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.
6 goals in one match, Itumeleng Tau on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Platinum Stars and Chippa United.
Marked 8.26 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
3‑3, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout31 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Siyabonga Vilakazi chose the glass-half-full version of 3‑3; the supporters left with the other one.
Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.
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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Kermit Mokoena and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Siyabonga Vilakazi after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
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.
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 music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
The dugout17 Dec 2029
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Siyabonga Vilakazi to a room that had heard them before.
Beaten 4 times, 4 saves, and an afternoon that will go on his record whether it was his fault or the defence’s. It is the quiet unfairness of the position.
“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.
Khama Phiri 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.
“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.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Bloemfontein Celtic in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
8 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and University of Pretoria were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
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.
Marked 8.26. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Platinum Stars.
Player ratings5 Nov 2029
Itumeleng Tau was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.23. 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.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Platinum Stars has been clear about where Tloto Leepile stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad5 Nov 2029
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Khama 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Siyabonga Vilakazi on a 3‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Siyabonga Vilakazi after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
6 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.
“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.
Khama Phiri 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 easiest signature of my career.” Tloto Leepile and Platinum Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A place in the month's best eleven for Lebogang Tau
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Lebogang Tau has come out of that comparison in the side, and Platinum Stars have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Thulani Dolly has his answer from Platinum Stars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Thulani Phiri 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.
Behind, and beaten by any honest reading, until minute 91. Golden Arrows had the points in their pocket and a corner of the ground still believed, which is generally when it happens.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
It needed Rivaldo Erasmus to find the net to bring anything home at all: 2‑2 against Golden Arrows, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
The dugout24 Sep 2029
Erick Zwane is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 2‑2 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
Thulani Phiri 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.
3 games without scoring. Strikers stop looking up, midfielders take the extra touch, and every shot that clears the bar is followed by a groan that has been building since the last goal.
“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 manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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.
Boardroom3 Sep 2029
Deadline passes with 17 signed and 16 gone
That is the business done at Platinum Stars until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levski have kept their man, and Platinum Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Andile Dala 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.
Everything agreed with Mamelodi Sundowns, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Thulani Phiri 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.
A 1‑0 win over Chippa United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Keagan Kekana and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years.
Mamelodi Sundowns have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Siyabonga Vilakazi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
In brief
The dugoutThulani Phiri knocks on the manager’s door
The deal with Castellón is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Mamelodi Sundowns have kept their man, and Platinum Stars go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Platinum Stars know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Luther Hlatshwayo leaves Platinum Stars the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
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.
At 15 he is being measured against the rest of the division's kids and coming out in front. The senior version of this award is where the club would like this to lead.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khama Phiri signs something — a contract at Platinum Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
The last league game has been played and the table has stopped moving: 38 points. The summer begins on Monday, and so does the argument about what it all meant.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Thulani Phiri 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.
At 19 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Siyabonga Vilakazi could afford to be generous.
“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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 14 combined actions and a mark of 6.99, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
Marked 8.13 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Khama Mothiba and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Siyabonga Vilakazi on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
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.
In brief
SquadA Platinum Stars teenager takes the young player award
16 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Rivaldo Furman and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about 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 Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
He is 20 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Marked 7.99. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
The manager has not finished forgetting Rivaldo Furman's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
The dugout5 Mar 2029
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Siyabonga Vilakazi, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
“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.
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Lebogang Billiat, and the manager let it.
The dugout1 Jan 2029
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Siyabonga Vilakazi was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Platinum Stars dressing room was either.
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Ajax Cape Town defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Khama Phiri 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.
Squad18 Dec 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Phiri 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.
Marked 7.53 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 2‑2, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
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.
In brief
The dugoutErick Zwane knocks on the manager’s door
0‑3 against Orlando Pirates, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
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.
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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Kaizer Chiefs.
In brief
The dugoutSomebody else is better right now than Dean Tau
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad27 Nov 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Phiri 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Siyabonga Vilakazi on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad27 Nov 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Platinum Stars man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Rivaldo Erasmus was the best thing in any of them.
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Platinum Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Khama Phiri 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Andile Dala’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Platinum Stars needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Lebogang Billiat trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“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.
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Thulani Phiri 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 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.
Successful dribbles: 14. 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.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Siyabonga Vilakazi chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
“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.
The dugout6 Nov 2028
Somebody else is better right now than Lebogang Tau
The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Maritzburg United defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Platinum Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Rivaldo Furman signs something — a contract at Platinum Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
15 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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Itumeleng Tau and Platinum Stars agree another 4 years.
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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Siyabonga Vilakazi could afford to be generous.
Squad30 Oct 2028
The division's best last weekend was a Platinum Stars man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Rivaldo Erasmus was the best thing in any of them.
In brief
The dugoutLebogang Tau dropped after a run of poor form
37 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.
Andile Dala 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 players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 1‑0, Siyabonga Vilakazi could afford to be generous.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The words a physio says slowly. 51 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 20 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“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.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 9 arrived, 13 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thulani Phiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
At 19 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.
73 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.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Platinum Stars 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 Platinum Stars 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 Thulani Phiri was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
The dugout14 Aug 2028
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Siyabonga Vilakazi to a room that had heard them before.
Orlando Pirates have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
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.
“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.
Khama Phiri 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.
Squad8 May 2028
Thulani Phiri 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.
A manager forgives a bad Saturday far more readily than a bad Tuesday, because one of them he can explain and the other one he chose. The reports this week have not been good.
The coaching staff have set Itumeleng Tau something separate to do. Whether it is a weakness being addressed or a strength being sharpened, nobody outside the building will know until it shows up on a Saturday.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Morgan Mokoena plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
44 points in position 7: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
18 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Bongani Grobler is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
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 Sidney Mtshweni is on it.
“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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Thulani Phiri 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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
It needed Itumeleng Tau to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maritzburg 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.” Siyabonga Vilakazi after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Platinum Stars, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Thulani Phiri 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.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 9 combined actions and a mark of 6.89, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Gift Khune and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years.
The dugout21 Feb 2028
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Siyabonga Vilakazi kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Successful dribbles: 13. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad21 Feb 2028
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.