Marked for Williams Mkhize
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market14 Aug 2028
The bid was some way short and Platinum Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Aug 2028
“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.
The terraces14 Aug 2028
Supporters turn on the $780.0K sale of Morgan Mokotjo
He is going to SuperSport United, the club has $780.0K 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
Teboho Tau is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 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.
Squad14 Aug 2028
At 26 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 4 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
Squad14 Aug 2028
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.
Match12 Aug 2028
Beaten 2‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad14 Aug 2028
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Bongani Jali and Platinum Stars agree another 4 years.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market10 Jul 2028
The offer from Ajax Cape Town for Luther Mokoena 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.
Market10 Jul 2028
“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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Percy Mkhize commits to Platinum Stars for another 3 years.
Squad10 Jul 2028
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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bandile Shandu 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.
Squad10 Jul 2028
A muscle injury sidelines Lucas Batatinha for 17 days
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Platinum Stars will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market12 Jun 2028
“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 Jun 2028
Faisal Charwetey 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.
Market12 Jun 2028
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Platinum Stars will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad12 Jun 2028
Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad12 Jun 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Evidence Mphela trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Squad12 Jun 2028
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
Uneasy
Boardroom24 Apr 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Platinum Stars
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market24 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad24 Apr 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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
Uneasy
Market10 Apr 2028
“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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Morgan 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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
Uneasy
Boardroom27 Mar 2028
Pressure builds in the Platinum Stars boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Market27 Mar 2028
“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.
Squad27 Mar 2028
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
Uneasy
Match26 Feb 2028
5‑2, and Percy Mkhize took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Platinum Stars tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Boardroom28 Feb 2028
Pressure builds in the Platinum Stars boardroom
The directors have stopped offering the manager public warmth. In football that is usually the stage before the short statement.
Player ratings28 Feb 2028
A brace, and Percy Mkhize takes the afternoon — 8.50
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Percy Mkhize provided it, and the 8.50 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 17 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market28 Feb 2028
“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 ratings28 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 27. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match26 Feb 2028
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Platinum Stars and Jomo Cosmos in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad28 Feb 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad28 Feb 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Successful dribbles: 39. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match12 Feb 2028
Black Aces will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Platinum Stars were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Market14 Feb 2028
“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.
Player ratings14 Feb 2028
Two goals and a mark of 8.13 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Luther Mahlangu gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Luther Mahlangu has just signed for Platinum Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
Market14 Feb 2028
The name of Luther Mokoena has come up in conversations Platinum Stars were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Squad14 Feb 2028
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.
Squad14 Feb 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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 ratings14 Feb 2028
A performance of 8.22 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings31 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 65. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market31 Jan 2028
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom31 Jan 2028
The silence upstairs is getting loud at Platinum Stars
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Market31 Jan 2028
“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.
Match29 Jan 2028
No end in sight to Platinum Stars's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Platinum Stars has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad31 Jan 2028
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.
Squad31 Jan 2028
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
3 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.
Match29 Jan 2028
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings24 Jan 2028
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Jan 2028
“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.
Match22 Jan 2028
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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
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.
Squad24 Jan 2028
Kermit Manyama 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.
Match22 Jan 2028
0‑1 to Polokwane City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings13 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 49. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market13 Dec 2027
“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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Morgan 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.
Squad13 Dec 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Match11 Dec 2027
It finished 2‑1, and it was Percy Mkhize’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Platinum Stars.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market22 Nov 2027
“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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Platinum Stars may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Thulani Dala 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
Orlando Pirates left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Player ratings22 Nov 2027
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 44. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match8 Sep 2027
A 1‑0 win over SuperSport United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Market13 Sep 2027
“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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Alwande Booysen, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.86
A mark of 7.86 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Luther Jali: 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.
Market13 Sep 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Platinum Stars is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
The terraces13 Sep 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Alwande Booysen 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.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Player ratings16 Aug 2027
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match14 Aug 2027
Beaten 0‑3 by Kaizer Chiefs, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market16 Aug 2027
“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.
Market16 Aug 2027
Only the photograph left for Alioune Sylla
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Alioune Sylla will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Platinum Stars the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
Williams 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.
Squad16 Aug 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Thabiso Mokoena, and the manager let it.
Boardroom16 Aug 2027
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad5 Jul 2027
Alwande Booysen is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 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.
Squad5 Jul 2027
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Morgan Mokotjo commits to Platinum Stars for another 3 years.
Squad5 Jul 2027
Kermit Manyama 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
Upbeat
Market28 Jun 2027
“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 Jun 2027
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bongani Jali is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad28 Jun 2027
At 25 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Mar 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 62 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 62 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.
