Marked for Teboho Tlolane
From our football correspondent
Steady
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Golden Arrows may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Teboho Tlolane 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.
Boardroom28 Dec 2026
131% of the income goes out in wages at Golden Arrows
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Thabo Matlaba 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 ratings28 Dec 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Half-satisfied: Teboho Tau on the draw
“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 dugout28 Dec 2026
Sbonelo Cele gets picked when it counts
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 Sbonelo Cele is on it.
Match26 Dec 2026
Point won or two lost for Golden Arrows?
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Orlando Pirates? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Dec 2026
Teboho Tlolane and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match12 Dec 2026
Bloemfontein Celtic left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Loan watch14 Dec 2026
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Maritzburg United runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Angelo Van Rooi
“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 dugout14 Dec 2026
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Teboho Tau after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Oumar Komara 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
One booking too many, and a game watched from the stand. Golden Arrows lose him for the most avoidable reason in the sport.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match2 Dec 2026
Out, 1‑1 to Orlando Pirates, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
1 kept out from twelve yards, and a stadium that will describe each of them for twenty years. A goalkeeper needs one night like this in a career, and this was it.
Squad7 Dec 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Keenan Phillips and Golden Arrows agree another 3 years.
Match5 Dec 2026
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Teboho Tlolane 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.
Loan watch7 Dec 2026
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Black Aces runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings7 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.37, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thabo Matlaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Angelo Van Rooi 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 dugout26 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dumisani Msibi, and the manager let it.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Thabo Matlaba was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Match24 Oct 2026
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then SuperSport United scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 1‑1 draw with SuperSport United leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
Half-satisfied: Teboho Tau on the draw
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 1‑1, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
Looking ahead26 Oct 2026
A test against the best for Golden Arrows
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 Mamelodi Sundowns.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Chances created: 10. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
At 38 every good afternoon gets called a throwback, and this one was: 7.80, and nobody on the pitch better.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Connor Wilson 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Angelo Van Rooi 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Themba Mantshiyane 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 ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Lungelo Dube at his very best
Marked 8.10. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Golden Arrows.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.05 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Teboho Tau could afford to be generous.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Golden Arrows can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 13 signed and 95 gone
That is the business done at Golden Arrows 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.
Market7 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Golden Arrows did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Nkosi Gumede reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Angelo Van Rooi and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Themba Mantshiyane was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout7 Sep 2026
“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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Nduduzo Sibiya
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Nduduzo Sibiya has come out of that comparison in the side, and Golden Arrows have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market31 Aug 2026
“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 Aug 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Golden Arrows have 3 straight wins of it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Angelo Van Rooi 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.
Market31 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Golden Arrows have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 7.98. 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 dugout31 Aug 2026
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.” Teboho Tau, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Market31 Aug 2026
Both sides expect a conversation in the coming days. Golden Arrows will name a price, and everything after that is arithmetic.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Oumar Komara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.