Gift Dolly

Right Forward - FC Eindhoven
29 May 2028
Monday
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Marked for Gift Dolly

95 Edition

The FC Eindhoven Gazette

22 May 2028
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad22 May 2028

Jorn Brondeel breaks a bone — 54 days out

Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 54 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.

Market22 May 2028

Igor Sanders puts it in writing

“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 The request is on a desk at FC Eindhoven, and it is not being withdrawn.

Squad22 May 2028

Mark Verkuijl 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 FC Eindhoven this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad22 May 2028

Farouq Limouri 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.

Market22 May 2028

FC Eindhoven buy the years ahead of Gift Dolly

He is 15, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.

The dugout22 May 2028

FC Eindhoven keep their word to Daan Huisman

Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.

The dugout22 May 2028

The manager has not finished forgetting Daan Huisman'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 dugout22 May 2028

Jorn Brondeel knocks on the manager’s door

“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Jorn Brondeel trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.

The dugout22 May 2028

When it matters, Amir Bryson plays

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.

In brief

Back issues
68 Edition

The Ajax Cape Town Post

15 Nov 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match15 Nov 2027

Ajax Cape Town sink to position 15

8 points, and a fixture list that is running out. The mathematics are not yet cruel, but they are no longer kind.

The dugout15 Nov 2027

Keagan Mokoena says Ajax Cape Town went back on their word

“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.

Squad15 Nov 2027

Words exchanged at Ajax Cape Town

Khama 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.

Squad15 Nov 2027

Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teboho Hlatshwayo 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.

Looking ahead15 Nov 2027

Ajax Cape Town take on the side everybody is chasing

Orlando Pirates arrive as leaders. A side at the top is beaten roughly once a month, and the club that does it gets a week it remembers for a year.

The dugout15 Nov 2027

Hlompho Williams has become a man the manager trusts

Nobody at Ajax Cape Town 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 Nov 2027

No hiding place for Kandrin Naidoo

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kandrin Naidoo, and the manager let it.

Market15 Nov 2027

The Khama Mabunda question follows Ajax Cape Town around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with Khama Mabunda’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

The dugout15 Nov 2027

Sifiso Khune 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 Ajax Cape Town, and both men came out saying it was fine.

In brief

58 Edition

The Ajax Cape Town Post

6 Sep 2027
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Market6 Sep 2027

Gift Vilakazi asks to leave Ajax Cape Town

“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.

Boardroom6 Sep 2027

Deadline passes with 9 signed and 10 gone

That is the business done at Ajax Cape Town 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.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Khama Mabunda 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 Ajax Cape Town this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Words at Ajax Cape Town training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Teboho Hlatshwayo 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.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Stabiso Njoko slips down the pecking order

The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Stabiso Njoko is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.

The dugout6 Sep 2027

The manager makes an example of Manqoba Mlele

“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.

Squad6 Sep 2027

Ajax Cape Town have started building around Kermit Lorch

He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.

Looking ahead6 Sep 2027

Nkanyiso Madonsela faces his old club

Maritzburg United next, and one man in the Ajax Cape Town dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.

Market6 Sep 2027

Williams Vilakazi linked with a move away

The name of Williams Vilakazi keeps appearing in other people's back pages. Ajax Cape Town say nothing, which says plenty.

In brief