Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Squad10 Apr 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Velemseni Ndwandwe 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.
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Tusker runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
The dugout10 Apr 2028
The manager has not finished forgetting Dumisani Msibi'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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Ayabonga Gwangqa trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Golden Arrows that is a harder question to answer.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Golden Arrows will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Golden Arrows. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
In brief
BoardroomThe Golden Arrows production line keeps running
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Golden Arrows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
5 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.
Selaelo Rasebotja and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad21 Feb 2028
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sbonelo Cele 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.
Mamelodi Sundowns held the lead for 4 minutes, which is not long enough to enjoy it. Golden Arrows answered before the celebration had properly finished, and the shape of the afternoon changed with it.
It needed Teboho Tlolane to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Mamelodi Sundowns, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
He is not being dropped. There is simply nowhere in the formation Golden Arrows are playing to put a man who does what he does, which is a harder thing to be told than any team sheet.
$790.0K is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Golden Arrows people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Golden Arrows may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
The terraces17 Jan 2028
Supporters turn on the $790.0K sale of Oumar Komara
He is going to Mamelodi Sundowns, the club has $790.0K 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.
The deal with Mamelodi Sundowns is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
7 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Platinum Stars were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Squad27 Dec 2027
Sbonelo Cele 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 chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 3 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Golden Arrows they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sbonelo Cele 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.
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.
Position 12, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
“I watch every Golden Arrows game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at University of Pretoria runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Denwin Farmer 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.
Selaelo Rasebotja 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sbonelo Cele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
It needed Jerome Karelse to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Maritzburg United, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“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 dugout29 Nov 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ramahlwe Mothiba chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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 Philani Khumalo is on it.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Stabiso Njoko will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Golden Arrows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad15 Nov 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sbonelo Cele 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.
5 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.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Dumisani Msibi’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Golden Arrows needing him to play as if none of it matters.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Thokozani Khumalo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Jerome Karelse signs something — a contract at Golden Arrows or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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 Oumar Komara is on it.
“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 Golden Arrows, and it is not being withdrawn.
He won it back and then made something of it, which is two jobs and the reason the scoreline looks the way it does. 21 combined actions and a mark of 7.03, and not one of them will make a highlights package.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Golden Arrows is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Golden Arrows and Bidvest Wits, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad18 Oct 2027
Sbonelo Cele 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kwandakwesizwe Madonsela will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Golden Arrows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sbonelo Cele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 dugout4 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Ramahlwe Mothiba to a room that had heard them before.
Nobody at Golden Arrows 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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Jerome Karelse. 3‑1 against Free State Stars, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
“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.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Sbonelo Cele 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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Denwin Farmer trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“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.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Golden Arrows have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The clubs have shaken hands with Orlando Pirates; the player has not yet. Personal terms are next, and personal terms are where more deals die than anybody prints.
The offer went to Mamelodi Sundowns this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Kaizer Chiefs left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad30 Aug 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Velemseni Ndwandwe 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.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Bloemfontein Celtic waiting with a shirt. Nobody at Golden Arrows is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
Ntandoyenkosi Mabaso has gone, the accounts have $540.0K in them, and the supporters have the feeling of having been sold something themselves. Good business and a good decision are not always the same thing.
The offer from Chippa United for Samkelo Dlamuka 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.
$68.0K on the table at Chippa United. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Bidvest Wits paid $540.0K and Golden Arrows took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Sbonelo Cele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Philani Khumalo and Golden Arrows agree another 3 years.
34 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Golden Arrows lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Golden Arrows people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from Bidvest Wits for Samkelo Dlamuka 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.
The deal with Mamelodi Sundowns is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 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.
41 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Golden Arrows lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Golden Arrows have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from Bidvest Wits for Angelo Van Rooi 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.
“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.
Squad14 Jun 2027
Simón García 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
24 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Golden Arrows lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Golden Arrows they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simón García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“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 Golden Arrows, and 9 appearances in 37 say he has earned the hearing.
Nobody at Golden Arrows 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.
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 Ayabulela Maxwele has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Golden Arrows, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
SquadThe training reports on Mpho Maila are not good
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Denwin Farmer
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Golden Arrows lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Angelo Van Rooi 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.
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.
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 Olwethu Ncube trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Public backing, and the sort that costs a manager something if it turns out to be wrong. Simón García has been told in front of everybody that the shirt is his.
47 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Golden Arrows lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
“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.
Squad3 May 2027
Simón García 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.
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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Golden Arrows. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Position 11, 32 points, safe from one end and out of reach of the other. The last weeks are about next season now, and the team sheet has started saying so.
The words a physio says slowly. 94 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Edward Maova will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Golden Arrows the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Simón García 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.
“I did not go to SuperSport United to sit and watch. I want to come back to Golden Arrows and fight for my place.” 9 appearances in 33 matches say the rest.
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 Ayabulela Maxwele is on it.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Nqubeko Dlamini has his answer from Golden Arrows; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
In brief
The dugoutDenwin Farmer knocks on the manager's door
116 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Golden Arrows lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
At 20 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.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Denwin Farmer and Golden Arrows agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Simón García was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Nobody at Golden Arrows 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.
32 points in position 11: too many to go down, too few to go anywhere. The honest description of a season like this is a shrug, and the supporters have already given it.
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Golden Arrows will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
“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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Angelo Van Rooi reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Golden Arrows have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Simón García 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.
Angelo Van Rooi 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.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Golden Arrows this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
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.
8.00. 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Ramahlwe Mothiba chose the glass-half-full version of 1‑1; the supporters left with the other one.
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.