Squad15 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 18 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad15 Mar 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 69 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 69 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.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 25 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad8 Mar 2027
“The easiest signature of my career.” Mateus Anderson and Platinum Stars agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad1 Mar 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 32 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Mar 2027
“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 ratings1 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 28. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Luther Mokoena, 33, rolls back the years — 7.89
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.89 at 33, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Kegan Johannes 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.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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 terraces1 Mar 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Feb 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 83 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 83 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
There were 12 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match20 Feb 2027
3‑7 to Bloemfontein Celtic, 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.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 39 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad22 Feb 2027
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match20 Feb 2027
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 10 goals between Platinum Stars and Bloemfontein Celtic, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Ninety minutes of Kermit Manyama at his very best
Marked 8.53. 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 ratings22 Feb 2027
Williams Grobler was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.30. 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.
Boardroom22 Feb 2027
Nobody left the Platinum Stars dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad15 Feb 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 90 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 47 days
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
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.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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 ratings15 Feb 2027
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad8 Feb 2027
Thabo Mokwena damages knee ligaments — 97 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 97 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.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Nobody could get near Teboho Tau
Successful dribbles: 35. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market8 Feb 2027
Partizan come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Platinum Stars did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad8 Feb 2027
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
Upbeat
Squad1 Feb 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thabo Mokwena
105 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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 64 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market1 Feb 2027
Bryn Deeley hands in a written request
“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.
Market1 Feb 2027
Add another name to the list: Partizan have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Williams Grobler. The answer from Platinum Stars has not changed — yet.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Evidence Mphela: 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.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Kegan Johannes 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 terraces1 Feb 2027
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Williams Grobler 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad25 Jan 2027
A knee injury of the worst kind for Thabo Mokwena
112 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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 72 days
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.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Nobody could get near Teboho Tau
Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings25 Jan 2027
Age has not caught Luther Mokoena yet — 7.93
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.93 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Market25 Jan 2027
“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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
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.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
Match23 Jan 2027
It finished 3‑1, and it was Thulani Dala’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Platinum Stars.
The terraces25 Jan 2027
The crowd has taken to Teboho Tau
At 22 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.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad18 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 81 days
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.
Market18 Jan 2027
The chase for Sinakhokonke Mthembu ended with $250.0K changing hands and Chippa United out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Kegan Johannes 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 terraces18 Jan 2027
Platinum Stars spend $250.0K on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $250.0K for Sinakhokonke Mthembu, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
Squad18 Jan 2027
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Match16 Jan 2027
Beaten 0‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad18 Jan 2027
“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.
Player ratings18 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market11 Jan 2027
The unthinkable, invoiced: Mandla Mothiba sold
Guadalajara arrived with $8.3M and left with the best player in the building. The board will call it business; the queue at the ticket office will use other words.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad11 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 90 days
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.
The terraces11 Jan 2027
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Mandla Mothiba was one of the reasons people came, and $8.3M does not replace that by itself.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Williams Grobler 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.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Mardonjon Meliyev has just signed for Platinum Stars, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad11 Jan 2027
Kermit Manyama 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.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.80 on the card, and the Platinum Stars support went home talking about one name.
Match9 Jan 2027
A 1‑1 draw with SuperSport United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad4 Jan 2027
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 97 days
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.
Player ratings4 Jan 2027
A brace, and Williams Grobler takes the afternoon — 8.36
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Williams Grobler provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Squad4 Jan 2027
An individual honour is a strange thing in a team game, and the best of them are never argued with. He has had the sort of year that ends with his name being read out, and Platinum Stars have had the benefit of it.
Market4 Jan 2027
“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 ratings4 Jan 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Kegan Johannes 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.
Squad4 Jan 2027
A season average of 7.23 with 15 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.
Market4 Jan 2027
Guadalajara are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Platinum Stars will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 46. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 105 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad28 Dec 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Williams Mkhize: 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.
Match26 Dec 2026
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Platinum Stars and Golden Arrows in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match19 Dec 2026
1‑6 to Free State Stars, 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 112 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Lucas Batatinha 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 ratings21 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Boardroom21 Dec 2026
Nobody left the Platinum Stars dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Teboho Tau turns it into his own net
Nobody's fault and entirely his: a goal that goes into the book with his name against it and nothing about it intended. Platinum Stars deserved better, and so did he.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 50. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 119 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad14 Dec 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Kermit Manyama 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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Mandla Mothiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.53. 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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Bryn Deeley
“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.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Platinum Stars had a different afternoon.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
Fouls conceded: 5. Some of it was commitment and some of it was frustration, and the free-kick count did not distinguish between the two.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Dec 2026
A fracture rules Williams Mkhize out for 127 days
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.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
Teboho Tau runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Kegan Johannes 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.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kermit Manyama 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.
Match5 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kermit Manyama. 2‑1 against Chippa United, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces7 Dec 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Williams Grobler 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.