It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 34 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
29 games, 7 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at Black Aces now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Black Aces. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
18 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Black Aces lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Simphiwe Mtsweni and Black Aces agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Black Aces, and 3 appearances in 13 say he has earned the hearing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Teboho Williams trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Black Aces. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Black Aces, another week without a signature from Ian Campbell.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Black Aces have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Ronwen Mothiba and Black Aces agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad6 Mar 2028
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riyaaz Ismail 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.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Itumeleng Modiba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Percy Mothiba has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Ramahlwe Phiri has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Rivaldo Modiba is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Percy Jali 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.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Black Aces pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Black Aces and Polokwane City have settled on $56.0K. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“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 Black Aces, and it is not being withdrawn.
A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Black Aces have done the hard part with Mamelodi Sundowns, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.08, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riyaaz Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riyaaz Ismail 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 dugout29 Nov 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Morgan Ngcobo to a room that had heard them before.
Ian Campbell 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
Somebody else is better right now than Thami Mkhize
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 words a physio says slowly. 23 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.
At 18 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Riyaaz Ismail was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Morgan Jali and Black Aces agree another 3 years.
Squad20 Sep 2027
Riyaaz Ismail 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.
0‑1 to Maritzburg United, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout20 Sep 2027
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Morgan Ngcobo to a room that had heard them before.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Black Aces told Teboho Williams something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Percy Jali 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.
A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Black Aces will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.
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.
Black Aces 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.
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 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.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 26 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Morgan Ngcobo after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Ian Campbell 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.
Black Aces have made the call to Portsmouth. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 37 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Black Aces is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
9 goals in 13 games at Gor Mahia — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Black Aces updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Black Aces. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Morgan Mokoena was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Mnqobi Mzize has written the date down.
Individual work, away from the group, aimed at one specific thing the coaches think is holding him back. It rarely makes the news and it is how most improvement actually happens.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Morgan Jali has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
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.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Kwenzakwenkosi Mbatha has written the date down.
1 for Dean Vilakazi, marked 7.97, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Mokoena 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 manager has re-ordered his thinking and Teboho Williams has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Black Aces, and 4 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout1 Mar 2027
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.” Morgan Ngcobo kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, and a scan that said otherwise. He goes back to Kaizer Chiefs; Black Aces go back to the market; and both will insist there is no story here.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Kaizer Chiefs have kept their man, and Black Aces go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
Black Aces have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
Black Aces have made the call to Mamelodi Sundowns. No fee, a share of the wages, and a spare shirt in the position where the squad has been thinnest all season.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
9 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Polokwane City were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Black Aces have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Mokoena 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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Levski have kept their man, and Black Aces go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
A 1‑0 win over Polokwane City, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“I watch every Black Aces game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Gor Mahia runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 14 actions, 6.73, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Morgan Ngcobo after 0‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Polokwane City next, and one man in the Black Aces dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Nobody at Black Aces is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
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.
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.
Some games turn on a moment; this one turned on a man. 7.69 on the card, and the Black Aces support went home talking about one name.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Morgan Ngcobo was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Black Aces dressing room was either.
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 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.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Black Aces told Kabelo Moagi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Martino Esposito trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Mokoena 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.
Everybody saw it before anybody said it. At 38 the numbers say 3 points down on what he was, and the question for Black Aces is how to handle a man they owe a great deal.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Black Aces told Divine Lunga something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
7 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.
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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Simphiwe Mtsweni has written the date down.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Bongani Khune is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sabelo Motsa 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 Black Aces this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Gift Ngcobo has his answer from Black Aces; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Dean Modiba 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Mokoena 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.
A 1‑0 win over Maritzburg United, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Black Aces, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Black Aces can pretend not to have heard.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Black Aces have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Black Aces training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Morgan Mokoena 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.
Black Aces 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
In brief
The dugoutGift Ngcobo dropped after a run of poor form