Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
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.
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.
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.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
197% 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.
16 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Angelo Van Rooi has come out of that comparison in the side, and Golden Arrows have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
7.60, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 8 goals between Golden Arrows and Ajax Cape Town, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Angelo Van Rooi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
9.55. 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.
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.
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.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Sifiso Mlungwana reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Marks Munyai 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 one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
A shoot-out is remembered by its ending, and this one ends with Nkosi Gumede: 1 kept out, and a set of supporters who will describe every one of them for the next twenty years.
“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 deal that would have taken Stabiso Njoko to Jomo Cosmos has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to Golden Arrows with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Marks Munyai 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.
“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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Bidvest Wits moved on, Philani Khumalo reports back to Golden Arrows, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Marked 8.31 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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 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.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
Add another name to the list: Bidvest Wits have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Philani Khumalo. The answer from Golden Arrows has not changed — yet.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 19 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
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.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Isaac Cissé did not need any: 7.86, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Up for the corner, and Ayanda Jiyane delivers — 7.86
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Ayanda Jiyane scored, was marked 7.86, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Justine Mthwane 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.
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 fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. Houston Dynamo moved on, Thokozani Khumalo reports back to Golden Arrows, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
The accountants will call it good business and they will be right, which is not the point anybody outside the boardroom is making. Lwanda Mbanjwa was one of the reasons people came, and $340.0K does not replace that by itself.
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
SuperSport United paid $340.0K 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.
21 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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.
In brief
SquadA muscle injury sidelines Lungelo Dube for 16 days
Nduduzo Sibiya 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.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
3 academy players handed senior numbers at Golden Arrows
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Words at Golden Arrows training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brandon Theron 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 academy exists for exactly this morning. Themba Modiba 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Themba Khune 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.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Kermit Erasmus 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.
The offer from Bayelsa United for Sabelo Sithole 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.
Add another name to the list: Houston Dynamo have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Thokozani Khumalo. The answer from Golden Arrows has not changed — yet.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Thabo Matlaba and Golden Arrows agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
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.