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.
The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad28 Dec 2026
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.
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.
The dugout28 Dec 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.” Teboho Erasmus chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Two goals and a mark of 9.04 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Position 3, 34 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.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Nkosinathi Sibisi 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 had been thinking. Sihle Nduli 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 point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Teboho Erasmus after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Platinum Stars? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
Thato Mabena is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
Free State Stars next, and one man in the Orlando Pirates dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
2 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.
The name of Relebohile Mofokeng has come up in conversations Orlando Pirates were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kabelo Moagi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orlando Pirates the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Yanela Mbuthuma 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 had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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 Orlando Pirates game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Kaizer Chiefs runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
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.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Evidence Makgopa. 2‑0 against Kaizer Chiefs, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Tshepang Moremi was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.13. 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.
17 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.
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.
The dugout30 Nov 2026
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.” Teboho Erasmus kept it short after the 2‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
In brief
The dugoutThe manager makes an example of Thato Mabena
Position 2, 26 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.
0‑1 to Ajax Cape Town, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Sihle Nduli 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Teboho Erasmus after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer 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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orlando Pirates know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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 pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Makhehleni Makhaula, and the manager let it.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
Thato Mabena is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against Ajax Cape Town in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
3 goals in 11 games at Jomo Cosmos — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Orlando Pirates updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
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 Orlando Pirates that is a harder question to answer.
In brief
The dugoutKabelo Moagi knocks on the manager's door
Jomo Cosmos will want this one forgotten quickly: 5‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Orlando Pirates were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Evidence Makgopa provided it, and the 8.61 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 35 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.84 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Deon Hotto 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 Sihle Nduli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
“I did not go to Bidvest Wits to sit and watch. I want to come back to Orlando Pirates and fight for my place.” 10 appearances in 11 matches say the rest.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Deon Hotto is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout2 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.” Teboho Erasmus chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
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.
Position 3, 22 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.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.73 for the rest of it.
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.
He is 23 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Two sides from the top of the table, one afternoon, and a month of talk decided in ninety minutes. Orlando Pirates will not use the word title this week and will not stop thinking 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 easiest signature of my career.” Jabu Mokone and Orlando Pirates agree another 4 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 Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
At 24 the improving is meant to be over. It is not: 3 points better than the mark taken at the start of the year, which is the sort of thing that happens to players who take the boring parts of the job seriously.
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.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Orlando Pirates they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Yanela Mbuthuma 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 Sihle Nduli was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Orlando Pirates know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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 Nkosinathi Sibisi has written the date down.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Yanela Mbuthuma provided it, and the 9.04 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.98 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
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.
Some transfers need a press campaign. This one needed a shirt with the old number on it. Jabu Mokone is a Orlando Pirates player again, and the town has its story of the summer.
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.
7 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Orlando Pirates and University of Pretoria in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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 Orlando Pirates this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
5 new faces, and Orlando Pirates are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Evidence Makgopa may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Teboho Erasmus after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Nobody at Orlando Pirates 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.
Two goals and a mark of 8.86 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Orlando Pirates has been clear about where Patrick Maswanganyi stands, which is more than many ever get.
“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 dugout21 Sep 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 Erasmus, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Successful dribbles: 35. 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.
SuperSport United will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Orlando Pirates were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
“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.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Relebohile Mofokeng provided it, and the 8.57 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Jomo Cosmos had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Kabelo Moagi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around Orlando Pirates the goodbyes have quietly begun.
3 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.
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.
“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.
“I know what people will say. I know what I want, and it is here.” Plateau United had the fee agreed and the shirt ready; they did not have the player, and now they will not.
Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Njabulo Blom has, at Orlando Pirates, and the first month will show what that does to a man.
A deal that was a phone call from completion at lunchtime was dead by midnight. Orlando Pirates will try again when the window opens; Oxford United may not be selling by then.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 9 signed and 37 gone
That is the business done at Orlando Pirates 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.
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.
$8.3M on the table at Oxford 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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Orlando Pirates people have started saying his name in the past tense.
A mark of 8.39 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Orlando Pirates asked and Botev Plovdiv said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Thalente Mbatha scored, was marked 7.88, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Orlando Pirates will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.
$570.0K on the table at Kaizer Chiefs. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
“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 clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Orlando Pirates people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Relebohile Mofokeng did not need any: 8.11, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at Orlando Pirates is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
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.
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.
Add another name to the list: Black Aces have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Kabelo Moagi. The answer from Orlando Pirates has not changed — yet.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orlando Pirates have lost him in all but the paperwork.
The offer from RKC Waalwijk for Relebohile Mofokeng 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
Patrick Maswanganyi 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.
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.40, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
The dugout17 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 Erasmus, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Deon Hotto’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Orlando Pirates needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Two goals and a mark of 8.52 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Orlando Pirates have lost him in all but the paperwork.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Cemran Dansin had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
A mark of 7.81 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. SuperSport United moved on, Tapelo Xoki reports back to Orlando Pirates, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Oswin Appollis and Orlando Pirates agree another 3 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Add another name to the list: Erzurumspor have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Cemran Dansin. The answer from Orlando Pirates has not changed — yet.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Deon Hotto 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.
Patrick Maswanganyi 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 manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Sihle Nduli has his answer from Orlando Pirates; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Oswin Appollis trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Orlando Pirates have no good answer.