Marked for Given Msimango
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Boardroom22 May 2028
They will talk about this season in this town for a long time. The trophy comes home with the squad, and the route is already agreed.
Match17 May 2028
Orlando Pirates make home a hard place to visit
19 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Squad22 May 2028
Sipho Chaine is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Sipho Chaine: 2 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match17 May 2028
A 2‑2 win over Maritzburg United, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
Match22 May 2028
57 points on the board and a place in the leading group. Nobody at the ground is saying the word out loud yet.
Market22 May 2028
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Orlando Pirates can pretend not to have heard.
The dugout22 May 2028
Given Msimango: 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.” Orlando Pirates have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Squad22 May 2028
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Orlando Pirates will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Match17 May 2028
The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad3 Apr 2028
Yanela Mbuthuma 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.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kamogelo Sebelebele was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Four weeks in which nobody in the division did his job better. The award goes on a shelf and the player goes back into the side, which is the order Orlando Pirates prefer.
Squad3 Apr 2028
Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 Kamogelo Sebelebele is on it.
The dugout3 Apr 2028
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 dugout3 Apr 2028
“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 dugout3 Apr 2028
“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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match27 Mar 2028
Orlando Pirates refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 57 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Market27 Mar 2028
“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 Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Orlando Pirates may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Yanela Mbuthuma and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad27 Mar 2028
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Relebohile Mofokeng was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Mar 2028
Sipho Chaine has become a man the manager trusts
Nobody at Orlando Pirates 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 dugout27 Mar 2028
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kamogelo Sebelebele trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market27 Mar 2028
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Oswin Appollis signs something — a contract at Orlando Pirates or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Loan watch27 Mar 2028
29 starts and an average of 6.70. He went there to play and he is playing, which is the only thing a loan was ever for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad6 Dec 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 90 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Sipho Chaine is the hero from the spot
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Sipho Chaine: 3 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
Match1 Dec 2027
A 1‑1 win over Golden Arrows, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?
The dugout6 Dec 2027
Given Msimango: 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.” Orlando Pirates have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Match4 Dec 2027
10 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Yanela Mbuthuma 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at Orlando Pirates training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kamogelo Sebelebele 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 ratings6 Dec 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad22 Nov 2027
The words a physio says slowly. 106 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.
Match20 Nov 2027
The unbeaten run reaches 14. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad22 Nov 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Nov 2027
Deon Hotto 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.
Looking ahead22 Nov 2027
Kaizer Chiefs next, and the two sides the division is watching meet each other. Whoever wins will be told nothing is decided in the same breath as being congratulated.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
“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 dugout22 Nov 2027
Nobody at Orlando Pirates 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 Nov 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Tshepang Moremi trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
The dugout22 Nov 2027
Half-satisfied: Luther Modiba 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.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market27 Sep 2027
“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 Orlando Pirates, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match25 Sep 2027
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Orlando Pirates did not have in the autumn.
Squad27 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad27 Sep 2027
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Deon Hotto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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 dugout27 Sep 2027
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Orlando Pirates told Tshepang Moremi something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Match25 Sep 2027
A 1‑1 draw with Polokwane City leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
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 Kamogelo Sebelebele is on it.
The dugout27 Sep 2027
“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.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad23 Aug 2027
The knee: Bruce Bvuma out for 119 days
119 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kaizer Chiefs lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market23 Aug 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market23 Aug 2027
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Kaizer Chiefs have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Match21 Aug 2027
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
The terraces23 Aug 2027
Dillan Solomons has gone, the accounts have $660.0K 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.
Transfer targets23 Aug 2027
The offer went to Platinum Stars 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.
The dugout23 Aug 2027
“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.
Market23 Aug 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market23 Aug 2027
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Kaizer Chiefs they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad21 Jun 2027
39 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. Kaizer Chiefs lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Market21 Jun 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kaizer Chiefs people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market21 Jun 2027
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Nkosingiphile Ngcobo had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
Market21 Jun 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market21 Jun 2027
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Nkanyiso Shinga will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Kaizer Chiefs the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Pule Mmodi pulls a muscle — 15 days out
The injury that keeps coming back, keeps being rushed back from, and quietly costs more careers than the dramatic ones. 15 days is the estimate; the honest figure depends on whether anybody is patient.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Asanele Velebayi 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 Jun 2027
Khanyisa Mayo 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 targets21 Jun 2027
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market8 Feb 2027
“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.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Kaizer Chiefs people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Market8 Feb 2027
Thabo Cele 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 Kaizer Chiefs can pretend not to have heard.
Market8 Feb 2027
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Kaizer Chiefs is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad8 Feb 2027
Lebohang Maboe 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 Feb 2027
3 matches without a goal for Kaizer Chiefs
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.
Loan watch8 Feb 2027
“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 Kaizer Chiefs, and 0 appearances in 26 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout8 Feb 2027
“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 dugout8 Feb 2027
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.