebogang Zungu will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Bidvest Wits the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Siyabonga Mabena 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 Happy Mashiane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Bidvest Wits 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.
Ajax Cape Town next, and one man in the Bidvest Wits dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Sihle Tati has written the date down.
“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 The request is on a desk at Bidvest Wits, and it is not being withdrawn.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Bidvest Wits will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Siyabonga Mabena 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.
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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Bidvest Wits, another week without a signature from Naledi Hlongwane.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Naledi Hlongwane is on it.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Kermit Lorch signs something — a contract at Bidvest Wits or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Bidvest Wits have a 21-year-old the division has just voted its finest young footballer. The club's next problem is that everybody else now knows it too.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
Siyabonga Mabena and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 May 2028
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Abubeker Nasir 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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Kermit Lorch is on it.
2 months left, and both sides know what that means: every week without a signature, the fee Bidvest Wits could ask drops and the wages Lebohang Lesako can ask rise.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bidvest Wits, and both men came out saying it was fine.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Bidvest Wits will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Bidvest Wits have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Bidvest Wits is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Kermit Lorch 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.
Squad17 Apr 2028
Words at Bidvest Wits training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Zuko Mdunyelwa 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 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Bidvest Wits, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 145 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Kermit Lorch 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Bidvest Wits has been clear about where Thami Mkhize stands, which is more than many ever get.
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Siyethemba Sithebe will call it something else in private.
91 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Platinum Stars lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Platinum Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Andile Mokoena 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 offer went to Polokwane City 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kermit Hlatshwayo 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.
121 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Platinum Stars 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 Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Everything agreed with Polokwane City, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
$140.0K on the table at Black Aces. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Andile Mokoena 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 Kermit Hlatshwayo was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The system has changed and his position has not. A footballer can improve his form; he cannot improve the manager’s formation, and that is the whole of the problem.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dean Mkhize will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Platinum Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
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.
A loan enquiry to Orlando Pirates: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
6 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.
$4.3M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Platinum Stars people have started saying his name in the past tense.
He is going to Chippa United, the club has $4.3M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
The offer from Bloemfontein Celtic for Luther Mothiba 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Andile Mokoena 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Newell's Old Boys have kept their man, and Platinum Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Platinum Stars have made the call to Kaizer Chiefs. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Nkosi Gumede 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 21 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bongani Mothiba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Platinum Stars will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Dean Mkhize has written the date down.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gift Mothiba and Platinum Stars agree another 5 years.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bongani Mothiba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Evidence Erasmus has moved up it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Platinum Stars. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Orlando Pirates watched Kermit Hlatshwayo again at the weekend, and this time they did not bother hiding it. Clubs only stop hiding when they want the price to start moving.
Andile Mokoena 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 appearances at Stade Malien and the goals keep coming. Platinum Stars are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Luther Mothiba 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 Andile Grobler signs something — a contract at Platinum Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
3 goals in 11 games at AFC Leopards — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Platinum Stars updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simphiwe Mtsweni and Platinum Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
The board have answered with money instead of encouragement, which is the only answer a manager ever wants. Spending it well is now entirely his problem.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Luther Mothiba has come out of that comparison in the side, and Platinum Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.