Marked for Luther Khune
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad16 Dec 2030
39 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.
Match14 Dec 2030
7 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.
Squad16 Dec 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Player ratings16 Dec 2030
Bongani Tau beats them one at a time
Successful dribbles: 24. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad16 Dec 2030
Bongani Tau 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 Dec 2030
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mpho Chabatsane 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.
Match14 Dec 2030
0‑1 to Ajax Cape Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Interim Coach after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout16 Dec 2030
Matías Esquivel has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Platinum Stars 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.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad23 Sep 2030
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bradley Dolly
123 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Mpho Chabatsane 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 ratings23 Sep 2030
Ninety minutes of Matías Esquivel at his very best
Marked 8.28. 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 ratings23 Sep 2030
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings23 Sep 2030
Mandla Modiba was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.10. 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.
Squad23 Sep 2030
Bradley Mabunda 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 dugout23 Sep 2030
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Interim Coach on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Boardroom15 Jul 2030
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.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Mpho Chabatsane 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.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Platinum Stars asked and Mamelodi Sundowns said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Squad15 Jul 2030
Luther Khune in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets15 Jul 2030
Bidvest Wits 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.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Ramahlwe Manyama has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Platinum Stars 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.
The dugout15 Jul 2030
Kermit Mkhize knocks on the manager's door
“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.
Market15 Jul 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mandla Modiba signs something — a contract at Platinum Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Jul 2030
“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.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Platinum Stars have done the hard part with University of Pretoria, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Khumoitsile Rathokolo 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.
Market1 Jul 2030
Black Aces 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.
Squad1 Jul 2030
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Mpho Chabatsane 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.
Transfer targets1 Jul 2030
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad1 Jul 2030
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Gift Williams commits to Platinum Stars for another 3 years.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
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.
The dugout1 Jul 2030
The manager's exit leaves Keagan Mphela exposed
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Keagan Mphela is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces27 May 2030
Supporters organise against the Platinum Stars board
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Market27 May 2030
“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.
Squad27 May 2030
Keagan Mphela 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.
Squad27 May 2030
Mpho Chabatsane 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 dugout27 May 2030
The manager makes an example of Luther Khune
“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 dugout27 May 2030
Kermit Mkhize asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
The dugout27 May 2030
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 Lebogang Zwane is on it.
Market27 May 2030
Contract settled, hands shaken, no fee changing hands. Thabo Nkwana leaves Platinum Stars the quiet way, and the wage bill breathes a little easier.
Boardroom27 May 2030
22 graduates, from a department now rated 7 out of 20. Nothing about the academy appears in a result, and nothing about the club’s future exists without it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
The terraces29 Apr 2030
The mood at Platinum Stars has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Bradley Vilakazi damages knee ligaments — 105 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 105 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.
Market29 Apr 2030
Pheko Phago 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.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Mpho Chabatsane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad29 Apr 2030
Themba Grobler and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
The dugout29 Apr 2030
Luther Khune gets it from the manager
“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
Uneasy
Squad22 Apr 2030
112 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.
Boardroom22 Apr 2030
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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Luther Khune: 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.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Mpho Chabatsane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad22 Apr 2030
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Bradley Zungu was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kermit Mphela, and the manager let it.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Thabo Nkwana has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Platinum Stars 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.
The dugout22 Apr 2030
Kermit Mphela 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.
Market22 Apr 2030
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Khumoitsile Rathokolo signs something — a contract at Platinum Stars or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad8 Oct 2029
There were 11 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.
Squad8 Oct 2029
A fracture rules Bradley Vilakazi out for 43 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.
Match8 Oct 2029
Every point is an argument now for Platinum Stars
Position 15 and 4 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad8 Oct 2029
Mpho Chabatsane 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.
Match6 Oct 2029
Mamelodi Sundowns left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad8 Oct 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luther Khune and Platinum Stars agree another 3 years.
Market8 Oct 2029
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Bradley Zungu has his answer from Platinum Stars; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The dugout8 Oct 2029
“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
Uneasy
Boardroom16 Jul 2029
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.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 128 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Luther Khune is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad16 Jul 2029
Bongani Tau 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 Jul 2029
At 30 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.